Crêpe Day: February 2

Here in France, Feb 2 is “La Chandeleur”, or as we know it, crêpe day!

It’s an old tradition that has to do with seeing if you’ll be lucky/get lots of money for the year: with your non-dominant hand, you hold a piece of gold or a coin; with your other hand, you hold the frying pan and flip the crêpe! If it lands correctly, you’ll get good fortune; if it gets all lopsided (or misses the pan)…well, you have until midnight to keep trying :)

A little history of the holiday: the religious version says it’s to celebrate Jesus’s arrival at the Temple of Jerusalem, 40 days after his birth. The secular version says it’s to remind ourselves that the sun (symbolized by the yellow, round crêpe) will come back eventually; in this case, Feb 2 is just the middle of winter.

“À la Chandeleur, l’hiver cesse ou reprend vigueur“

On Candlemas, winter ends or gains strength

I dunno about you, but I think this is way cooler than our Groundhog Day! (though we got quite a good movie out of that one)

Picture credits:

crêpe (http://www.ababysdiary.com/GenericPage.asp?PageCode=crepe), la marmotte (http://www.momes.net/dictionnaire/minidossiers/vocabulaire/chandeleur-definition.html)

Related articles

• Happy Crêpe Day, France! Recipe & Video (becomingmadame.wordpress.com)
• Sophie’s crêpes for la Chandeleur…and all kinds of french chateaux. (myfrenchkitchen.wordpress.com)

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