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The Christmas traditions, rich
with their beliefs and omens, are fixed deep in the
hearts of the people of Provence and Christmas in
Provence is very special. A time of sharing and gatherings
with families and friends, daily life is organised
around a succession of festivities, rites and customs
: santon fairs, Christmas markets, concerts and pastorales,
crèches and santons are all to be found in
Provence.
A very festive period, which starts on December
4th with the Fête of Sainte Barbe leading
to the period known as “Calendale” and
which only ends on Pancake Day (February 2nd).
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The
wheat of Sainte Barbe
Every year in Provence, parents and children
busy themselves with their preparations
for the happy occasion of Christmas. On
December 4th, Sainte Barbe’s Day,
they place a few grains of wheat in three
saucers on wet cotton wool to germinate.The
three saucers symbolize the Trinity. Carefully
watered, they become miniature fields
to embellish the family crèche
and the table of the “Gros Souper”
on Christmas Eve, a very symbolic moment.
“Quand
lou blad ven ben, tout va ben”
Provençal
proverb meaning :
”When the wheat is fine, all is
fine”,
This Provençal proverb means that
the wheat of Sainte Barbe is sacred because
its shoots prefigure the year to come.
Straight and green, they will bring happiness
and prosperity, bent and yellowed, they
announce unhappiness.
Sainte-Barbe
: The Patron Saint of firefighters, artillery
men and miners.
30 The legend tells that in the
3rd century, Barbara, daughter of Dioscorus,
King of Nicomedia, refused to marry the
Persian Prince Rifflemont, in order to
consecrate herself to the Christian God.
She shut herself away in a tower and,
while her father was away, was baptized
by Saint John the Baptist. On his return,
Dioscorus was furious to learn of his
daughter’s conversion and handed
her over to the Roman Provost Marcianus.
She was tortured, then handed back to
her father, when she again refused to
sacrifice her belief in God, he cut off
her head. At that moment, Dioscorus was
struck by lightning and his soul was carried
off to hell.
Source : Departmental Tourism Committee,
Bouches du Rhône.
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The
Gros Souper and the 13 Desserts
The evening meal of December 24th is almost theatrically
set up. First, the table is covered with 3 white table-cloths,
the smallest on the top, which remain until the end
of the Christmas period. 3 white candles are lit beside
the 3 saucers containing the germinated wheat of Saint
Barbe. The number 3 is essential, it symbolizes the
Trinity. A few branches of holly and a few Christmas
roses also embellish the table. This meal is heavy
with symbols : the Christmas log, the fire, the bread
and the wine, and the numbers themselves are important. |
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Christmas
cannot be imagined in Provence without
the crèche and all its small santons.
So, on December 4th, everyone opens the
box where the santons have been asleep.
The crèche is set up and, for two
months, its presence will illuminate a
corner of the house.
In the crèche, we find all the
population of a Provençal village,
the Holy Family (Biblical personnages),
to be joined on Twelth Night by the Three
Wise Men. All this small world of painted
clay figures or dressed in bright colours
will stay in the house for forty days
before they go back into their box until
next year. |
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The
Crèche : The first
crèche appeared in Italy. The legend
is that one night in 1223, in Greccio
in the Abbruzzes, Saint Francis of Assisi
had a living Christmas scene set up in
a stable. There were an ox and a donkey
and Saint Francis invited everyone to
celebrate the Nativity. The Saint’s
mother, Pica Bernadone, of the house of
Bourlemont, was Provençale, actually
from Tarascon. This celebration was followed
by others all over Italy, and in the late
13th century, the first crèches
appeared in the churches of Provence.
Source : Departmental Tourism Committee,
Bouches du Rhône.
 Santons
: The Nativity figures,
created to celebrate Christmas, have
come through the centuries under different
forms. The first figures, church ornaments,
are often works of art in carved, guilded
wood or in glass. These are the Nativity
figures which were later joined by the
shepherds. Ordinary people did not appear
until the 19th century.
In the 17th century, the figures were
in cardboard, in cork, in wire covered
with material.
In the houses of the nobility and rich
bourgeois they were also found in porcelain,
spun glass and even in bread dough!
Never mind the means, provided you showed
fervour.
In the late 18th century, the first
public crèches appeared in Provence.
These were speaking crèches using
marionnettes and they later became,
because of the great interest in automates,
mechanical crèches with moving
articulated figures.
At the French Revolution, midnight masses
were forbidden and the churches were
shut. This did not diminish the fervour
of the people of Provence who then made
their own crèches, using every
possible sort of material, you could
visit these crèches for 2 sous.
From this moment onwards, family crèches
really developped, santons came into
the families and were very popular.
Santon or “santoun”in Provençal
comes from « santoni » in
Italian, meaning little saint. In Marseilles,
Italian street-vendors sold religious
figures in plaster, glass or porcelain
called “santibelli” (beautiful
saints in Italian), they were made in
the heart of Marseilles.
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Saint
Barbe’s day, evening gatherings
Midnight Mass and the Pastrage (Offering of lamb)
Pastorale and the Christmas Log
Evening gatherings during
the Calendale period
An important element of the folklore concerning Christmas,
these evening gatherings are a family occasion which
prefigure the family gatherings on December 24th.
