C'est la rentrée!



The holidays are not quite over yet but French TV and supermarkets are getting very excited about la "rentrée"(start of school). You should say "la rentrée scolaire", but everybody knows what you are talking about! Every French family has part of the summer holiday set aside to prepare for it. Children have a very precise list of stationary items to purchase, including quite large satchels even in primary schools.
Of course, there are no uniforms or dress code (see the kids in shorts and fli flops on the video)... but the stationary shopping list can be a nightmare (thickness of pencils, type of lines on paper, size and colour of folders, etc...), teachers are quite specific and parents stressed out! The price of a typical satchel and content is newsworthy. Luckily parents can receive a lump sum for their child who goes to school ( enfant scolarisé)!

La rentrée is a much more "celebrated" event... You can hear and read Bonne rentrée! (happy return to school!) in the media.The price of la rentrée, the new timetables, the state of the school buildings, everything is under scrutiny and a topic for conversation.

"Here in France, early September is known as la rentrée, and it’s a Big Deal. It’s when everything picks up again after the two month break that is summer holiday season – and as the French like to holiday en masse in July and August, it makes it well nigh impossible to get anything done until September. So now we’re all getting back to work, the children are going back to school with smart hair cuts, shiny shoes and new satchels, and with the holidaymakers gone, now is as good a time as any to ..."(extract from The Languedoc Review)

It is difficult to describe  a typical school week as it differs from areas to areas, even to town to town. Each school seems to follow another pattern. Traditionaly, children would be off on Wednesdays and Saturdays in primary school but go to school on Wednesday and Saturday mornings in secondary school. The school day is much longer than in the UK as it starts much earlier and there up to 2 hours lunch breaks (of course!). But there have been trials all over the country trying to find more children and family friendly hours and "emploi du temps" (time table).

French educational system explained.
Typical school day.
Rentrée des 6eme.

Lorraine?

Other than a girl's name and a quiche, Lorraine is a large French North-East "région" often associated with Alsace because of their common fate in history, always mentionned in treaties, passed on to the winner of each war! "Vous n'aurez pas l'Alsace et la Lorraine!" -You will not get Alsace and Lorraine-is a popular military marching song....Consequently, both regions have areas with strong Germanic heritage (dialects, names of towns and villages, food, etc...).
Lorraine has never been a tourist destination, but a place people pass through on the way to somewhere else! En passant par la Lorraine,-Passing through Lorraine- (another popular military song) , travellers can make some very interesting stops which highlight its rich historical past and discover that there is more to it than expected.

In no particular order:
Tourisme Lorraine (click on English version if necessary)
Metz, the capital city of Lorraine
Nancy
Plan incliné d'Artzviller a unique vertical "lift" for boats
The Maginot Line in Lorraine
La Citadelle de Bitche : fortifications besieged in 1870 war against Prussia, impressive audio-visual tour (English available).
Les Enfants du Charbon  Magnificent outdoor "Son et Lumières" performance by locals and volunteers to tell the story of  "le bassin houiller" , the mining area, its golden age and decline.
Amnéville-les-Thermes A Spa town which reinvented itself to become a tourist destination.
Animal Park of Sainte Croix, a truly beautiful place called Parc animalier, not a zoo!
and there is plenty more...

Who is Bison Futé?



I explained in my previous post how closely linked French holidays are with "la situation des routes" (the state of the roads, the traffic). A vast majority of French people travel by car, large distances, to their usual favorite holiday spot or to visit relatives. Millions of cars "meet" on congested motorways on particular days, at week-ends, in the middle of the month....To solve this regular occurence, after a mad summer on the roads in 1975, a service ( Centre National d'Information Routière) was created by the Minister of Transport in 1976 to predict the busy times, recommend quieter routes and  give advice on good road behaviour and safety tips. To make this information  a little more interesting, I guess, a little Native American character was invented, named Bison Futé ( Smart Bison) who shares his wisedom on TV,  the radio and now on the internet. The French summer calendar adopted a four colour coding system green-amber-red-black to symbolise the predicted traffic flow. The 1976 summer roads were half as busy. Bison Futé was a massive success. He appears now on all TV news bulletins and has become an institution. He received a new look for his 30th birthday in 2006. And since it is August 3rd, I believe we owe him our best but belated wishes for his 35th!
More on Bison Futé in French.

Vivent les vacances!

 

http://blocs.xtec.cat/avaclajota/files/2011/07/vacances_1_.jpg

Three words much awaited for by many kids! " Long live the holidays!" By the way, three controversial words. Should it be Vive les vacances! or Vivent les vacances!  There are two theories and  sides who agree to disagree. I believe (that's my theory) that originally vive or vivent are used when making a wish therefor sing the subjunctive mood.
For example, Vive la France! (which means Long lives France!) is actually short for Que vive la France! (I wish that France lives long!). Consequently, when using a plural subject, the verb should be conjugated accordingly in the "they" form . Example: Vivent les Bleus! (the French footballl team) should be the correct spelling. But you will never see this on a flag or Tshirt. Probably too grammatical correct!
So, eventually Vive has lost its value as a verb, become invariable and almost an equivalent to Bravo: Vive les mariés!
To come back to Vivent les vacances! (I am starting a new trend and have decided to use the subjunctive!), it is worth reminding that vacances is a plural noun; it will always be "les/des/mes/nos vacances".
Now these grarmmatical points are out of the way, let us get to the fun part of "les vacances"!
Summer holidays are much longer in France and have started 3 weeks ago! That is why they are often called "les grandes vacances"...
No French person will read "Vivent les vacances! without feeling the compulsion to hum a very old tune sung on the last day of school by many generations:

"Vivent les vacances!
Plus de pénitence!
Les cahiers au feu
Et la maîtresse au milieu!"

