Book with confidence! Fully flexible cancellation policy related to Covid-19 Enquire Now!
Are you ready to get dressed up or eat pancakes? Lots of French people and people around the world celebrate Mardi Gras. But how did the name come about and what are the origins of and traditions around Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras was originally a religious festival. It takes place 47 days before Easter, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent when Christians traditionally abstain from eating fatty food, especially meat. Nowadays some Christians choose something else to give up for the period of Lent to represent the sacrifices that Jesus had to make during this period.
Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday is the day that is celebrated. In many countries, the festival extends to a full week before the 40 day period of lent. This festive period is often marked by carnivals around the world including in Spain, Venice, Rio de Janeiro and Dunkerque to name a few. In the Middle Ages, the fancy dress allowed class differences to be forgotten for the carnival period. Peasants could dress up as the rich and men could dress up as women.
On Mardi Gras, the tradition is to eat pancakes. This tradition was to finish stocks of eggs and butter before the fasting period of lent. French people eat pancakes (crêpes), waffles (gaufres) and donuts (beignets). In different areas of France, these delicacies have different names: merveilles near Bordeaux, beugnots in the Vosges, risoles in the Jura, bugnes near Lyon, oreillettes flavored with vanilla or orange with citrus zest in Montpellier, tourtisseaux or bottereaux in other regions.
Children in some areas dress up and ask neighbors for eggs, sugar, flour etc to make cakes or pancakes which will be eaten later in the afternoon.
- June 23rd, 2021
- News Special Offers Things to do
Focus your brain for learning with our free meditation sessions
New from December 2021, Alpine French School is offering a little extra to help students. Meditation is renowned nowadays for many things: Reducing stress Increasing focus and concentration Increasing creativity Helping to balance emotions Reducing pain or perception of pain Reducing anxiety and improving self-esteem Reducing depression Increasing memory Some…
Continue Reading
- June 22nd, 2021
- News
Beware: CPF Fraud Schemes
If you are taking lessons with us and using government funding to finance your lessons, we wanted to warn you of a serious scam taking place at the moment and give you advice on what to do. The scam targets the CPF which is a fund that can be used by employed and self-employed people…
Continue Reading
- June 10th, 2021
- News
Simplifying travel in Summer 2021
If you want to travel to France from the UK this summer, read on to find all of the necessary information to make your trip as smooth as possible. Current quarantine rules From 9th June, fully vaccinated Brits can holiday in France this summer with no need to quarantine upon…
Continue Reading
- June 6th, 2021
- Courses Intensive Courses News
Summer Courses (in person!) at Alpine French School
We are so pleased to finally be able to welcome you back to our language school as of June. If you’re keen to work on your French in a group environment, here are the details of our upcoming group courses over the next 10 weeks. JUNE INTENSIVE COURSES (15 hours…
Continue Reading
Word of the Week
J’en ai jusque-là
This week’s phrase of the week is ‘j’en ai jusque-là’, or ‘I’ve had it up to here’ in English! We’ve had it up to here with the weather this week!
See more
All courses available either in person or via Skype or Telephone. Please contact us for more information
Vous recherchez des Cours d'Anglais? Cliquez-ici.