--- title: Christmas, Epiphany and pancake day French-style — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Christmas, Epiphany and pancake day French-style», a lesson of the french course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Winter in France is full of feasts, and many of them look a little different from Christmas and pancake day in Britain, Ir --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/) / Christmas, Epiphany and pancake day Fr… # Christmas, Epiphany and pancake day French-style Lesson 32 of the french course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/0/) — Winter in France is full of feasts, and many of them look a little different from Christmas and pancake day in Britain, Ireland or America. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/1/) — In many French families the big Christmas meal is on the evening of 24 December, le réveillon, and children traditionally leave their shoes by the tree or the fireplace for le Père Noël, not stockings. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/2/) — Picture early January in a French classroom: a round, flat, golden cake is cut, the youngest child hides under the table and calls out who gets each slice, and somebody bites into a tiny hidden figure - la fève - and is crowned king for the day. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/3/) — On 2 February, la Chandeleur, French kitchens fill with crêpes, and some people flip them holding a coin in the other hand for luck all year. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/4/) — Then comes Mardi gras, "fat Tuesday", the last day of rich food before Lent, when French school children often dress up for carnival. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/5/) — Le réveillon de Noël is the big Christmas Eve dinner on 24 December; some families open presents that night and others on the morning of the 25th. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/6/) — Traditionally French children leave their shoes by the tree (le sapin) or the fireplace (la cheminée) for le Père Noël to fill with presents (les cadeaux). - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/7/) — La bûche de Noël is a rolled chocolate cake shaped like a log; une bûche is a log for the fire, and the word is feminine. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/8/) — Strasbourg, in Alsace in the east of France, has one of the oldest Christmas markets in Europe, le marché de Noël, with gingerbread called le pain d'épices. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/9/) — For Epiphany, around 6 January, French families share la galette des rois, a puff-pastry cake with almond cream and a little charm called la fève hidden inside. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/10/) — Whoever finds la fève wears a paper crown, la couronne, and is king or queen for the day; you must eat slowly so you don't swallow it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/11/) — The youngest child sits under the table and says who gets each slice, so nobody can cheat by choosing the slice with the fève. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/12/) — In the south of France people often eat le gâteau des rois instead, a brioche ring with candied fruit, which also hides a fève. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/13/) — La Chandeleur, 2 February, is the day for crêpes in France. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/14/) — Mardi gras means "fat Tuesday" (gras means fat); it was the last day for rich food before Lent (the weeks before Easter when many Christians ate plainer food), and children often wear costumes for carnival around then. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/15/) — Il est né, le divin enfant is a traditional French Christmas carol, hundreds of years old: "He is born, the divine child". - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/32-christmas-epiphany-and-pancake-day-french-style/16/) — At New Year people say "Bonne année, bonne santé !" - happy New Year and good health - and many send cards in January. - ← previous: [Songs and rhymes](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/31-songs-and-rhymes/) - next →: [14 juillet, poisson d'avril and other French days](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/33-14-juillet-poisson-d-avril-and-other-french-days/) - ↑ back to [French](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/)