Heim

The French Easter Meal

France is a historically Roman Catholic Nation, so Easter is considered one of their most important holidays. The main course of the traditional Easter meal in France is Lamb. Roasted or skewered lamb is used in many Easter meals in France. Popular lamb dishes for the French include “gigot d’agneau” (leg of lamb) and “les brochettes d’agneau” (skewered lamb). Many households also prepare lamb stew locally called the “navarin”. The lamb is carefully cooked and seasoned and served alongside lots of vegetables such as green beans, carrots and potatoes.

As a sign of mourning, Catholic churches and cathedrals don’t ring their bells in the period between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. On the Friday, young children are told that the bells have grown wings and flown to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. On Easter Sunday morning, tradition says that the bells return, bringing chocolate. As they make their way back to France, on Easter eve, they drop these chocolaty treats at the houses of children along their flight path.  After making deliveries all night long, they have to be up bright and early the next morning to ring in Easter Sunday. When the children hear the bells ringing, they run outside to hunt for the goodies that the Cloches de Pâques, or “Easter Bells” have left them.  Then the traditional Easter egg hunt begins, when kids search for hidden chocolate bells and eggs around the house and garden.

Some regions of France have special easter meal traditions that aren’t celebrated in the rest of the country. In Bessieres near Toulouse, every year on Easter Monday they prepare a giant omelette in recognition of when Napoleon Bonaparte and his army stayed overnight near the town. Napoleon had enjoyed an omelette he had been cooked so much that he asked that locals collect all the eggs in the village and cook a massive version for his army. The omelette is cooked in a frying pan with a diameter of four metres and requires 15,000 eggs to make.

After the main meal, for desert, the French eat many chocolates, pastries and cakes. One traditional easter pastry are Petits Nids de Pâques, which are a decorative pastry version of birds nests made from almond cake, topped with thin ribbons of frosting, and then filled with chocolate eggs.

Special biscuits known as Osterlammele are eaten in the Alsace region of France for dessert. They are baked in a clay mould and are in the shape of a lamb sitting on the ground. The Osterlammele were traditionally given to children after the church service on Easter Monday. Bakers now sell them for easter and they are often decorated with ribbons and banners.