The history of Christmas in France goes back over a thousand years to 496 AD, when the French king Clovis and three thousand followers were baptized in the cathedral at Reims. Thus the birth of the French nation into the Christian faith coincides with the birth of Christ. "Noël" (which comes from the Latin word for birth), became the people's cry to welcome a victorious king. When Jeanne d'Arc took Orléans she too was greeted with joyful cries of "Noël".
Some of our Christmas traditions come from medieval practices. In Alsace they would put on mystery plays retelling Bible stories from the Creation through to the Nativity. Not many trees look good in the middle of winter in Alsace, so a fir tree was used for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; apples hung on the branches represented the Forbidden Fruit. Think about that when you decorate your Christmas tree this year.
But, Mme Thompson told us, it's the Nativity scene, not the Christmas tree, that is the center piece at Christmas time. At one time Crèche scenes were only in churches. At one point during the Revolution, however, Christmas celebrations were banned and churches were closed on Christmas day. Not willing to give up on their traditions, people made smaller scenes in their own homes, and added figures of themselves called santons. The Christ Child was only added after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and the Three Kings on Epiphany (January 6).
Mme Thompson's accounts of Midnight Mass were incredible. The service begins at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, in front of the church's crèche scene. At midnight, a moment of beginning and ending, the bells ring and the Christ child is placed in the manger. It is then that "Minuit chrétiens" (written in 1847 by a wine merchant named Placide Cappeau, and performed at the presentation by Jim Shumway with Jeff Shumway at the piano) is sung, calling Christians to fall to their knees and recognize the birth of their Savior. While "O Holy Night", the English translation of Cappeau's "Minuit chrétiens", is a wonderful song, the words are of course much better in the original French.
After Mass everyone goes home to a massive feast: oysters, foie gras, turkey, lasagna, thirteen different desserts, and of course bûche de Noël. Sound good? Keep reading the blog this week and next for Christmas recipes, music, and of course more French Studies announcements.
