La chandeleur - Pancake Day 2023
Our Lower Four and Lower Fifth pupils have been celebrating La chandeleur - Pancake Day 2023. Find out more:
Over the past few weeks, we have been celebrating La Chandeleur, Pancake day in our french classes. The Lower Four and Lower Fifth pupils displayed their cooking skills, making French pancakes following Mamita’s ( Mme Dépreux’s grandmother) recipe.
Every year on 2 February it is pancake day… or rather La Chandeleur in France, the day of the crèpe (French for pancake).
The ‘Fête de la Chandeleur’, is also known as Fête de la Lumière (nothing to do with the famous Fête de la Lumière in Lyon) and the jour des crèpes. The celebration dates back to Roman times when it was held to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of the baby Jesus.
The name Chandeleur, comes from the Latin candelorum festum, which means festival of candles and in English language is known as Candlemas. There is evidence that Pope Gelasius I (died 496) helped to establish the festival of Candlemas and was said to feed crêpes to the pilgrims who visited his church.
La Chandeleur falls 40 days after Christmas on the 2nd February, and apart from eating lots of pancakes stuffed with all manner of scrumptious fillings, it’s a day for fortune telling and legend! The golden colour of the delicious round crêpe is a reminder of the sun and the approaching spring.
If you wish to have a go at this unique and scrumptious family recipe, try this recipe.
Les crêpes de Mamita
(Mme Dépreux’s grandmother)
Ingredients:
This will make 4 crêpes, enough for 1 person.
100g plain flour
1 egg
25g melted unsalted butter
A pinch of salt
Around 250ml milk
Method:
1. Mix flour and salt together.
2. Beat the egg and add it in to the flour little by little until the mixture becomes thick.
3. Then add the milk slowly and keep whisking. If you think the mixture is too thick then add a little bit more milk.
4. Then add the melted butter and mix well.
Then do your magic and create your perfect crêpe adding any topping you wish.
French at Kilgraston - celebrating La Fête des Rois (Epiphany)
French at Kilgraston continues with pupils from Lower Third, Upper Third and Lower Four taking part in virtual La Fête des Rois celebrations with Kilgraston’s Head of Languages, Mme Depreux, which included a live baking session.
La Fête des Rois is a celebration in France that takes place on Twelfth Night.
It includes a king, a queen and a special cake and the French have combined the cake tradition from the Romans and the arrival of the three wise kings in Bethlehem to create a tradition of their own.
The galette des rois is a cake made from puff pastry with almond paste inside and is eaten on this day. Everyone in the family has a piece of the cake and someone gets to be the king or queen for the day. A little plastic or china figurine is placed inside the cake before serving it, and whoever finds it becomes the king or queen. Originally a bean was placed inside the cake, which is une fève in French, and the word is now used for the figurine too.
The cake is served with a crown on top which the king or queen will wear. During the cutting of the cake, le tirage des rois, the youngest member of the family sometimes goes under the table and says the order in which people should be given a slice.
Mme Depreux also shared a song French children sing on La Fête des Rois day called J’aime la galette and you can listen to this here.