It's freezing in my house right now (the plumbers haven't come back yet to finish the job), and I had just put my warm bathrobe on over my street clothes and sat down to work when I heard a knock at the front door. Thinking A had lost the key, I ran to open it. A large black man in a gray pullover looked me up and down. "You are the mistress of the house?" he said doubtfully.
"Oui," I said. Across the hall I could see my new British neighbor retreating behind his door, looking puzzled, holding a tiny red card in his hand.
The large man smiled and gave me a card as well. "It's for the garbagemen, madame. The calendar."
Ah! I nodded and went to fetch my wallet.
The yearly étrennes, or tips, for the garbagemen of the city! It is, strictly speaking, completely illegal for a government employee to come and solicit tips in the apartment buildings. But it's an old custom, and the firemen, policemen and garbagemen still do it every year. I must admit the Paris firemen's cheap but large calendar makes a better impression hanging on a wall back in the States, where I usually send it to someone. One thing I have never understood, though, is the purpose of the saints' names on the calendar on the back. Maybe a French person can explain that to me.
Isn't the purpose of listing the saints so that people can know when their name day is?
Posted by: K_sam | 09 November 2011 at 20:14
Yes, but justement, why do they care when their saint's name day is? Does anything special happen that day? I haven't noticed that it does.
Posted by: Sedulia | 10 November 2011 at 00:08
My French family will celebrate each person's "fete" with a nice meal or special dessert. It's always fun :) In fact, until 1966, you had to name your child after one of the names that appeared on the calendar (http://www.affection.org/prenoms/loi.html ). My mother-in-law was actually named for her saint because she was born on that saint's day. So there is a long tradition of using these saint's days this way. Of course, my French family is from the South of France, so perhaps these customs are more provincial?
Posted by: Gem | 10 November 2011 at 16:27
What a nice custom! No one I know is named for their birthday saint. Some of the names are really unusual, like Enguerrand, Judicaël, Guénolé, Gabin, Amandine....
Posted by: Sedulia | 10 November 2011 at 17:59
I also know a lot of people who celebrate their name day with a special dessert too. And my clients always get a kick out of it when I happen to notice it's their name day and wish them "bonne fête".
Posted by: k_sam | 11 November 2011 at 09:08