La Chandeleur is one of those French traditions which is simply, but clearly, an excuse for enjoying good food: les crêpes. It is celebrated widely across France on February 2nd but its origin is still up for debate. Some say it is associated with the catholic holiday of Candlemas, others that it dates back to a pagan tradition which puts the crêpe as a symbol of the sun (round yellowish shape) and represents the return of sunny days. Some believe that the crêpe is more a symbol of prosperity as it was done with whatever flour was left from the last harvest. There are many other theories which root la Chandeleur back in ancient Rome or Celtic cults who would celebrate fertility ahead of spring. Who knows?
Everyone however agrees that the crêpe is a delicious delicacy which marries itself beautifully with sweet and salty pleasures. Crêpe au Nutella anyone? La crêpe – a light, thin fabric with a wrinkled surface according to Google – is not to be confused with the pancake – a thin, flat cake of batter, usually fried and turned in a pan according to the same Google. The main difference is indeed that the crêpe is not a cake (shame on you if you ever thought it was!) but a * very * thin layer which is folded several times or rolled before pleasing one’s taste buds. Have you every tried to roll or fold a pancake several times? If you have not I recommend you make the experiment: a picture speaks for a thousand words.
We celebrated La Chandeleur with our students throughout the week. For adults and teens it was all about discussing the tradition and obviously tasting some crêpes. The little ones would not settle for just a presentation on the tradition. Excited about their new gastronomy discovery they wanted more. They wanted to learn what was in a crêpe and all the details on how to make them. But most importantly they wanted to try the art of throwing the crêpe up in the air and catching it in the pan again, a skill to master for anyone who want to practice crêpe making at home (disclaimer: children should not try this without adult supervision).
Motivated by such an exciting challenge we set out to find a solution to our little students problems. How do we get them to practice throwing a crêpe up in the air without a hot pan and a hot crêpe? Within 24 hours we had our technological breakthrough. Armed with paper plates, paper crêpes, glue, printed clip-arts of ingredients and thin cardboard handles we created one of the most advanced paper Chandeleur celebration known to man. We surprised our little ones at their next class and used ingredients and the construction process as a great foundation to teach them additional vocabulary. Did it work? A picture speaks a thousand words indeed.