Chandeleur
You can take your Christmas decorations down now!
Around the year 500AD, around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire marking the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Christian custom of celebrating Christmastide was extended from 12 nights to 40.
In Rome, Pope Gelasius I used to give out pancakes to arriving pilgrims. They were seen as a sun-shaped symbol to encourage the arrival of spring from the darkness of winter.
Little did the Pope know at the time, but his generous tradition would ultimately become responsible for the French going crazy for crêpes each year on 2nd February, a.k.a Chandeleur or Candlemas. Named after all the candles that are lit in the name of Jesus, referring to this day when he had his Presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem.
When I say crazy, I mean bonkers. Today, across the English Channel, it is officially national crêpe day. There will be competitions for the largest pancake flip and serious superstitious rituals of tossing your pancake with your right hand whilst holding a coin in your left, and so long as you don’t drop your crêpe, your wealth will increase.
Meanwhile, also at the same time around 500AD, in the far west corner of France, in upper Brittany, just south of Saint Malo in a town called Dol, there lived a Welsh monk called Samson. He had travelled there via Cornwall and the Scilly Isles, where the island of Samson is named after him, to Guernsey, where he is the patron saint, and on to Brittany where he founded the monastery of Dol, and became its first bishop. Samson, along with fellow Welsh and Cornish monks, Malo, Briec, Tugdual, Patern, Corentin and Pol, became known as the seven founding saints of Brittany.
Saint Samson, the first bishop of Dol, is buried at Dol cathedral, and some 1000+ years later, the future Bishops of Dol would take residence in a beautiful chateau near the neighbouring village of Epiniac. For the past 300 years Chateau Des Ormes has been to home to the family Houittre De La Chesnais who, 40 years ago, started converting the farmed estate into Brittany’s largest leisure resort, complete with golf course and equine centre and most recently the largest spanned aqua dome in France. I know this because in 1988, I was employed by the family as Chef Des Emplacements with the glorious responsibility of managing their campsite bookings. On most days of that memorable summer, I had the privilege of being invited to join Arnaud and his family at the giant dining table in the grand room at this historic château and eat lunch.
The French call it Bretagne, the Bretons call it Breizh. It was during this time of me living in this wonderful region that I truly started to appreciate its gastronomy, setting the foundations for Maison BREiZH some 30 years later.
#brittanytourism #domainedesormes #celticculture #chandeleur #candlemas #crêpes #breton