In French, Form 6 was set as a fun activity as their homework this week, which was to make pancakes to celebrate La Chandeleur which takes place on the 2nd of February. Here is a little more info about it:

On 2nd February each year, French people celebrate La Chandeleur.  In English, this is known as Candlemass. This falls 40 days after Christmas and signifies the day that Jesus was presented at the temple. The festival was created in 472 by the Pope. The name Chandeleur comes from the candles that were traditionally used on this occasion.  

So why do French people eat crêpes on La Chandeleur?

The round shape and golden colour of crêpes represent the sun and the return to the light. From February, days also start to get longer and the eating of crêpes also refers to the cycle of the seasons and the arrival of spring and brighter days. This festival is also accompanied by superstitions. If peasants didn’t make crêpes on this day, they believed that their crops would be bad the following year. To ensure that the harvest was good and that the year would be financially prosperous, they believed that they had to flip the first crêpe in the air with their right hand while holding a coin (Louis d’Or) in their left hand and also ensuring that the flipped crêpe landed perfectly back into the pan! The crêpe was then conserved on top of a wardrobe or cupboard and supposedly shouldn’t go mouldy and should keep misery and deprivation far away.

 

On Thursday, the class had the most exciting practical with Mrs Carn, where they made their own bread. This practical session was literally hands on and the children had to mix together all the ingredients and knead the dough and then create their own design of bread roll. Some children kindly made some for Mrs Curling too.

It was a delight to see how much the children enjoyed the lesson and they were enormously grateful to Mrs Carn for all of her time and effort in making their learning about the microbe, yeast, so much fun. We hope everyone at home managed to have a little taste of the bread too!