Obviously it is not available on Youtube (I could not fing it) , as the lyrics suggest to burn exercise books and the teacher too! Things have changed!
To finish and put us in a holiday mood, here is a blast from the past Vive les vacances! ,a video clip by Dorothée, a children singer/TV presenter from the 80's. It illustrates how the French associate holidays with being stuck in huge traffic jams...but thats' another story. Watch this space soon.
Bonnes vacances!

La Francophonie.

That's the name of the "French speaking world". Immediatly, we would think of Belgium or Quebec but there are many other places in the world where French is the native, administrative or cultural language (region or pays francophone).L'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie has got its flag, motto,summit every two years (next one in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2012) ), its Secretary General etc...
The French spoken is all these differents areas of the world will of course differ in vocabulary, syntaxe and accents. Figures will vary from one source to the other but it would be fair to say that French is spoken by 200  million people in well over 50 countries.
The hot spots are the obvious ones (Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco,Quebec) but also in North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco), Gabon, Congo, the Middle East (Lebanon, Egypt), Central Europe (Roumania), Madagascar, Vietnam, Cambodia....
Watch the international French Television TV5 Monde.
Listen to an Hymn to Francophonie.

14 juillet! Aux armes....etc...!!!

Today is July13th.France is getting ready to celebrate "la prise de la Bastille" on July 14th 1789, when la Bastille, a symbolic prison in Paris was taken over by the people "le peuple". It was the D Day of the French Revolution and became France's National Day and so a Bank Holiday. On July 13th, towns and villages organise their "bal du 14 juillet " (dance) and feu d'artifice (fireworks). Again, "une fête populaire"!
July 14th called "Bastille Day" by the British is actually called "Le 14 juillet" by the French!! Biensûr!!
14th July is a more official affair with military parades :"le défilé du 14 juillet" (this link is really worth looking at) all over France and particularly in Paris on the Champs Elysées.
Not wanting to start a whole history lesson, it is worth mentionning a few classics:

• "la Marseillaise", the national anthem was written by Rouget de Lisle and only adopted by the nation in 1792. Lyrics and audio in French with translation.
• "Liberté,égalité, fraternité", the French nation "motto" originates from the French Revolution's Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen  but was not adopted officially till the 3rd Republic.
• the "sans-culottes" poor, badly dressed militants and the "tricoteuses",who sat, knitting, through hundreds of executions.
• " le drapeau tricolore", the French flag which originates from this historic period too.

More information on "La Révolution Française"

TIP: Walk around Paris and visit every landmark which played a role in the Revolution:  La Bastille, Place de la Concorde, le Louvre etc...
And for something different, Serge Gainsbourg's own version of la Marseillaise: "Aux armes, etc...!"

C'est la Fête!

I have already written about la Fête as in a Saint Patron's Day. By the way, today is "la Saint Thibaut" and "Edgar". So Bonne Fête to all the Thibauts and Edgars! I have a strange feeling that they will not be many! If you have no idea of what I am speaking about, try reading my posting of February11th.
"Pour revenir à nos moutons" (to come back to our sheep/business), there are also plenty of other feasts happening all over France, particularly at week-ends to keep the French busy, planning, taking part, eating, dancing etc...
There is la fête patronale, again related to the saint Patron of the village/town or city this time.Sometimes simply because the town/village 's name, economic activities or past history. Originally, it wa a religious feast with special religious service and une kermesse, sharing of food , drinks, music, games etc... to celebrate the Saint Patron and thank him/her for his/her protection. This is slowly loosing its religious connotation but still alive in other shape and forms, especially fairs ("la foire", the fairground type with rides and so on..).
Then there are the myriad of "fête" advertised especially in the summer. Some can be justified :"la fête de la Mirabelle" to celebrate the harvest of the yellow gold plum in Metz,"la fête du citron" in Menton (it does not always have to be food), some are not "la fête des cow-boys" for example!

The "fête" has obviously a committee who plans an array of activities such as un défilé" ( a parade), un corso fleuri ( parade with floats decorated with flowers), un buffet campagnard (local food table), un barbecue, l'élection de la Miss (election of the Queen of ...),races (bikes, boats, sheep, horses), a dance (le bal), light shows (Son et Lumière) and fireworks (feux d'artifice).Plenty to do!

Link to more examples.

       

      

So if you travel to France and see one advertised,it might be a good idea to take the time. If on a small scale, it could give you the taste of "la France profonde" (the deep/real France).