La Chandeleur in Lope de Vega School

Este pasado 2 de febrero ha sido“ La Chandeleur” en Francia. Os propongo que nos sumemos a la tradición francesa y celebremos la Candelaria comiendo crêpes.

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El día de la Candelaria (La Chandeleur) o fiesta de las velas (Fête des Chandelles) se celebra en Francia cocinando crêpes y disfrutándolas con la familia y los amigos, incluso en los colegios.

CEIP 'Lope de Vega' no ha querido ser menos y desde el departamento de francés los niños también han disfrutado de este delicioso manjar.

UN POCO DE HISTORIA

El 2 febrero se celebra la presentación de Jesús en el templo, 40 días después de la Navidad y tradicionalmente se celebraba con una procesión de velas que consistía en que todos los creyentes iban a buscar una vela al templo y debían llevarla hasta su casa encendida y mantenerla así. La tradición de las crêpes tiene que ver también con las cosechas. Se decía que si no se hacían crêpes el día de la Candelaria el trigo se pudriría. Lo que está claro es que cualquier excusa es buena…

Las crêpes pueden ser saladas, dulces, rellenas, sencillas, da igual, lo importante es hacerlas y compartirlas con la gente que nos importa. Os dejo una receta sencilla para poderos uniros a la tradición.

Receta rápida de crêpes:
4 huevos
1 pizca de sal
250 gr de harina
750 ml de leche
50 gr  de mantequilla fundida
2 cuacharadas de azúcar
Se mezclan todos los ingredientes en un bol con cuidado de que no queden grumos. Se deja reposar las masa al menos una hora. Se calienta una sartén anti-adherente y se unta con mantequilla o aceite. Cuando está caliente se vierte un cazo (de servir) de pasta de crêpes y ya sólo queda voltearlas.

La Chandeleur and Superstitions

https://www.thelocal.fr/20180201/why-do-the-french-eat-crepes-on-le-chandeleur

Why do the French eat crèpes on February 2nd? 

It's La Chandeleur on Friday! Here's what you need to know before you get your crepe on.

What is La Chandeleur?

It's a religious holiday in France that nowadays sees a lot of people eating a lot of crêpes.

Why crêpes?

Well there's a lot of history to this day - more on this later - but in short, it was a good way to use up the extra wheat ahead of the new harvest. And symbolically, it looks like a sun, so it was a reason to rejoice as the days started to get longer. 

Why February 2nd?

The date actually marks when Jesus was presented at the temple in Jerusalem.

Before becoming a religious holiday, Chandeleur stemmed from several pagan traditions celebrating the fertility of the earth and the beginning of the end of winter. 

It's said that in the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I started the Festival des Chandelles on this date, a candlelit procession through the streets of Rome that culminated in placing the blessed candles in the churches. Gelasius linked this custom to crêpes by handing out galettes (a type of salty crêpe) to poor pilgrims who arrived in Rome that day.

Thanks for the history lesson. 

You're welcome. It's good to know the history, but nowadays the crepes themselves are the most important thing about La Chandeleur for many. 

Do the French do Crepe Tuesday too?

You mean for Shrove Tuesday? No, they don't. Shrove Tuesday, when many other people around the world are eating pancakes, is called Mardi Gras in France (or Fat Tuesday) and is more associated with eating fatty foods - traditionally ahead of the fasting that began on Ash Wednesday. 

So how do I take part? Cook up some crêpes for breakfast?

NO! You can’t just whip up a batch of crêpes like you would on an ordinary day. Firstly, it's traditional to have them in the evening. And don't forget the superstitions. 

What are the superstitions?

It’s recommended to toss the crêpe in the pan with your right hand while holding a piece of gold in your left - for good luck of course.

Another old tradition also saw people putting the first crêpe in a drawer or on top of a wardrobe to attract prosperity for the coming year.

There are so many traditions, in fact, that we've explained them all here - from candles and snow to coin flipping and ashes. 

Is that all the superstitions? 

Of course not, we haven't mentioned the weather yet - a crucial part of the day. 

Tradition says that a rainy day means another 40 days of rain. Indeed, you might hear the French say "Quand il pleut pour la Chandeleur, il pleut pendant quarante jours".

Other sayings suggest that a sunny day will bring more winter and misfortune, a clear day means winter is behind us, and a cloudy day means another 40 days of winter. 

These three all sound better in French, where they rhyme. Here they are in the same order:

"Soleil de la Chandeleur, annonce hiver et malheur", and "Quand la Chandeleur est claire, l’hiver est par derriere", and "Chandeleur couverte, quarante jours de perte".

