French Christmas is a truly traditional one. It centres around the family and the traditions still hold a far more religious feel than perhaps is the case in the UK. Many homes are decorated with a crèche as a nativity scene and one can find handmade figures called “santons”, or little saints, sold in the many Christmas markets, often very intricately fashioned out of carved wood. 

Christmas trees are more often used to decorate the exterior of towns and villages than in the home and are traditionally filled with small sweets, nuts and toys. French children eagerly await Pere Noel’s (Father Christmas) visit and will leave their shoes by the door or in front of the chimney ready to be filled with presents.

The yule log has a role of its own; many families burn one from Christmas Eve until New Year’s day and tradition states that part of the log should be saved and used during the New Year as a wedge for the plough and to bring good luck.

As in much of Europe, presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve and the main meal of the season will be served on this day. Called “Le Reveillon”, this is often a meal consisting of several courses and eaten over several hours, culminating in the delicious yule log cake, usually entirely made of chocolate.  After all, as Moliere said, “You must live to eat, not eat to live”!

There are some fabulous displays of food in the shop windows at Christmas time and different regions of France tend to have different menus for the festive season. For example, in Alsace goose is a popular choice whereas in Paris you will often find foie gras and oysters, and in Burgundy, it is turkey with chestnuts.

Every community in rural France arranges a celebration during the Christmas season and welcomes outsiders to join in. It is a time of generosity and friendliness. The French do not seem to have lost the ancient feeling of tradition and there is far less of a commercial feel to the whole season.  Villages and towns, both large and small, are beautifully lit up at night, often with just one colour as in the glorious display of white lights in the trees along the whole the length of the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Be it one of the large towns or one of the small rural villages, however, the feeling of togetherness is almost tangible at this time of the year as the French hold on to the memory of the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of Christ.

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