March 29-April 1 Easter Weekend

 March 29-April 1 Easter Weekend

Thursday, March 29

France is traditionally a Catholic country so Easter is mostly celebrated with passion. (LOL. A play on words for you Catholics.) In Alsace, it is a 4-day celebration while in the rest of France, it is 3 days (see previous blog post). Some of the traditions are the same as in the US and some are different. For example, there are flowers everywhere. There are little bunny’s (aka “lapin” in French); and, children hunt for colored eggs—except that they are chocolate, not real. Fabienne told me that one Easter, she hid chocolate eggs in the yard (which is called a garden here), BUT the dog got to them before the kids. I guess that was one sick dog.

So, Easter begins on Thursday evening. That’s when the church bells go to Rome to get blessed by the Pope. They return on Sunday.  And, believe me, when they return, they are very happy bells who don’t stop telling about the good time they had in Rome.

Friday, March 30

Friday is a bank holiday which means that everything is closed. Except that there are always lots of tourists in Strasbourg all the time, so some things are open….cafes, patisseries, and such things.

Strasbourg doesn’t have an Easter Parade but it does celebrate the “Stations of the Cross” in the streets. (If you don’t know what this is, ask a Catholic.) In the morning, I looked out my window and saw a group of people surrounding a cross and some clergy who were reading about the “Passion of Christ.” Then they moved on to the next “station.” They had a police escort. Here are some pictures….

I decided to go to the special “Good Friday” Catholic service at the Cathedral. I hadn’t gone since my Catholic school days as a child so I thought it would be an interesting cultural experience. And it was!!! At the door to the Cathedral, there was a man handing out the program for the special Mass. He wasn’t letting just anyone in. I had to almost pinky swear that I would stay the entire 2-hours. I guess they didn’t want any gawking tourists and that was OK with me. I found a seat towards the front. There was absolute silence in this huge cathedral. Then the procession began. It was led by a man wearing a kind of hat reminiscent of the 1700s…. 

…carrying a golden hallebarde….

…and wearing a very large medallion of some sort. The clergy followed. There were about 30 men in their holy robes processing in two lines to the front of the church. They all had on white cassocks (like a long dress). Some had on red capes and others had black capes. Some had little red caps (like yarmulke) on their heads and the last guy had on a bishop’s miter…

They were all very …holy… and took their places at the altar.

The choir of men harmonized the usual kinds of traditional music and the sounds that reverberated throughout the Cathedral were truly a spiritual inspiration. The echoes seemed to linger.

There were two parts of the service that I found most interesting. 

First, three men did a dramatic reading of the “passion” of Christ. That is the story of the meeting before Pontius Pilate through the crucifixion and death. Although they were just standing there, they spoke slowly and dramatically—I mean with expression and feeling. I was impressed because this sound also reverberated and echoed throughout the Cathedral. Also, because I knew the story, I could follow along.

The second most impressive thing was at the very end of the service and this is hard to describe. A few of the men went to the back of the church and processed back up the center aisle with a crucifix (Jesus hanging on the cross, as opposed to only a cross). Then they held the crucifix facing the people and all of the men lined up—about 30 of them—young, old and in-between. They stood before the crucifix, bowed before it, then bent down and kissed the feet of the Jesus-statue. This was done slowly with reverence and seriousness. Then they returned to their seats at the side of the altar.

OK, I’ll stop here because, although I’m trying to be somewhat objective, this little ritual was (in my humble opinion) extremely bizarre. As I watched, I was reminded of a similar ritual I was a part of in Mexico one February on Candlemas day at the home of a neighbor’s (the neighbor of my home stay family). I did not kiss the crucifix at that time. I also very vaguely remember something similar in my childhood during Easter church services. I think I probably did kiss the crucifix at that time. As I watched with fascination, I wondered what these men truly believed about what they were doing and why. I just shook my head at this bizarre, absurd ritual.

Toward the end of the Mass, I looked behind me and saw that there a lot of people in the Cathedral. I estimated that there were at least 1000, although I’m bad with numbers and there could have been more. After the service, the guy with the hat and hallebarde solemnly led the group of men back down the aisle and into the dark recesses of the Cathedral. Then three of the men returned and announced that anyone who wanted to, could come up and kiss the feet of Jesus on the cross. About a hundred people lined up. 

I left.

Oh, I forgot to mention that during the collection, they let a couple of old women pass around the bags to collect the money. But most of the collectors were men.

To continue, …..after the service, I walked around the Place de la Cathèdrale and saw that the tourist activities were alive and well. I saw a man entertaining the tourists with the flow of large bubble. There was also a man who was blind singing along with a musician on the violin. Finally, there was someone drawing caricatures.

This was an interesting contrast to the solemnity of what went on inside.

March 30, Saturday

One of the Easter traditions here is to eat a kind of sponge cake in the shape of a lamb. In French it’s called a “gateau de agneau” and in Alsatian it is the “lamelle.” I decided that I had to have one so I went to the local boulangerie where there were tons of people and bought one for myself. 

When I got home, Aude laughed and said that I had bought a rabbit, not a lamb.   Whaaaaa? I don’t know the difference between a “lapin” and a “lamelle?” I need to go back to the farm and figure it out.

Later on in the day, I went with Aude to…… well, take a look at these photos and tell me where we went.

We went to Germany because everything there is cheaper and it’s just over the bridge. Well, almost everything in Germany. In the store, I noticed that there were lots of languages spoken by people from all kinds of countries. I don’t often get to see such diversity.

