The value of fraternité
Although the word "fraternity" in English is typically is associated with "brotherhood" in the context of a college social group, in French, it is a value of the country that reminds me a lot of "communio" at SNC. "La fraternité" is especially valued in private schools, like mine, where the students and teachers know each other extremely well. On Friday, we had "la journée de la fraternité" at school, which was my favorite day of school! Students from petit section (3 years old) up to CM2 (10 years old) were placed in groups with others of all ages. There were 12 different workshops led by different teachers around the school, including making ornaments, garlands, angels, pasteries, gingerbread houses, singing songs, telling stories and more! The older students took responsibility to take care of the young students and help them though each of the workshops. I led a workshop in building gingerbread houses since the French do not typically build them. Although there was a moment of stress as I realized that an entire box of gingerbread had broken in transit, it ended up working out well. There were two groups of 16 students, so the first group built the houses and the second group decorated them. With the amount of time given, that was perfect and it would have been too rushed if each group had to built and decorate a house in 45 minutes. In addition, the students were able to taste the gingerbread that had broken, which they enjoyed! In the afternoon, we discussed the meaning of "la fraternité" and students worked together to create their own posters that represented fraternity. We ended the day by singing Christmas songs with another class. It was truly a great day for the students and teachers!
The weekend ended up being much more relaxing than I anticipated. While you may have seen some of the tension and violence in the France on the news, I would just like to assure you that I have been completely safe in the suburbs and have been minimally impacted until this weekend. I had plans to visit a friend in Lyon and go to "La Fête des Lumières" (the Festival of Lights); however, due to the major riots going on across France, I ended up canceling my tickets. The protesters are referred to as the "gilets jaunes" (yellow jackets) and they have been blocking many of the round abouts, autoroutes (highways), and major tourist streets in France for the past three Saturdays, Two weekends ago, the protests became more violent as the protesters vandalized many stores and destroyed several representations of France in Paris. As a result of the planned protests and violence to continue this past weekend, many events and trains were cancelled in Paris. That being said, I cancelled my trip to Lyon in order to avoid the chaos and tension across France. Although it was disappointing at first, it was nice to be able to take a deep breath and leave behind my concerns with traveling with the protests. In the end, it was a relaxing weekend filled with sewing and traditional French culture. On Sunday, I went to lunch with my host parents at their friend's house in the region of Picardie. The traditional home and food made for a wonderful afternoon. Their house had a wine cellar (which is apparently typical for this region) and a brick tower made by the husband. The architecture was incredible!!
I look forward to the arrival of my family next week and celebrating the Christmas season in France!