Like most bank holidays in France, La Toussaint is a family day. People meet up for lunch and think of their relatives who have passed away. They go to the cemetery with plants and flowers and transform the sad graves into colorful ones.
Chrysanthemums can be seen everywhere in flower shops, garden centres, supermarkets and markets.
If you live in France and are invited for dinner, it is best not bring your French hosts a Chrysanthemums!
The next French bank holiday is next week on 11st November (Armistice Day). The last one before Christmas.
What a nice, worthwhile tradition, remembering past family members. So much more edifying and meaningful than "trick or treating," haunted houses, etc., which is all we have here. Maybe there is something I can implement in our family along the lines of La Toussaint, though we are not near any of our relatives' graves.
ReplyDeleteWe all have our own traditions, don't we?!
ReplyDeleteYou can chose the one you prefer!
Rachel