OK, this maybe isn’t the brightest subject in the world but it’s a very interesting false cognate. The first time I heard the word incinération used in French in relation to death I thought it was a joke. I couldn’t believe that incinération could really be the French word for cremation. But it is. And the verb is incinérer. It sounds so down to earth. They do say crématorium though and not incinérateur (except when talking about the cremator or high-temperature furnace). It seems, however, that with today’s environmental focus on waste incineration, crémation is becoming the more usual term.
Crematorium at Père Lachaise Cemetary
Not that I’ve been to a lot of crematoriums – or burials (inhumations) for that matter, I’m pleased to say, despite my age. In France – and this is borne out by IPSOS, the national survey institute – the trend is definitely towards cremation.
Columbarium at the back of the Crematorium at Père Lachaise Cemetary
The nicest crematorium I’ve been to is Père Lachaise. An English friend’s mother was cremated there last summer. Given its celebrity, I would have imagined that it would be restricted to people living in the area, but apparently not.
Peaceful gravestones at Père Lachaise near the Crematorium
Before the ceremony, we wandered around the surrounding graves and it felt very calm and peaceful.
But I’m getting sidetracked. Another word used in relation to crématorium is columbarium from the word colombe which means dove. The columbarium is a wall with lots of little niches in which urns can be stored. The first time I heard the word was in the Cinque Terre where cremation is preferred to burial due to lack of space.
Columbarium in the Cinque Terre on the Mediterranean Coast of Italy overlooking the sea
I don’t know about other countries but in France, you can’t just do anything with a person’s ashes (cendres). If you wish, you can disperse them in a site cinéraire in the crematorium, sometimes called a jardin de souvenir. If you’d like the ashes to be dispersed at the foot of a tree or shrub, it’s called mémorialisation.
Close-up of the columbarium in the Cinque Terrae
Outside the crematorium, ashes can’t be dispersed near a place of residence, so that rules out private gardens. Larger areas such as forests and meadows are possible, provided you have the owner’s authorisation. Dispersing them at sea is fine if you respect maritime law. You have to declare that the ashes have been dispersed at the town hall of the person’s birthplace.
You can bury the urn containing the ashes on private property if you obtain autorisation from the préfet first.
I found all that information in a little brochure at a crematorium in Greater Paris.
Home made foie gras cooked in salt served with compote de vieux garçon and 1990 vouvray followed by champagne in the beautiful handmade glasses we bought in Rothenburg, Germany, many moons agoWreath made of boxwood and holly from the garden hanging on our Henri II bookcase for which I recently made curtains.One of our favourite bordeaux – a 1979 Saint Emilion, with the côte de boeuf on the grill in the fireplace and a Henri II leather covered chair in the background.
I couldn’t resist the temptation to take a look at new year’s greetings in France particularly since I overheard my father-in-law explaining the tradition of mistletoe in France to Jean Michel and it didn’t seem very clear to me so I checked it out.
Mistletoe hanging from our 400-year old beam!
There are several different explanations but it seems that the Druids used to say o ghel an heu, meaning “may the wheat germinate”, when they cut the sacred mistletoe at the winter solstice. This seems to have gradually muted into kissing under the mistletoe at new year and saying au gui l’an neuf which is a corruption of the original Celtic expression and doesn’t have any obvious meaning on its own. I’ve never actually heard anyone say it.
Later, the expression became Bon an mal an, Dieu soit céans, i.e. good year, bad year, may God be with you. By itself bon an mal an means on average as in our expression taking one year with the other. Bon an mal an, l’immigration se maintient au Québec = Immigration in Quebec is about the same each year.
Nowadays the most common new year expression is bonne année ou bonne et heureuse année often followed by et la santé surtout as you get older and health becomes more of an issue. You wish people bonne année the first time you see them throughout the month of January. You can also say meilleurs vœux (best wishes), je vous souhaite une excellente année 2014 (I wish you an excellent 2014), que vos vœux les plus chers se réalisent (may your dearest wishes come true). Santé, joie and bonheur (health, joy and happiness) are usually in there somewhere as well. Jean Michel’s favourite is Bonne année et bonne santé physique et morale. He says that way he’s covered everything.
