La Chandeleur

On February 2, Upper School French students celebrated La Chandeleur by enjoying delicious crêpes in class. In the French II class, Matthew Merril ’22 prepared a beautiful (and impressive) gâteau aux crêpes, a cake made with thirty crêpes, Nutella mousse, and strawberries. AP French students made crêpes in class using a special heated crêpe plaque, the way they are made in traditional French households, and a frying pan.

Madame Beuchard shared some of her fondest memories of the holiday growing up: the excitement she and her brothers shared knowing they would have crêpes for dinner and the friendly competition in her family to see who could flip their crêpe the highest without it sticking to the ceiling or falling on the floor. If one could successfully flip their crêpe while holding a coin in one hand, it was said to bring the family financial prosperity for the year.

Now associated with the Catholic holiday of Candlemas, La Chandeleur has roots in pagan traditions celebrating the fertility of the earth and the beginning of the end of winter (similar to Groundhog’s Day in America). The enjoyment of crêpes stems from the celebration of Festival des Chandelles where people held candlelit processions through the streets of Rome before placing the blessed candles in churches and handing out galettes, a savory crêpe, to the poor.