The festivities called the ‘calendales’, begin on the 4th of December on Saint Barbara’s Day and end with Candlemas on the 2nd of February – a forty-day period that blends Christian and pagan traditions.

For more information: http://www.provenceguide.co.uk

The festive table called « TABLE CALENDALE » is dressed the 24th of December with three tablecloths placed one on top of the other and three candelabra to commemorate the Trinity and there is always an extra place setting for a poor person. People settle down around the table to share the dinner called the « Gros Souper » : a light meal with cauliflower, cardoons, celery, artichokes served with pressed olive oil or anchovy paste « anchoïade », some dried or salty cod or « alose » fish caught in the Rhône river.

The « 13 DESSERTS » symbolize the Last Supper and are served at the end of the meal : light and dark nougat, a flat Provençal bread with olive oil called « fougasse » or « pompe à huile », candied fruits, dates, mandarins, the four ‘mendiants’ - walnuts, almonds, dried figs and hazelnuts, representing the four major religious orders – grapes, apples and prunes. When it is time to leave for Midnight Mass, tradition demands that one turns up the four corners of the tablecloths to stop the spirits from dirtying the table.

CRIBS AND ORNAMENTAL FIGURES

CALLED « SANTONS »

The period before Christmas, also called Advent, is the occasion to decorate the Christmas crib which will only be taken down at Candlemas. Tradition says that one adds a new ‘santon’ to the crib each year.