• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Patricia Sands

Author

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Can I visit your Book Club on Zoom?
  • Books
    • The Bridge Club
    • Love in Provence Series
      • The Promise of Provence
      • About Promises to Keep
      • I Promise You This
    • Drawing Lessons
    • Les Villa des Viollettes series
      • The First Noël at the Villa des Violettes
      • A Season of Surprises at the Villa des Violettes
      • Lavender, Loss & Love at the Villa des Violettes
    • The Secrets We Hide
  • Travel
    • Photography, France & d’Ailleurs
  • Instagram
  • If it’s Friday, it must be France…
  • Contact me

la Toussaint

Who’s the winner?

November 7, 2014 by Patricia Sands 5 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

canstockphoto8136400

Félicitations, Bernadette Ryan!  Yay! You are the winner of Wolfsangel by Liza Perrat from the giveaway we talked about here two weeks ago.

Bernadette, I know you are going to feel this story is as gripping as I found it! Please email me your contact information and Liza Perrat will get in touch with you. Thanks to everyone else who joined in the fun and, with ebooks so reasonably priced, you might want to pop online and pick up your own copy.

And … yes, Bernadette … you were absolutely correct when you identified the photo in question as Place de la Mairie in beautiful Roussillon! You know your Provence!

I love that village and so did the women on our Womens Travel Network tours last summer. We will be spending a day there again on our 2015 tour. Who’s coming with us? I’ve written a short post about the tours in the latest edition of my favourite website The Good Life France. Click right here to see it.

If you entered the other giveaway of Wolfsangel that was in my newsletter, you’ve still got a chance!  I hope to send the letter off by the end of next week and want to thank Liza for donating two copies of her novel. It’s such a pleasure to give away books!

LA TOUSSAINT – On November 1, this bank holiday was observed throughout France.

All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead ~ A special day to remember the deceased, this holiday is recognized in many countries around the world. The roots of the celebration of Hallowe’en began with this holiday, but that’s another story.

Today we’re talking about chrysanthemums ~ les chrysanthèmes in France.canstockphoto11193499 The appearance of these bright blooms in Canada is one of the signals that autumn is on the way. We love to plant them in our gardens and fill our patio planters with them as the summer annuals begin to fade away. Often we bring them as hostess gifts at this time of year. Please don’t do this in France because these blooms are known as the flower of the dead. Their symbolism is very special.

 

Markets are full of these colourful plants and roadside stands trade the melons of summer for pots of les chrysanthèmes, which families leave in cemeteries to honour the deceased. I’m not certain how the tradition began but these fall-blooming flowers were first left on the graves of World War One soldiers and the tradition  has continued. Cemeteries throughout the country flow with colour for weeks after this special day.

IMG_7268

The traditional flower of la Toussaint. Do you plant ‘mums’ in your garden or put pots of them on your patios in autumn? I do! 

Let’s all say bienvenue and welcome back to my friend Margo Lestz, who lives in Nice. She’s been traveling for a few months and is back posting on her blog, The Curious Rambler. Her site has been given a brand new makeover and looks fantastique! Her posts are always informative and entertaining … pop over and visit!

 

Bon weekend tout le monde!

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Blog, Contests, France, General Travel, If it is France... Tagged With: All Saints Day, chrysanthemums, France, la Toussaint, Margo Lestz, Patricia Sands

Primary Sidebar

Join Me Here!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow me on Amazon

Follow me on Amazon

Available from Amazon!

Available from Amazon!

Available Now!

Available Now!

Available from Amazon

Available from Amazon

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

The Good Life France Magazine

The Good Life France Magazine

Categories

Archives

Footer

Copyright Disclaimer

© 2020 by Patricia Sands. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author. All photographs on this site are copyright of Patricia Sands

Follow Me!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram
  • Privacy Policy

FTC DISCLOSURE

The Federal Trade Commission requires that I disclose any relationship I have between a product manufacturer or service provider when I write about a product or service. I may receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links on this site such as Amazon. The above does not affect my opinion of those products and services. I am committed to sharing the work of other authors with my friends and readers.

Copyright © 2023 By Patricia Sands · Theme created and maintained by Bakerview Consulting