The main decoration you do see is "Santa on a rope".
The ol' fella can be seen, grimly hanging on, in most towns in France.Sometimes, until May.....
Simon
Monday, 5 January 2009
Santa on a Rope
The French down our way don't really go in for decorating the exterior of their houses for Christmas. Which is one of the things we like them for.
The main decoration you do see is "Santa on a rope".
The ol' fella can be seen, grimly hanging on, in most towns in France.
Sometimes, until May.....
Simon
The main decoration you do see is "Santa on a rope".
The ol' fella can be seen, grimly hanging on, in most towns in France.Sometimes, until May.....
Simon
7 comments:
Santa must be more athletic in France than in the US. Here, reindeer do most of the work, leaving Santa merely to slide down a chimney, eat milk and cookies, and give a nod to get back up the chimney (with a full stomach yet). I would doubt the truth of this whole thing, but our economy is based on it, so there must be something to it.
Santa in France is tall and skinny, not the rotund gent that most of us would recognise.
Plus, if the evidence of our own eyes can be believed, the gifts he deliveres to one house could well be pilferred from the house next door...
It starts to look like some kind of mass execution, doesn't it?
Snow is starting to fall here in Saint-Aignan, but you couldn't yet call it a blizzard.
Ken
Something i learnt over the holidays:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Visit_From_St._Nicholas :
This poem [Twas the night before Christmas / And all through the house / etc.] is responsible for the contemporary jolly-old-fat-man depiction of Santa Claus. Previously, Santa Claus ( St. Nick) was often depicted as thinner and decidedly less jolly;
To put things in perspective, I was watching a documentary on Coca-Cola and it was mentioned that Coke is responsible for the jolly-fat man depiction. I wanted to verify that story and I found the explanation on wikipedia.
Aha all interesting. Santa on a rope--I love it. I wonder why this hasn't caught on in the States when Christmas decor usually involves lots of kitsch. Now I want to somehow find Santa on a rope for next year. also thank you for all these Christmas entries. Most especially the Bells. I would love to hear bells ring in the celebration of the birth of Christ. Beautiful and stirring.
Jenny: We are big fans of church bells, even after having lived right next door to a set for 12 years in the UK. When we first moved to the UK house, we mentioned to the church warden that we had heard the bells on Sunday. He immediately looked worried – apparently many people dislike them and he was expecting a complaint from us, but we reassured him.
Beaver: Interesting footnote, thanks.
I wonder if they're really elves on those ropes? I mean, there's really only ONE Santa, right?
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