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| Les fêtes - Festivals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Janvier 6th January: The Feast of theThree Kings On le célèbre souvent le dimanche après le Jour de l'An. On mange une galette où on a caché une fève. Often celebrated on the Sunday after New Year's Day. You eat a special cake called a "galette" in which a "une fève" or "bean" is hidden. The "fève" is usually a little china figurine. So be careful when you take a bite!
Février - February
14th February - Valentine's DayLa fête des amoureux. On s'envoie des cartes. The day for those in love. People send cards to each other. Les vacances de neiges pour les écoliers The "snow holidays" for school children
Mars - March
On donne des bonbons aux enfants masqués. People give lollies to children in masks. Avril - April
Mai - May Juin -June
Juillet - July
Le Tour de France - The "Tour de France".
Août- August
Septembre- September
Octobre- October
Le premier dimanche d'octobre Novembre - November
L'Armistice- le 11 novembre - Un jour férié
Décembre - December
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Célébrons les Fêtes! The main celebrations of France are listed in month order. This is a bilingual site. We would like to gratefully acknowledge that the idea for much of the written French material used on this page comes from this link. QUIZ 1. Which month in France has the most public holidays?
2. Which month does the picture above belong to?
3. Where is this place and what happens here? when?
4. These flowers are given as a gift. Do you know who receives them, why, and when?
5. This building no longer exists. What was it and why is it important to the French?
6. La coupe de France. In which month is this played off?
7. Les vendanges or harvesting of the grapes takes place in which month? 8. In which month is the Tour de France held? More about March It’s Carnival time in France! The city of Nice in the South is famous because of its wonderful flower carnivals. There is a special theme each year and people spend many months preparing their float and their costumes for the two weeks of “Carnaval”. During the parades of big floats covered in flowers the characters throw real flowers to the spectators. At night, there are different floats for the light parades Voici le carnaval
More about April POISSON D'AVRIL J’ai accroché dans ton dos
http://www.francetravelguide.com /april-fools-day-in-france-le- More about Easter People give decorated and painted eggs as well as chocolate eggs. The French jeweller, Fabergé, became famous for the gold eggs he made for the royal families of Europe at the start of this century. These were decorated with jewels and are worth millions of dollars today.
One village in France now makes Easter an annual tourist attraction. Local farmers hide real eggs in the hedgerows bordering the lanes around the village. On Easter Day, thousands of people come to the little village to try and find the hidden eggs. More about May Europe Day on 9th May is a special day to celebrate the European Union. There are now 27 countries in the EU, with nearly 500 million people. All these countries share the same currency, the Euro.
Special services are held to remember those who were deported, Jewish families and Resistance members who were involved in World War II on Victoire
This is the appeal by General de Gaulle for help after the invasion of France. More about June
For students in “Terminale” or the last year of high school, there is the very important set of public exams called the Baccalaureat which mark the end of their school life. Students may study at least five or six different subjects, which often have more than one exam each. Often these exams are three hours long. You can understand why these students are happy to go on holiday when their exams are finished! More about July The “storming of the Bastille” took place on the 14th July 1789. In actual fact, there were only four people in the prison at the time - who were very glad to be released!
Since then, July 14th has been seen to be a very special day in France. It is a National holiday, and every town and village holds special celebrations usually ending in elaborate firework displays. More about September September is the month of La Rentrée or return to school and university. All over France, millions of students of all ages are getting ready to go back to school.
More about October October is the season of Autumn in France, when the leaves on the trees turn red, orange, yellow, brown and gold before they fall. In the fields, woods and forests mushrooms ripen and become ready for picking.
There are hundreds of varieties which grow in the country areas, but you have to be very careful about the ones you pick. This is because many poisonous varieties look very much like the ones which make safe, good eating.
More about November The 11th November is another public holiday. This is “Armistice Day” and is held in memory of when the First World War ended in 1918. The war was stopped all over the world at 11am, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. It was a war in which millions of soldiers died. Many of the biggest battles had taken place in France. The French wanted to dedicate this day to all those who had fought and died so courageously for their country.
Every little village in France has its War Memorial or Monument aux Morts, with the names of those who died for their country. This Monument aux Morts is in Vichy. |
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Click here for a worksheet on Les fêtes en France.
Click here for a full French festival calendar, in French.
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Page last updated
October 23, 2013 3:00 PM
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