French Culture – Oh what a year! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 31, 2019 in Culture, Language, Music, Vocabulary
It is once again New Year’s Eve, and around the world people are greeting un nouvel an even as they look back at the year (et toute une décennie ! / and a whole decade) that is coming to an end. And what a year it was!
Les Français dans les rues
As far back as La Révolution de 1789, the French have been taking to the streets to protest against what they don’t like. This year saw on-going demonstrations from les gilets jaunes (protests that actually started back in November of 2018, but saw weekly demonstrations that disrupted life around la capitale and throughout France) and is ending on a whole new mouvement (with no end in sight) thanks to protests over the planned retirement plan reforms in France. Ce samedi (le 28 décembre) (This past Saturday) was the 24th day of strikes and the 59th Saturday in a row of yellow vest protests)!
Des hauts et des bas
It was a year that started with highs and lows. We celebrated the 90th birthday of the famous Belgian reporter, Tintin. And we lost a great musical artist, Michel Legrand.
Notre-Dame en feu
Tragically, this was also the year that the world almost lost one of the most famous churches and for the first time in over 200 years, there was no mass held in Notre Dame on Christmas eve. In April, most likely due to une étincelle (a spark) from a worker’s tool, the wooden roof structure known as la fôret (the forest) burned, taking down much of le toit (the roof) and – if not for the heroic efforts of Paris’s finest fire brigades – might have destroyed all of Notre-Dame. And now despite efforts to shore up the building, it seems that the scaffolding that was in place for the work before the fire may be putting the remaining structure at risk, with some now saying there is only a 50% chance of saving the remaining structure.
Les Tops de 2019
My post about Notre-Dame avant le feu turned out to be the most popular post of the past year here on Transparent Language’s French blog.
These four rounded out your favorites:
Pensée finale
A last thought as we head into 2020: I came across a lovely quote from Boucar Diouf, le “biologiste, océanographe, humoriste, conteur, chroniquer et animateur de télévision québecois d’origine sénégalaise“ (biologist, oceanographer, humorist, story-teller, chronicler, and Québec tv personality originally from Sengal), who said of his mother:
Elle dit souvent que lorsqu’on partage, on se départ de quelque chose à quoi on tient, alors que donner peut parfois être une simple façon de se débarrasser d’une chose à laquelle on ne tient pas.
She often says that when one shares, you’re giving up some of a thing that is important to you, while when you give something, that can just be a way to get rid of something that you don’t really care about.
Bonne Année! May your 2020 by full of sharing!
Et n’oubliez pas de nous dire quelles sont vos chansons préférées des années 2010-2019! Vous avez encore le temps! (And don’t forget to let us know what your favorite songs from the last ten years are! You’ve still got time!)
Photo by VisionPic .net from Pexels
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About the Author: Tim Hildreth
Since my first trip to France at 16, I have been a passionate francophile. I love the language, food, music, art, people, and more that make France and la Francophonie in general such an amazing part of our global community. Having lived in France and studied the language and culture for over 35 years, it is my great pleasure to be able to share a little bit of my deep love with you through this blog.