Note that you don’t say nouvel an except when you’re referring to new year’s eve or new year’s day e.g. je vous verrai au nouvel an : I’ll see you at New Year or nous avons fêté la nouvelle année en famille : we celebrated new year at home. A new year card is une carte de nouvel an or une carte du nouvel an but it’s probably more correct to say une carte de vœux de/du nouvel an. You don’t see them much any more but when I moved to France in 1975, people used to send tiny cards about half the size of a normal envelope.
Something I find interesting is that Jean Michel never bothers to contact his family at Christmas but makes sure that he talks to everyone on New Year’s day. For me and my Australian family, it’s quite the opposite. Christmas is more important.
And there is an unwritten rule that the younger members call the older members first. As Jean Michel’s the oldest, he only has to call his father.When I sent messages to both my children at midnight on New Year’s Eve this year, he was quite surprised that I didn’t wait until they contacted me.
Today the galette des rois or kings’ cake is probably the greatest symbol of the new year in France. A galette was originally a buckwheat pancake from the country of the Gauls (Gallois) and by extension any thick, flat cake or biscuit. I’ve described the tradition of the galette des rois in another post. Today I’m only looking at the linguistic aspect.
The youngest person sharing the galette goes under the table and indicates which piece is for whom to the person cutting and serving it.
A popular expression connected with the galette des rois is tirer les rois. Tirer means to draw stakes, so tirer les rois means that people are going to share a galette and see who gets the token or fève inside.
But each region of France is different so you may know of other new year traditions.
This post is a contribution to Lou Messugo’s All About France link-up. Feel free to pop over and have a look at the other posts this month by clicking here.
My favourite sailing boats in the TuileriesMaillol’s “Air” (1939) basking in the sun with the Louvre in the backgroundThe big wheel at ConcordeThe man in the middle of the photo kept inviting children to come and hold out their arm so that the pigeons could alight on them.
For this week’s Blogger Round-Up, I have two posts related to Christmas and one from a new member of the blogosphere on Budapest. Phoebe from Lou Messugo explains the do’s and don’t’s of wishing people a merry Christmas and happy new year in France while Susan from Days on the Claise takes us to the last market before Christmas – but it’s not too late because the same scenario will be repeated for New Year. Our new blogger is Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond whom you have already seen in one of my earlier posts. You’ll love her suggestions for authentic restaurants in Budapest. Enjoy!
Merry Christmas, don’t mention New Year
by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia.
It’s the build-up to Christmas and every time I see someone I won’t see again until after the new year I wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…if I’m speaking in English to a non-French friend. However, if it’s in French to a French friend then it’s a more generalised greeting “bonnes fêtes de fin d’année” which means happy end of year celebrations and is more like the American “Happy Holidays”. I could say “joyeux noël” (happy Christmas) though it’s less common but I mustn’t wish them a Happy New Year. It’s considered bad luck to wish Happy New Year before midnight on the 31st. Read more
The Last Market Day Before Christmas
by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history and running Loire Valley Time Travel.
Saturday was the last market day in Loches before Christmas. I took a few pictures to try and give a sense of market shopping, but to be honest, it isn’t easy to take photos and shop at the same time.
Standing in line at the cheese stall. Note the pair in the background exchanging the standard cheek kisses in greeting. The cheese stall had twice as many staff as usual and there was still a queue, so they were doing good business. Read more
Restaurants in Budapest
by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel.
Budapest is not short of good restaurants, cafés, and bistros, but finding real authentic ones that are also a good value for your money is not easy. As in any big city with a plethora of choices, visitors get confused by the internet reviews and recommendations, often sponsored by the restaurants themselves. Like many others ahead of me, I had my fair share of disappointments and paid my price for the knowledge I gained in this field. Below is my list of recommendations, based on what I feel makes a good value restaurant. Read more
Apparently fried onion rings are an important part of Thanksgiving in America but most people buy them in cans which I can’t even begin to imagine. It would be like buying tinned battered fish surely. But I checked it out on the Internet and would you believe it, one of the popular brands is called French’s and they are called French fried onions which I have never seen in France …
I got the Thanksgiving information from the Bread is Pain Food blog but more importantly, I also learnt how to make them. Now in the past, this is not the sort of thing I would have even thought about making because of the calories. However, now that we practise intermittent fasting, I don’t have any qualms.
