One of the more peculiar highlights of my year is my January trip to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where I have been privileged to give my 'dame' (in the traditional British Panto sense) four times now --- most recently as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. We always do the pantomime rather late in the season, when people and scenery are more easily available. The marvellous thing about this is that it extends the festal feeling of Christmas to the end of January, and towards its proper end at Candlemas.
In the traditional agrarian calendar the return to work after Christmas was gradual too. In England people got sort-of done with Christmas on twelfth night, and returned to work the following Monday (Plough Monday) to have a go at churning up the soil. But really, whilst there was some stuff to do, often the ground was frozen or it was simply too cold to get anything much done at all and so the festivities continued.
Candlemas was that bit later and as a significant feast it became the perfect time to get rid of Christmas once and for all, falling as it did at a cross-quarter point of the year (the days in between the quarter days --- the two solstices and equinoxes). The cross-quarter days were also occasions for paying debts and hiring new servants, and thus were often given to mini celebrations.
Much like our pantomimes now the time from twelfth night to Candlemas was often a time of mummers' plays and revels. Light was a big theme, largely because of the way the feast falls between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The feast heralds the coming spring in many ways and all over Europe the blessing of candles, and processions with candles, is traditional.
It's very traditional -- certainly in France -- to eat pancakes at Candlemas, partly as it can often fall close to the start of Lent and so the need to use up good things in advance of the great fast was frequently an issue. But pancakes have been featured twice on this blog before and thus are not an option.
So... in quiet desperation and looking back to the joys of panto I thought, 'I wonder if they do anything for Candlemas in Luxembourg?'
It turns out, they do! The children basically go 'trick-or-treating'. They sing a very traditional song, which references St Blaise (tomorrow) and asks him to feed them well:
Léiwer Härgottsblieschen,
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Dear little St. Blasius,
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Gitt ons Speck Ierbessen
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Give us bacon and peas.
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Ee Pond, Pond Zwee,
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One pound, two pounds,
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Dat da anert Joer gitt der gesond,
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So that next year you will be healthy.
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Da gitt der gesond.
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You will be healthy.
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Loosst Déi jonk Leit liewen.
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Let the young people live.
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Loosst Déi al Leit stierwen,
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Let the old ones die.
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Kommt der net ball
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If you don’t come fast,
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On Feiss ginn kal ons.
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Our feet will get cold.
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Kommt Der net gläich,
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If you don’t come at once,
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Wed da gi op Schlaich.
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We will slip away.
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Kommt der net geschwënn,
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If you don’t come soon,
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On Feiss ginn ons Denn.
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Our feet will get thin.
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Kommt Der net gewëss,
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If you don’t come for certain,
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Da Der Kritt e Schouss voll Ness.
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You will get a lap full of nuts.
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It's a bit blunt, isn't it? It speaks of needing the spring, and perhaps in cold winters it was necessary for the children to remind the adults that it was in them that the future lay... not in their grandparents. Anyway, I decided to bypass the 'lap full of nuts' in favour of 'bacon and peas' which always go down well. So here's an idea for a souped up version of petit-pois a la francaise with added cabbages and leeks and bacon. In the spirit of ridding the house of the last bits of Christmas greenery you could also throw in a few miserable sprouts if you have them left.
Fry some bacon in cubes/small gobbets, then fry sliced leeks, halved sprouts and shredded cabbage until tender but still crisp. Add frozen peas and a little sherry and cream/milk. Grate on some nutmeg, and a little black pepper. Bubble it away for a few minutes. This all goes very nicely with roast pork and a Moselle valley wine.
It occurs to me now that perhaps the rhyme refers to a very traditional Luxembourgish dish of broad beans with pork (Judd mat Gaardbounen). But I think this dish of bacon and peas every bit as delicious.