La sainte Catherine

 

Catherine Day is celebrated every year on November 25th. It is the day for non-married girl and for little girl. It appeared on Xth century. This day is celebrated in France and other countries like in England, Estonia, Belgium, Canada. It is a commeration of Catherine of Alexandrie a city in Egypt.

Catherine of Alexandrie

She was born around on 290. She was very devoted and very clever. The emperor made a pass at the young girl but she wasn't interested of him. She told that she married to God. The emperor was very furious and ordered to behead her. The legend said that a milk sank instead of blood. She died at the age of 18.





The celebration in France

At the North of France, little girls send each other cards for this day. Young ladies who aren't still married at 25, wear a hat and hope to meet a man as her futur husband. In cities in France (not all), a fair is given and you can find some young ladies with a hat. Green and yellow colours are chosen by a majority of young ladies for their hat. These colours are symbolic. Green symbolizes the hope and the yellow means the wisdom. They are called les Catherinettes.

At this event, there are some traders exposing their goods, some retailer offering drinks, sandwiches, hot dogs, cakes... and the traditional ginger bread pig with a whistle as a tail.











In the past, single ladies told some praise according their age requesting to God to them a husband.

At 25: « Donnez-moi, Seigneur, un mari de bon lieu! Qu'il soit doux, opulent, libéral et agréable! »
Give me, my Lord, a husband from a good society!  He be a  gentle man, liberal and pleasant!

After 25: « Seigneur, un qui soit supportable, ou qui, parmi le monde, au moins puisse passer! » .
Lord, one who be bearable, or, among the world, be able to pass at least.

After 30: « Un tel qu'il te plaira Seigneur, je m'en contente ! ».
one who will please you, I will be satisfied.

A poem of Sainte-Catherine

« Sainte Catherine, soyez bonne

Nous n'avons plus d'espoir

qu'en vous

Vous êtes notre patronne

Ayez pitié de nous

Nous vous implorons à genoux

Aidez-nous à nous marier

Pitié, donnez-nous un époux

Car nous brûlons d'aimer

Daignez écouter la prière

De nos cœurs fortement épris

Oh, vous qui êtes notre mère

Donnez-nous un mari »

I collected praises and the poem from Wikipedia.

jobs - les métiers

Introducing yourself is to tell, as well, what you do in the life.


There are some expressions.



Qu'est-ce que tu fais dans la vie ? What do you do in the life?
or:
- quelle est ta profession ? What is your profession?
- quel est ton métier ? What is your job?
- tu fais quoi dans la vie ?  You do what in the life? (familiar)

For a man:Je suis professeur. I am a teacher.
Je suis boulanger. I am a baker.
Je suis électricien. I am an electrician.
Je suis architecte. I am an architect.

For a woman, we have to add "e" at the end of the word. That gives:

Je suis commerçante. I am a trader.
Je suis chirurgienne. I am a surgeon.
Je suis assistante. I am an assistant.

Sometimes, we have to change the suffix.

Words ending by eur -> trice or euse      Acteur - Actrice     Coiffeur - Coiffeuse
                            ien -> ienne                 Electricien - Electricienne
                            ier -> ière                     Epicier- Epicière 
                            er  -> ère                      Boulanger - Boulangère

You can find some jobs which the gender is mixed because the word ends by "e".
Un architecte- une architecte (architect)
Un dentiste - une dentiste (dentist)
Un détective - une détective (detective)

Some jobs stays in masculin even if it is a woman who practise this job.

Un médecin - une femme médecin (but if you want to write to her, you have to write Madame le médecin)










Un professeur - une femme professeur (but if you want to write to her, you have to write Madame le professeur)
In the familiar language, you can say "la prof".

Un pompier - une femme pompier.










Other jobs in this same case: écrivain (une femme écrivain), ingénieur (une femme ingénieur), plombier (une femme plombier), pilote (une femme pilote).
Writer, ingineer, plumber, pilot.

Show me if you understood:
http://users.skynet.be/providence/vocabulaire/francais/metier/met1.htm


Did you find it easy?






I have found this exercice from 
http://ticsenfle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/les-metiers-vocabulaire-activites.html






.

recipe of mardi-gras doughnuts (recette des beignets de carnaval)

Tomorrow, it will be Mardi-gras. As I told you in my last article about Mardi-gras traditions, in every household, you can find Mardi-gras doughnuts. If you want to taste them, I am giving to you the recipe. 

For about 40 doughnuts

Ingredients

   500g flour (500g de farine)

  100g melted butter, 90 g sugar (100g de beurre fondu,90 g de sucre)


  3 eggs, 5tsp fresh creme, 1 pinch of salt (3 oeufs, 5 cuillères à café de crème fraîche, une pincée de sel)


  1packet of baking powder (= 15g), 1 tsp orange-flower water (1 paquet de levure chimique, 1 cuillère à café d'eau de fleur d'oranger)

1 lemon peel (1 zeste de citron)


Iced sugar (made by myself) (sucre glace, fait par moi-même)

Preparation

  
Mix all ingredients in a big bowl.
Mélangez tous les ingrédients dans un saladier.

 
                               

Knead well the pastry to get it smooth. 
Pétrissez bien la pâte pour la rendre lisse.
 
Leave the pastry during one hour at room temperature.
Laissez la pâte pendant une heure à température ambiante.
 
One hour later, spread it very thinly.
Une heure plus tard, étalez-la très finement.

 
Cut up the pastry making a shape: for example rectangle, triangle, circle, star, etc. My tips: Do a notch inside the doughnuts.
Découpez la pâte en faisant une forme : par exemple en rectangle, en triangle, en cercle, en étoile. Mes conseils : faites une entaille à l'intérieur des beignets.

Make the doughnuts frying in hot oil.
Faites frire les beignets dans de l'huile chaude. 

 
When fried, sprinkle them with iced sugar.
Quand ils sont cuits, saupoudrez de sucre glace.

Enjoy!

Mardi-gras event

Sorry! it is a long time that I haven't written something. But I am so busy! I have a bit of time to tell you how french people celebrated Mardi-gras event until the end of the eighties.

Mardi-gras (or carnival day) is the Lent's Eve, everybody knows that! For children, it was a very important day. After school, we disguised in our favorite hero, in princess, in an animal and so on. Ready, we went out with our brothers, sisters and friends in the streets of our village and knocked out the doors. People opened the door and tried to recognize who was behind each mask. Some did that when they know children in the village. After, they gave us coins, treats, mardi-gras doughnuts. We were very happy with our full of treats bag!  Somebody welcomed children very warmly but some weren't happy to see us. So, we knew where to knock out. We enjoyed a lot. When the night come, we went home and showed to our mum what we collected. My mother didn't want us to eat to much sweets. It was a good reminder.

These are our heroes mask that we wore for Mardi-gras event

 In these masks, it wasn't comfortable because we were hot and some difficulties to respire (although there were two holes to breath). Every 5 minutes, we had to take it off, to have fresh air but we enjoyed all the same!

Nowadays, the sweets collection does not exist. No children disguised in the street. But I am sure they enjoy eating good Mardi-gras doughnuts.
YES! Because when Mardi-gras comes, French people cook doughnuts with a variety of shapes: rectangle, circle, triangle, lozenge... You can buy them at the bakeries too. When it was time to cook them, I enjoyed with my mum, my sisters and my brother to make them.

There is another event in relationship with Mardi-gras that many cities or towns in France organize. It is the carnival. You can see some people disguised on the carnival floats or escorting them, wandering in the streets accompanied by the music. It is very colourful, exciting. You are sure to have a good time!