Today we are taking a look at Easter in France. Earlier this week we looked at Easter traditions in Bermuda. I have to say with giant omelettes, flying bells, and egg battles there are a lot of interesting things going on in France around Easter. I shared a bit about Easter in France a few years ago as well. Now one of the more interesting things are the Flying Bells or Cloche Volant. Since France is mostly Roman Catholic the tradition says that all the church bells fly to Rome to see the Pope on Good Friday. No bells are rung between Good Friday (the day Jesus died) and Easter. This custom started in the 12th century. When the bells return from Rome they drop all sorts of treats for the children to find. Some have changed the Flying Bells to the Easter Bunny, but the Flying Bells are still popular. Candy shops sell chocolate bells as well as bunnies and eggs in France. I was surprised not to find too many flying bell crafts on-line. I found this one to color but that was about it. I decided to make my own.
To make my craft I took a paper cup and decorated it with some washi tape that a friend brought back from Paris. Then I took a jingle bell and put it on a pipe cleaner. I inserted a hole in the bottom of the cup (and will be holding it upside down to be the bell) and stuck the ends of the pipe cleaner into the hole and wrapped them together. Then I took paper wings that I cut out and glued them onto the cup. Next I hung it up on our tree to be another Easter decoration on it and to make it "fly."
Now the next interesting tradition occurs in the town of Bessieres. On Easter Monday an omelette is made with about 15,000 eggs. It is made in a 4 meter pan by about 40 cooks with extra long sticks. The story goes that Napoleon once spent the night there with his army and after having an omelette made by the innkeeper he ordered that all the eggs be gathered up to make a giant omelette for his army. The giant omelette tradition lives on and even has its own Facebook page!
There are also egg battles. Traditionally they enjoyed an egg rolling contest. The raw egg that survived the roll down a slope would be declared the victory egg and symbolized the stone of Jesus' tomb. Kids also toss raw eggs and the first person to break the egg loses and has to give the other child a piece of candy.
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| Easter Procession in Ceret By Fabricio Cardenas (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons |
Like many countries there are re-enactments and parades as well. And of course there are church services. The traditional meal for Easter is lamb. Lamb represents new life in the spring and of course represents that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb.
Sources:
Chevalier-Karfis, Camille. Easter Traditions in France. FrenchToday. (April 14, 2017) https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-traditions-easter-egg-lamb-meal-traditionalFrench Affair. Flying Easter Bells. https://www.frenchaffair.com.au/explore-france/flying-easter-bells
Warren, Katie. Eight Ways the French Celebrate Easter. The Local. (May 13, 2017). https://www.thelocal.fr/20170413/6-ways-the-french-celebrate-easter
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