This French tradition of serving a frangipane filled tart known as the ‘galette des rois’ (or the ‘gateau des rois’ in the South of France) on, or around the 6th January, (the first Sunday of each New Year) actually dates back to the 14th century.
This large stew-soup traditionally made at Christmas is a favourite cold-weather dish to warm the soul!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! MAY ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS COME TRUE IN 2025
Superstition? Yes, maybe….but they’re not quite as silly as they seem! As we know, the history of France is jam-packed with intrigue, suspicion, passion, poison, and mysterious death.
School holidays in France are organised according to three “holiday zones”, A, B and C, in order to manage the flow of French holidaymakers.
Did you know that Rudyard Kipling wrote a short story during one of his stays in Vernet-les-Bains in 1911? ‘Why does it snow in Vernet’ pokes fun at the English habit of talking about the weather.
A santon is a small figurine, usually made out of clay and used in nativity scenes.
A popular and much loved Catalan Christmas figure, this small statue, originally of a pooping peasant wearing traditional floppy red Catalan cap (barretina), crouches with trousers half down, in a ‘toilet’ position, making his small contribution to the land.
Used regularly in the media since Covid, ‘une quatorzaine’, was previously a legal term.
When the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) decreed that Spain hand over Roussillon and 33 communes of the Cerdagne to France, the small town of Llivia, in the Cerdagne, somehow managed to remain Spanish. It remains to this day, a little…