Celebrate à la française / Les journées internationales

A small selection of French & « world » days coming up in February :

• La Fête de la chandeleur :Candelmas
  

  Happy flipping ! Today, 40 days after Christmas is  La fête de la chandeleur  and wafer-thin crêpes are on the menu.  Don’t forget that the first crêpe is the crêpe du chef – it unfailingly looks terrible so cannot be served. And if you want to be rich, you toss the crêpe with your right hand while holding a coin in your left hand.
  Fillings can be as simple as sugar and lemon – always a favourite – or as fancy as Aumônières de crêpes aux pommes et caramel beurre sale. Let your imagination and taste buds go wild ! And … you are allowed to eat them on other days of the year as well.
  For the lazy, cooking-allergic like me, here’s a hassle-free, washing-up-free recipe.

  Happy flipping !
   

• Le 4 février : La fête national  de la soupe « fait-maison ».

  Home-made Soup Day

  Soup no doubt dates from the invention of recipients and has to be one of the oldest meals known to man. Delicious and nutritious, easy to make, can feed a crowd. Soups became a trendy dish in French cuisine in the 1700s that was often served as the first course during formal dinners.
  Soupe à l’oignon is the quintessential French comfort soup. It is said that a dining club called the “Dîner de la soupe à l’oignon” was founded in Paris in the 1810s. Its twenty members all aspired to – and eventually did – become members of the Académie française. They met every three months, and every dinner began with onion soup. I don’t know who they were. Not yet.
  The Paris gratinée version of onion soup at dawn has become a tradition amongst night owls and party goers – and at French weddings – to prevent hangovers after a long night of drinking and dancing.

  

• Le 6 février : Journées mondiales sans téléphone mobile: Days Without Mobile phones

  The 6^th February is Saint Gaston’s Day and this date was chosen as the French “No Phone” date because of a popular Nino Ferrer song in the 1960s with the chorus “Gaston, the phone is ringing, but no-one is answering”.  Check out the song here:
  The French date is perfect for us.
  Sans problème sans téléphone.
  NZ has a public holiday for Waitangi Day.
  

• Le 11 fevrier : Journée internationale des femmes et des filles de science :
  International Day of Women and Girls in Science

  What do Rosalind Franklin (Great Britain), Henrietta Leavitt (USA) and Marie Curie France) have in common ?
  All three were women pioneers in their fields of science who, in their time, faced much prejudice from society.
  It was a woman, Chris Duggan, who launched “House of Science” here in Tauranga with the aim of increasing scientific literacy in NZ schools. House of Science loans out all-inclusive science resource kits for schools that provide everything a teacher needs plus hands on activities. With financing and support from the French Embassy, they are currently adding some French bilingual kits to their list of resources for use in French bilingual schools.  Anyone for a science class ?
  

• Le 17 février:  Journée mondiale du pangolin : World Pangolin Day

  Strange as it may seem, the pangolin has had its own day since 2012, well before it’s fame as a link to the Covid pandemic. It is the Earth’s only scaly mammal and the world’s most trafficked one.  Highly prized for its scales and meat, it is facing extinction because of the illegal wildlife trade. Pangolin Day is celebrated on the 3rd Saturday of February.