They are characteristic of Christmas in Provence,
with their story-telling, songs and hymn singing,
with dancing by folk groups and the guardians of
Provençal traditions, they personify the
essence of Christmas in Provence. Sometimes, the
13 desserts and even the Gros Souper are appreciated
here.
The Pastorale
Somewhere between hymns and the “Noëls”,
(Provençal songs, the most famous composed
by Saboly, Roumanille, or Charloun Rieu), we find
the Pastorale : a theatrical representation of the
Nativity, sung and spoken in Provençal, which
sometimes accompanies the ceremonial of midnight
mass. It is part of the ritual and mainly shows
the story of Joseph searching for a home for the
night for his family in Bethlehem.
The best known and most played Pastorale is the
Pastorale Maurel (1844) which is composed of 5 acts
in rhyming Provençal and is played every
year around Aix-en-Provence.
Midnight Mass and
the Pastrage
In some villages, during Midnight Mass, the pastrage*
ceremony takes place. A very ancient pastoral custom
because the winter solstice corresponds to the lambing
period.
”Lou Bayle”, the chief shepherd, wearing
his home-spun cape, with ribbons on his hat and
carrying his pilgrim’s staff, is accompanied
by the other shepherds, a little shepherd boy, other
children bearing lambs and young girls in Provençal
costumes, all bearing gifts. The procession winds
its way through hills and valleys towards the church
to the sound of drums and fifes. On their arrival,
the Bayle takes the lamb in his arms to offer it
to the priest and then all come forward to worship
the Infant Jesus and give their gifts.
Certain Midnight Masses with Pastrage are famous,
in particular, Saint Michel de Frigolet (Tarascon),
Barbentane, Fontvieille, Saint Rémy de Provence,
Les Baux de Provence, Eygalières and Allauch.
In
olden days, the crowd following the shepherds in
the procession carried lanterns and and torches
as they walked slowly through the night. Nowadays,
Allauch is the last village to perpetuate this tradition.
The cacho-fio
This ceremony is the lighting of the Christmas log
(cacha : to light, fio : fire). The traditional
log is from a fruit-tree cut down during the year
(pear, cherry, olive); the grandfather then pours
a glass of sweet wine three times onto the log while
reciting in Provençal :
Alègre! Alègre! Alègre Que
nostre Segne nous alègre!
S’un autre an sian pas mai, moun Dieu fugen
pas men !
(Joy ! Joy ! Joy ! May God bring us joy!
And if, in the year to come, we are not more, let
us not be less! )
Then,
with the youngest member of the family, he picks up
the log and carries it three times round the table
before placing it in the fire-place. Once the log
is alight, the evening gathering may begin, with its
songs and hymns in Provençal, with its tales
and music.
In years gone by, the ashes of the Christmas log were
carefully gathered up, for they protected against
illness. They could also be scattered at the four
corners of a field to ensure a good harvest with no
damage from bad weather.
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The
Gros Soupa
(in provençal)
Served on Christmas Eve just after the
log is lit, and is eaten while waiting
to go to Midnight Mass. This “Gros
Souper” is in fact, a meatless meal
because Christmas Eve is a day of abstinence
(Advent).
Traditionally, there are 7 meatless
dishes, a fairly common opinion is that
they represent the 7 Dolours of the
Virgin. This supper, composed of seasonal
vegetables and almost obligatory dishes,
traditionally includes : fried cod (“en
raïto”), fish with olives,
snails with chards, celery in pepper
sauce, artichokes …
Yet, every region of Provence has its
own customs and local dishes and there
are many versions told of the menu of
the Gros Souper, Frédéric
Mistral tells how
“ Each in its turn, the traditional
dishes appeared on the table …”
So, depending on the location, on the
Gros Souper table, we will find stewed
eels, stewed octopus, spinach or pumpkin
gratin, lentils, artichoke omelette…
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The 13
desserts
To be eaten on return from Midnight Mass, they will stay
on the table for 3 days. The number 13 has great symbolism,
it represents those presents at the Last Supper, Christ
and the 12 Apostles. Like the dishes which make up the Gros
Souper, the 13 desserts may vary according to the region
:
 La
pompe à huile or fougasse : a sort
of sweetened unleavened bread, containing the best olive
oil, brown sugar and orange flower water.
Les
"4 mendiants"
(The 4 Beggars”): Their colours are those of the different
orders of begging friars in the 19th century.
Dried figs (Franciscans), almonds (Carmels), Walnuts (Augustines),
raisins (Dominicans).
Nougats
Dark nougat using honey and almonds. According to the colour
of the honey used, it can vary from light red to darkest
brown.
White nougat mainly using honey and almonds but also pistachios,
pine nuts, hazel nuts or candied fruits.Sweet and tasty,
it also contains beaten egg whites and sugar.
The
dates : Symbolizing Christ who came from
the Orient.
Fresh fruits, oranges, tangerines,
winter pears, apples and grapes are conserved
for this occasion.
Depending
on the area : quince jelly, candied limes or candied fruits
around Apt or Carpentras, winter melons, jams, local sweetmeats
(calissons from Aix, Suce-miel from Allauch …).
A
profusion of sweetmeats to bring joy to both children and
adults, who drink a glass of sweet wine, Carthagène
or any other fortified wine.
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