 

Now you're ready - good luck and happy creping!

https://www.thelocal.fr/20160201/chandeleur-crepes-france-most-superstitious-day-of-year

Coins on crêpes, flipping crêpes, and crêpes on top of the wardrobe. Has France gone mad, or is it just La Chandeleur?

The day of La Chandeleur (or Candlemas) is celebrated 40 days after Christmas - on February 2nd - meaning this year it falls on a Friday.

The origins of the celebration go back to Roman times, but over the centuries many French regions have thrown in a string of their own superstitions to prevent the worst from happening, or indeed to bring their family fortune. 

 

Here is a selection of our favourites from across the country.

 

It's all in the candles

 

In the Franche-Comté region, a proverb says that if someone can carry a Chandeleur candle stick all the way home from church without it extinguishing, then that person will "for sure stay alive this year". A bit of a morbid superstition for a candle, you might think, but you've obviously not heard what the folks down in the Haute-Garonne département thought.

There, they said that if a candle's wax only dripped on one side of the candle during a religious procession, it announced the death of a loved-one during the year.

 

They also said that "bewitched" people could only be cured by a soothsayer using a blessed altar candle on the day of the Chandeleur. He would then draw various symbols on the ground, then mix soild from a graveyard with holy water, only to douse the floor with it together with a mix of poppy, fennel, and wild mustard.

 

But what about the crepes?

 

Yes, the crêpes. Well, back in the day people would place a single Franc coin on top of their ready-baked crêpes. Then, they'd let the coin cool down before rolling it in some paper and placing it in the wardobe until the next year. Why? The tradition was supposed to bring more money into the household. 

 

In Brittany, many still celebrate the superstition of the six-crepe flip. Those lucky enough to succesfully turn six crêpes in a row will be married off within the year. Also, young brides who want to remain happily married are advised to throw a crêpe on top of a wardrobe.

Another crêpe tradition saw French people holding a gold or silver coin in their hand while flipping a crêpe in their other hand. If the crêpes were turned over on the first attempt, there would be enough money for the family each year.

 

Snow and good dreams

 

But it wasn't all good luck. In fact, snowflakes brought bad luck, people believed. They said that if snow fell on La Chandeleur then there would be a split in the family or - at worst - a death in the family. 

Let's talk about technology!!

Nowadays there is technology everywhere. Think about it. We've got cars, TVs, MP3 players, computers and more! Al this is technology. There are a lot of inventions that help us at school and at home.   

An usual gadget is the computer,                                                                                                              

We can write letters, comics, or short stories.                                                                              

We can use a pen driver to transfer information from other computers.                               

We can access information on the Internet about everything we need.

An interesting and handy gadget is the MP3 player,                                                                                                 We can listen to music and we can move at the same time.                                                    

We can use a pair of headphones and nobody can hear the music.                                        

We need a charger to recharge our MP3 player when the battery is dead.

An old gadget is the camera,                                                                                                           

We can take pictures from a regular camera.                                                                                  

We can edit the pictures on my computer, and then                                                                   

We can print them on my printer.                                                                

A very important gadget these days is the mobile phone.                                                             
We can call our friends and family from everywhere.                                                                                    
We can send a regular text message to our friends or family.                                             
When we write a text message, we can write signs that are international, everybody understands.

A very important gadget is the I-phone. 

They also use an I-phone.                                                                                                                

We can call our friends and family from everywhere.                                                                                 

We can also use the Internet to look into any information.                                                        

We can take pictures with our I-Phone.                                                                                              

And we  can download applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, or Twitter.                                             

We need a charger to recharge our phone when the battery is dead.     

A handy and useful gadget is the printer.                                                                               

Our Own Pancake Recipe

Our students learnt how to make pancakes with a basic recipe. They had fun and they got full. After they got ready all the ingredients and they went to the cooker, they realized that cooking is too much fun, And it could be so healthy for our body, even pancakes are not the best example for having a healthy diet.

Before they cooked the pancakes, they learnt a song to make the activity even more enjoyable!!

The following pictures are the example of how they added to make the batter of the pancakes:

Add 1 cup of plain flour into a bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon of baking powder into a bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon of sugar into a bowl.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a bowl.

Add 1 and 1/4 cup of milk into the mixture.

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the mixture.

Add 1 egg into the bowl.

They mixed everything into the bowl.

And then, the batter was ready to cook it.

They added to the pancake some chocolate syrup. The pancakes were delicious and the children liked them a lot. 

Enjoy your meal!!