Christmas in France

The sapin de Noël
The crèche

The sapin de Noël is the main decoration in homes, streets, shops, and offices.

The fir tree was first presented as the holy tree of Christmas in the French city of Strasbourg in 1605. It was «decorated with artificial colored roses, apples, sugar and painted hosts,» and symbolized the tree in the garden of Eden.

In France, shop windows of big department stores, principally in Paris, compete with one another in fabulous displays of animated figures; a day spent visiting and comparing the exhibits is practically a must for parents.

Family celebrations begin with the decoration of the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas; candles and lights, tinsel and many colored stars are attached to it. On Christmas Eve when the children are asleep, little toys, candies and fruits are hung on the branches of the tree as a supplement to the gifts « Santa Claus» has left in the shoes before the fireplace.

Many French homes and churches at Christmastime display a Nativity scene or crèche. The crèche is made of little clay figures called santons or "little saints". Since the seventeenth century, the craftsmanship creates couloured santons which represent the Holy Family, the other characters of the story of the Nativity, and the people of the village. The stable is depicts the event in Bethlehem, with the ox and the donkey placed close to Jesus, and Mary and Joseph in the foreground.

Living crèches in the form of plays and puppet shows based on the Nativity are commonly performed to teach the important ideas of Christianity and the Christmas celebration.

La crèche, appeared in 12th century France in the form of liturgical drama. At first the manger itself resembled an alter and was placed either inside the church or before the portal, as it was at the Abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. Antique mangers can be seen in churches at Chartres, Chaource, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Sainte-Marie d’Oloron and in museums at Marseilles and Orleans.

The popular manger was introduced in Avignon by the family of Saint Francis of Assisi between 1316 and 1334, but it was not until the 16th century that the making of crèches or grebbes, as they were called in old French, became a widespread custom.

Throughout December the figures are sold at annual Christmas fairs in Marseille and Aix.