I want to give Jean Michel a surprise which is easier in a large house than in an apartment. He’s in the workshop trying to flush out the sludge from our in-floor heating system which has not been working very well this winter.
I’ve already prepared the baked vegetables – potatoes, sweet potatoes, sliced green pepper, parsnips, butternut pumpkin and beetroot. Yes, beetroot, bought raw and baked. I’d never heard of it until I had lunch at Susan and Simon’s from Days on the Claise. Delicious.
I’ve sliced the onion (you only need one for two people) and beaten the egg yolk and milk together in a soup plate. Bread is Pain’s recipe helpfully says “a little milk” so I put the equivalent of an egg yolk. I’ve put flour in another plate.
As soon as I hear Jean Michel raking the embers in the fireplace upstairs in order to grill the côte de bœuf, I put a centimeter of oil in a deep frypan (sauteuse) and turn on the heat. I dip the onions in the egg mixture and then roll them in flour after which I put everything in a zip lock bag and shake to get rid of any surplus flour as per Bread in Pain’s recipe.
When the oil is hot (I test with a small onion ring to see if it sizzles), I add a layer of rings to the pan. I turn them over and start to get a bit worried. They do not look like the photo in the recipe. I turn them again and lo and behold, they are starting to be golden. I had turned them too soon.
I scoop them all out when they’re done and put them on a paper towel then proceed with the next batch. This time, I am more expert. I try one. Out of this world! When they are all done, I take them triumphantly upstairs to an amazed Jean Michel. He doesn’t know they are onions and it takes him a couple to identify what they are!
I had thought they would be a bit greasy and heavy but they’re not. The taste is actually quite delicate. I’m going to make them for Christmas and stun the kids as well.
With Christmas approaching, the theme for this week’s Blogger Round-Up was easy to find! Phoebe from Lou Messugo takes us to the Provençal village of Lucéram famous for its Christmas cribs, while Carolyn from Holidays to Europe introduces us to various European Christmas foods; meanwhile Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris explains why the lights on the Christmas tree in front of Notre Dame are vertical. Enjoy!
Lucéram, the Christmas village
by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia.
In our quest to get into the Christmas spirit, we recently spent a day in Lucéram, a pretty medieval hill village north of Nice and less than an hour from Lou Messugo. Why? Because it comes alive in December with its “Circuit des Crèches”. Literally every tiny alley, every balcony, every doorway and every nook and cranny is decorated with pine branches, red and gold ribbons, and nativity scenes in every conceivable shape and size. These scenes (the creches) are made out of wood, paper, glass, pinecones, traditional santons (earthenware figurines), clothes pegs, matches, wool, twigs and even bread. They come in every size from minute tucked into holes in the wall to a 10m long replica of the village and everything in between. Even the village’s numerous fountains and old wash-houses are all decked out with their own floating creches. Read more
European Christmas Foods
by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of
The lead up to Christmas can be one of the best times to travel to Europe, not only to visit the amazing Christmas Markets that are held each year but also to sample the delicious food that plays a big part in the festivities.
Marrying into a German family many years ago, I’m now well accustomed to some of the German Christmas treats and I always look forward to indulging in my favourites when the festive season comes around. Read more
Love, tenderness, understanding and unity: lessons learned from the men responsible for Notre-Dame’s symbolic Christmas tree
by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use
For a bi-cultural couple, celebrating Christmas and other holidays can be liking walking through a cultural minefield. Christmas stockings, decorations and traditional foods can all provoke heated debates. If your spouse is from Switzerland, he may claim that Baby Jesus delivers presents to the good little girls and boys around the world when you know for a fact that it’s a jolly man dressed in a red suit. As an American, I find it somewhat hard to believe that a tiny baby could handle the stress of landing a sleigh on a steep Parisian rooftop without bursting into tears. After all, Santa has a hard enough time maneuvering through the city traffic, and he’s a robust man accustomed to managing an entire village of elves. Read more
Now I bet most of you don’t know what this post is about. Père de famille, you say, “father of the family”? Don’t all fathers have families? And why not mère de famille? Aren’t père and mère enough?
