Easter in France, a gourmet tradition

Easter Day is a day that changes every year since it is chosen according to the spring moon. There is therefore no particular saint for Easter Day.

Why do we eat chocolate for Easter?

Every year, on Easter Day, young and old go hunting for eggs, rabbits or other chocolate objects left by the Easter bells in the gardens.

The bells: We have to go back to the middle Ages in order to understand the invention of Easter bells. Indeed, at that time, churches were prohibited from ringing bells during the Easter period. Thus, the adults told the youngest ones that the bells traveled to Rome in order to be blessed by the Pope. On the way back, it was said that they laid eggs in the gardens. Eggs: The tradition of Easter eggs dates back to ancient times. During ancient times, Persians gave each other chicken eggs in spring to mark the end of winter and the rebirth of nature.

This video can explain it more:

In Europe, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the end of Lent. Formerly very respected, Lent is a period when Christians voluntarily deprive themselves of certain pleasures, including eating eggs. To celebrate the end of these deprivations, they offered each other the eggs laid during this period. It was in the 18th century that German and Alsatian merchants had the idea of ​​covering eggs, then prohibited during Lent, with chocolate! This art was mastered in the 19th century thanks to the appearance of different molds, as well as the evolution of methods of working with cocoa paste.

And the frying?

It is as popular as Easter eggs. Chocolate frying, these candies shaped like fish, crustaceans and shellfish, refers to two specific episodes from the Bible. These are the miraculous fisheries recounted in the New Testament. The inhabitants of Galilee had then, after an intervention by Jesus, caught a large quantity of fish, so much so that the nets were torn. This miracle convinced John, James and Peter to follow Christ and become his apostles. The second miraculous catch is, for its part, linked to a manifestation of the resurrected Jesus, allowing Peter to catch one hundred and fifty-three large fish in his nets. Since these two miracles, the animal has become a symbol for all Christians, so much so that it was used by chocolate makers in the 19th century to make Easter candies.