March 31, Sunday

Happy Easter! In the morning, I was determined to go out and find a real lamelle. Being Easter, almost everything was closed. Fortunately, “Les mains de famine” patisserie was open and I found a little lamb.

This place is also a little coffee shop. Take a look at this photo…. Look carefully at the 3 cups on the left of the sign, under the words “tout en douceur.” In fact, you might find other things on this sign interesting.

Later in the morning, I went with Aude to the village, Bouxwiller, where her mother and her aunt & uncle live. This is a most incredible village where almost all the houses were built in the 15th and 16th centuries…. but I’ll save the village tour until later.

First, we went to Aude’s mother’s house. Her name is Françoise. She has been / is a somewhat well-known costume designer for the theaters in Strasbourg so she knows a lot of interesting and dramatic people. After a few minutes at her house, we went to the aunt and uncle’s house a couple of blocks away. (Bernard and Mary Christine) This house is a very old and traditional house and I was totally fascinated….

I snapped a quick photo of the living room. Mary Christine has an extremely large frog collection and even has a tank of life frogs. Then there are family photos everywhere of the entire family. It’s kind of a fun place to visit, just to look at stuff.

Bernard is one of those guys who likes to tinker and fix and make stuff so he showed me the little oven that he made in the garden (aka yard). 

We would call this a pizza oven but here it’s to make tarte flambèe, also called flammekueche. Ahhhhhhhh!!! A wonderful Alsatian specialty that is a little like a pizza with a very thin crust, spread with a special kind of crème fraîche, and topped with onions and a kind of ham or bacon. You can see Bernard who is chief fire starter and chef over the tarte flambèe.

While he cooked, we drank champagne…. (From left are Mary Christine; Remi, a professional comedian and friend of the family; Aude; Françoise.)

…then went inside to enjoy the treat. I think we had 3 or 4 or 5 of them before we stopped. That was the “aperitif.”

Then we went to the table which was set for Easter.

And we ate a Moroccan dish called Tajine. It had chicken and vegetables and spices. Soooooo good!

Then there was the cheese course….

And the dessert which in this case was two things. One was some cupcakes made by Aude. And the other was a pair of lamelle which they called the Protestant one and the Catholic one. (This was a joke because one was given to them by a friend who was Protestant and the other by a friend who was Catholic.) Anyway, I liked the Protestant one better.

I was very disappointed in that I could understand only about 4% of what was said. The conversations were lively and I wanted to participate but, alas, the only conversation I could get a handle on was the one about the time change which had occurred the night before.

I found that the people and the village were fascinating and I hope to return before I leave. Aude’s mother invited me to return.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE………

Most people aren’t as interested in history as I am so when I start talking about local history in Spokane, people try to be polite (unless they pay for one of my tours, then it’s a bit different.) Anyway, what follows is the tour of the village of Bouxwiller. Aude’s mother, Françoise, showed me around and told me all about it. I even understood most of it. If you’re not interested, just pass on through this —you might find some of the photos interesting, though. OK, here goes….

The village, like I said, is almost 1000 years old. There are currently about 4000 people who live there. It was surrounded by a wall. Françoise’s house is actually built against the wall. Bernard and Mary Christine live on the “rue des juifs” (street of the Jews).  In this photo—ignore the cars—you can see the old wall with 3 windows. Where you see trees and brush between the houses is the place of the old synagogue which was destroyed by the Nazis during the war.

Here is the old town gate. A big one for the carriages and a smaller one for the people.

There is a well, or a kind of fountain which was not for drinking water for the homes but for cleaning and the garden.

This is another photo of the fountain from afar. The tall smoke stack is where a glass factory used to be. Now it’s apartments.

In the olden days, people who did the skilled labor— the artisans who created the fancy columns, and lintels, and who carved the beams and the stone door frames— had a symbol of their trade that they carved into their work. There is a corner of the village that explains this on a sign and in small pillars with the symbols. Here is the sign that explains the symbols of the trade and the little pillars which I guess you could use as seats if you’re tired.

The next set of photos will show doors. If you zoom in you can see over the doors, the symbols of the trade and the years that the houses were built. These houses show the fantastic talent of the workers of the Renaissance.

Next you’ll see some scenes of streets and squares and houses in general. My favorite is the leaning house. Apparently it isn’t about to tumble because the wooden beams are balanced in some way. Go figure.

Here is a photo of Françoise communing with a pillar (leaning pillar?) from the early 1500s.

I will end this with a photo of an insect hotel in the back yard of Bernard and Mary Christine. I have seen these all over the area, mostly in parks and public places. They are to try to balance out the problems created by climate change by creating places where insects can safely develop.

April 1 Easter Monday

For this day, Fabienne invited me to lunch. Lucienne, Francis’s sister was invited and I looked forward to seeing her again. I didn’t realize that Easter Monday is also a holiday and the lunch was really a traditional meal with lamb and spaetzle and cheese and dessert—many desserts, and…well I ate way too much. Oh, I forgot to mention the wine. It was a nice rose from Corsica.

So here we are —the aperitif. Lucienne, Francis, Fabienne.

Before the meal….

And the meal….

For dessert, there was a brioche loaf, a lemmele, and ice cream with whipped cream. (I scarfed down the ice cream before I remembered to take a photo.)

Some time after dinner, I waddled home.

The end of the Easter Holidays. Whew! Tuesday is my first day of classes. It could be some time before I write again.