What is a French
Holiday? Celebration of the Assumption
Every day I
go to the store at 8:30A M to get one of the two NYT that come to Lesparre in
rural France. My second wife said she could tell I was on the hunt for the NYT ,no
matter where we were traveling in the world. Croatia, Italy or some African
country were all the same she said. “I
was like a bird dog looking for a pheasant in the brush.”
In France I
have been buying and painfully translating the Sud Ouest from Bordeaux. It is a regional paper that tells us what is
happening in the SW of France. One day I noticed the International New York as
I picked up the local paper. There was only one so I felt it was a sign from
the universe that I should stop reading on line. I started going to the only
place I could find that sold real papers. If I got there at 8:30 sometimes
there were 2 papers, some days only 1.
So my plan each day was to get a croissant and an expresso at a nearby
boulangerie at 8A M. Then I could be
first in line to get into the store and make sure I got the paper.
The prize of
the week is the SAT-SUN edition which includes the world’s greatest anti-Alzheimer’s
treatment in the world, THE CROSSWORD PUZZLE FOR SUNDAY. I set off on the 15 of August to get the prize.
I was first and there was a paper. I
checked the date and it was 14 August ; yesterday’s paper. I checked around and
no one had an explanation for the failure.
I went home,
crestfallen but determined to try today and be sure to be first in line. There
were others confused yesterday. They
were looking for foreign newspapers also.
This morning I was first in line and quickly walked to the kiosk. There was a NYT. The problem was that it was the same paper I
rejected yesterday because now it was 2 days old. Not even fit for the bottom of the proverbial
bird cage.
There were
other confused customers looking for Italian, German or Spanish news. We accosted politely a store employee but he
had no explanation. I ventured the possibility that the failure was due to the
fact that August 15 is celebrated as Assumption Day and perhaps that might
explain the failure to deliver international papers. The puzzled clerk brightened
and agreed maybe that explained the failure. “Try tomorrow”, he suggested.
Living in a
country for a long time forces you to learn some of the cultural practices. On
the back page of the local paper each day there is a statement of what holy day
it is or what Saint’s day it is. I read
that column each day which is how I knew it was the celebration of the
Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
7 August St.Gaetan died in1547 : 11 August St.Claire
was born in Assissi in1193 and died in 1253: 12 August St. Clarisse founded a
monastery in the 7th Century: 13 August St. Hippolyte who was an
anti-pope 217-235: 14 August St. Eviad died
in 958 in a monastery in Switzerland: 15 August Is the Fe’te De L’Assumption of
the Virgin Mary. Everyday has a holy aspect assigned to it. In case you are wondering today is St Armel’s
day an evangelist in the 7th
century
This Saintly
start for the day is followed by the events that have occurred on the Saint’s
day in history. On this day in 1977 Elvis Presley died.
Every
village has a church built before WWII or restored after war damage. My village
of 650 souls has Church of St Peter. I
been a resident here and off and on for 4 years and the Mass has never been said
here. There is a sign on the door that tells you where mass is being said In a
nearby church. Itinerant priests move from place to place on Sunday. France is
a Catholic country. The religious history is deep but today it is often only a
patina EXCEPT when it comes to important holidays.
You don’t
get your paper on a holy day.
