Happy Easter & April Fool’s Day from France

Bonjour!

I hope that you and yours are well.

Spring sprang in France last week and this Sunday (31 March) the clocks spring forward one hour! Luckily the day after, 1 April, is a national holiday in France so we might not notice it too much! It’s Easter Monday, and Poisson d’Avril – April Fish Day, or as we English speakers say, April Fool’s Day!

We’ll be eating chocolate eggs, chocolate chickens, chocolate bells and chocolate fish in honour of the day. Chocolate bells you ask? I’m not making it up I promise! In France chocolate bells are just as traditional as eggs. Legend has it that the church bells are silenced on the Friday before Easter, and fly to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. On Easter morning, the bells return from Rome and ring out loud. And on their way back, they drop chocolate treats for children to find.

And what’s with the chocolate fish? Well, that’s not an Easter thing, it’s a 1st April thing. No one really know for sure about the origins of April Fish Day, but historians mainly theorise that, as April 1st was the end of the fishing season, for fun (!), neighbours would hang fish from the backs of fishermen to mock their inability to work. Hilarious. Hmmm. Other historians say it relates to the change of date on which New Year was celebrated – from April to January. It was traditional to give a gift for new year and often the present would be a fish, which was acceptable at a time that often coincided with Lent, when meat was avoided by Christians. From this came the tradition where people would give fake fish on 1st April – perhaps to tease those who didn’t know about or didn’t want to accept the change in the calendar. Hmmm again.

And it’s not just about fish, it’s also traditional to trick people – like the top photo, I spotted these eclairs in a patisserie in Paris. They’re not fish flavoured by the way, they’re actually deliciously sweet!

Wishing you a very Happy Easter wherever you are, hope you have a lovely relaxing holiday – perfect for a read of our latest free, and brilliant The Good Life France Magazine Spring issue!

Janine
Editor

Read the whole newsletter and see this week’s top features and recipe picks

Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

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