Blog :: Dieppe seen by Peter Avis

Christmas is different in Dieppe | 29/11/2009

Diiferent Christmas arrives later in Dieppe - and elsewhere in France - than it does in Britain. That is to say, shop windows are not adorned with unseasonal glittery goods as they are in Oxford Street, London, and other shopping centres in Blighty, which get bitten by the Christmas bug from October onwards.

And Dieppe waits for December before lighting up the high street (with low-energy bulbs now). But Pierrot, I have to admit, did have penguins and icebergs painted on the window of his Restaurant de Rouen in the Rue du Faubourg de la Barre from the last week of November.

Another odd thing (for the Brits) about Christmas in Dieppe is that the whole place does not shut down on 25 December. Shops are open in the morning at least, and buses and trains are working (but you won’t be able to sail across the Channel on that day).

A seafront Christmas fair and an open-air free skating rink (with a refreshment corner for non-skaters) are among the seasonal attractions being provided by Dieppe council this year. All the details are in ‘Journal de Bord’, the lively municipal magazine published each month. And, in spirit with contemporary concerns for the environment, citizens are urged to have a ‘merry eco-Christmas’, avoiding the old logic of ‘I buy, I consume, I throw away’!

Christmas is mostly a family holiday in France, though some people go for a special meal in a restaurant if they can afford the increased prices.

New Year is a more important affair, and many aspire to a ‘réveillon’ feast, which traditionally will start with ‘fruits de mer’ or plates of oysters. The feast continues with many courses, perhaps interspersed with ‘un trou normand’ (a glass of calvados or a sorbet soaked with the potent apple brew of Normandy, to help the digestion).

Some families will precede the New Year’s Eve feast with attendance at Midnight Mass. I was once invited by French friends to do the double: the Mass lasted a couple of hours and we didn’t sleepily tackle our oysters until about 2am.

Many Dieppe restaurants offer lavish ‘réveillon’ feasts at prices that can range from 30 or 40 euros upwards. At one of them, the Sarajevo, the eating (and, later, singing and dancing) goes on until 4am or so, when Vesna and Jeannot serve the valedictory plate of ‘soupe à l’oignon’, to restore you before you go home to bed. No good just turning up on the night of the ‘réveillon’ ; you need to book.

If you want to surprise your French friends with unexpected, and never experienced, gifts, bring them Christmas puddings, mince pies and Christmas crackers. They won’t understand the jokes in the crackers, but generally they are so unfunny that it won’t matter.

Few people send Christmas cards, but New Year greetings are despatched – or expressed in the street - instead. It is considered acceptable to give your greetings at any time up to the end of January. After that, you’ve missed the boat.

An opinion poll revealed that in 2009, people hit by lost income and lost jobs are spending less on Christmas. And people who are well off expect to be spending more than before. How revealing opinion polls can be!

My own favourite day to celebrate during the winter solstice is 22 December. After that, happily the days get longer.

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