Well, there is an added meaning. Of course. Un père de famille ne doit pas prendre de risques means that a man who has a wife and family to think about shouldn’t be taking any risks. We could say a family man as well in English. Une mère de famille pense toujours à ses enfants. Funny, but we don’t say a “family woman”. I can think of a “woman with a family” or maybe “a wife and mother” and even “housewife” in some contexts. You may have other suggestions.
But that’s not really what I want to talk about. Believe it or not, père de famille and more specifically, bon père de famille, is also a financial term, which always amuses me.
Yesterday, I came across it when I was translating a takeover bid: gestion de la Société en bon père de famille. “Management of the company like a good family man” would be a literal translation but you certainly wouldn’t find it in a contract! I decided on “good, safe management of the Company”.
The expression often goes hand-in-hand with investment: placement de père de famille is what we call a gilt-edged or safe investment. Valeurs de père de famille are gilt-edged or blue-chip securities.
The masculinity of the expression is not surprising – French women were kept out of money matters for a very, very long time. It was not until 1965 that women no longer needed their husband’s consent to choose their own profession or open a bank account. Astonishing, isn’t it?
And it was much later – only I can’t find the date – that women were finally entitled to see and sign the family’s tax declaration. Up until then, the husband en bon père de famille, n’est-ce pas declared both his and his wife’s revenue and could refuse to even show her the declaration!
Women were given voting rights in New Zealand in 1893, in Australia in 1902, in the UK in 1918 (but you had to be 30, equal suffrage only came in 1928) and in the US in 1919 (though women could vote in Wyoming as early as 1868) while French women finally voted in 1944. Enough said.
We’re debating about a day trip from Sofia to Rila Monastery because it’s a 2 to 2 ½ hour bus trip each way (120 K) but various friends have encouraged us to go and the photos are certainly encouraging. It’s also a World Heritage site. We also want to go to Boyana Church in the suburbs of Sofia. After a search on the Internet I find a company called Traventuria offering a day trip including both destinations for 25 euro per person, which is an attractive price. I check out Trip Advisor and the fact that the coach drivers are reputed to be careful cinches it for me.
Traventuria’s office on Veslets Street
As I start booking, I notice the address at the bottom of the screen. Unbelievably, it’s the same address as ours – their office is on the ground floor of our home exchange building in Veslets Street. We decide to go and pay in cash next morning. The girl is very friendly, speaks excellent English and even gives us an aluminium water bottle each.
Spetema Café near the university of Sofia
We set off at 8.15 to be well in time for our 9 am rendez-vous behind Nevski Cathedral. Sofia is quite different at that hour, we discover, with everyone hurrying to work. We have time for a coffee at a trendy bar called Spetema just opposite the university.
Alexander Nevski Church
Our 12-seater mini-bus pulls up on time but we wait for a couple of people who never come and finally move off at 9.15 am. There are eight of us altogether. Our young guide tells us the programme: a two-hour drive with a ten-minute rest-stop on the way, two hours at Rila, then back towards Sofia and Boyana where we stop for half an hour. We’ll be back in Sofia by 5 pm.
On the road from Rila from Sofia
We’re soon on a recent 4-lane highway going at a reasonable pace. I’m reassured. The countryside looks surprisingly like Australia, minus the gum trees. There is little agriculture and only a few weedy looking cows. The cloud formation is quite unique. Jean Michel says there must be a lot of wind. The sky is a deep blue.
Grape vines on the otherwise unattractive houses
After our rest-stop, we soon turn left and begin circumnavigating Rila Mountain, before making the ascent. I’m amazed at how many houses in the villages have grape vines. The monastery is 1147 metres above ground level (the highest peak on Rila is 2925 metres). We go through mountain forest most of the time. The driver is going quite slowly and I’m not afraid.
Stunning view of Rila Monastery as you walk in
At the top, he pulls up and we get out. The initial impression is quite fabulous and we are not disappointed with the rest of our visit. We expected more people, but are pleasantly surprised to see that if we wait long enough, we can take photos without tourists in brightly coloured clothing taking photos of each other.
The Hrelyu mediaeval tower (1334-1335) on the left and church on the right
Jean Michel finds a booklet in French and we track down all the things to see because it’s a bit tedious to translate my audio-guide. Rila was founded in the 10th century by the hermit St John of Rila. It was destroyed by fire in the 19th century and rebuilt between 1834 and 1862 and is a characteristic example of the Bulgarian Renaissance (18th-19th centuries), symbolising the awareness of a Slavic cultural identity following centuries of occupation.
