Here Comes The Easter Bun....Bells?

So here is a little Easter a la Francaise trivia for you. Easter, called Paques , is celebrated much the same way it is back home. There are religious services throughout the weekend, the grocery stores are packed with chocolate and candy, and it is viewed as the unofficial "welcome Spring" weekend. The children also wake up to decorated eggs and candies and chocolate, however, it's not the easter bunny who brought those treats to their homes, it's the church bells. Church bells, you ask? Oui!

 Here is the scoop. On the Thursday before Good Friday the church bells that always ring so diligently in every church across each town in France are silenced. The children are told that the bells have flown off to Rome to go visit with the Pope. On Sunday morning, after a bell-less weekend everyone awakes to the sounds of the church bells chiming once again. It is said that many hug and kiss their family members to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. This is when the children run out to their gardens to discover what the church bells have brought them as they flew back from Rome. The treats are similar to ours, however I have to believe the beautiful works of chocolate art I've seen in the windows of the patisserie shops around France lately  have got to be a little nicer on the pallet that the Hershey's back home. 

I think I will taste test that theory this Easter Sunday. Bon Pacques, everyone!

-Kati

p.s. Yes, bells might seem weird but c'mon, we tell our kids that a giant bunny comes hopping into our house and drops off the goods on the dining room table. Equally as odd, if not a little more frightening.