The main church with its 19th century frescoes
At the end of our visit, there are still three things on the list we haven’t seen, one in the koprivchtitsa room, one in the priory and the other in the tower chapel. We ask in the religious shop and are told to inquire at the museum which we have already visited and contains the most fabulous carved cross I’ve ever seen (81 x 43 cm) by a monk called Rafail, with 104 religious scenes and 650 miniature figures and 12 years in the making. Hardly surprising that Rafail lost his sight in the process. No photographs allowed however.
The rear entrance to Rila Monastery
First, we are told no, then the lady at the cash desk picks up her phone, puts it down again and says “30 minutes”. By that time our mini-bus will have left. Disappointed we didn’t ask earlier, we go and wait for our bus which soon appears.
The fountain and frescoes on the church
One and a half hours later, our guide tells us we are nearing Boyana Church and that two large coach-loads are expected. If we want to get in before them (only 12 people are allowed in the church at a time for a maximum of 15 minutes), we have to hurry. He collects our entrance fee (10 lev per person) and when we arrive, he buys our tickets and takes us down to the little church.
The leafy approach to Boyana Church
There are three churches, each joining onto the other, built in the 10th to 11th, 13th and early 19th centuries. The frescoes are all from the 14th century. To quote a UNESCO review of this World Heritage site, those painted in 1259 “possess a rare freedom, realism, harmony in the proportions, liveliness and warmth that already foresaw the birth of the Italian Renaissance. The site is one of the most complete and perfectly preserved monuments of east European mediaeval art.”
The three churches that form Boyana with the most recent on the left and oldest on the right
The faces are extremely expressive and the figures include Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava who commissioned the 13th century extension and the frescoes. Our party didn’t choose a guided visit, but I definitely recommend you to do so. As usual, photos of the interior were not allowed, but the website Pravoslavieto has excellent illustrations and descriptions.
This is definitely our best day in Bulgaria so far.
Traventuria Ltd., 45 Veslets Str., 1202 Sofia, BULGARIA, 0035924890884 (Monday – Friday, 08:30 – 16:30 CET), Fax: 0035924917352, www.traventuria.com, info@traventuria.comIf you have enjoyed reading this, don’t forget to subscribe to new posts using the subscription form on the top right – that way you’ll get them directly on your smart phone or in your mail box! And I love to hear your comments!
I’ve showcased three Australian blogs on this Wednesday’s Bloggers’ Round-up. Susan from Days on the Claise explains about stinky French cheese, while Kathy from Femmes Francophiles recounts a very exciting experience in Provence. Carolyn from Holidays to Europe takes us on a brief tour of the beautiful region of Alsace. Enjoy!
Stinky Cheese
by Susan from Days on the Claise, an Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history and running Loire Valley Time Travel
France is famous for its cheese, and quite a few French cheeses are distinctly aromatic. One of the stinkiest comes from the area between Deauville and Lisieux in Lower Normandy. Simon loves to tell people the story of us spending Christmas in the area and taking a block of the local Pont l’Eveque cheese home on Eurostar.
The other day he announced that the fridge smelled, as if there was stinky cheese in there, but he couldn’t see the source of the aroma and was mystified. Read more
Provence: Expect the Unexpected
by Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles, an Australian who has an ongoing passion for France and the French language currently on holiday in Europe
Last week I returned to Catherine’s large home near the village of Sarrians in Provence having spent a week in her Paris apartment. I met Catherine earlier this year to arrange a home exchange in 2014. I consider myself extremely fortunate to house and cat sit for her for her. Catherine picked me up from the very modern Avignon TGV station which reminds me more of an airport than a railway station.
We drove directly to the village of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux where she had an appointment. I was looking forward to exploring the village’s picturesque historic centre. Read more
Rambling through Riquewihr and the Alsace Wine Route
by Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of
Lakes or mountains (and often both) are usually essential reasons that make me fall in love with a town or region and include it on my ‘absolute favourites’ list. On my most recent trip to the UK and Europe, however, two regions without either a significant lake or mountain have knocked me for six and stolen my heart. The first region is the Cotswolds in England and the second, France’s stunning Alsace region. Read more
