Dear SHTA Friends,

In Honfleur, Normandy and France:

There are many Christmas markets held throughout the whole of France in December. Some very much celebrated such as Lille and Amiens – the one in Honfleur is significantly more low key although based upon markets that I’ve seen in our Twin Town during my 15 years of visiting I am convinced that what it might lack in quantity is more than made up for in terms of quality.

As with many other European countries the way in which we celebrate Christmas here in the United Kingdom is very different from France. The French tend to have their main family gathering on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day. Because the French have a feast known as ‘La Réveillon’ very late at night the festivities often extend into the early hours of Christmas Day morning. ‘Le Réveillon’ tends to include oysters, foie gras, turkey stuffed with chestnuts, duck, caviar, escargots, smoked salmon, scallops and lobster – in a country as gastronomically diverse as France is, regional variations will apply.

Dessert is usually ‘Bûche de Noël’ which is the French version of a Yule Log. And of course there is also a plentiful supply of wine and champagne. Mince Pies and Christmas Crackers do not feature in France. Because French public schools do not teach religion there are no Nativity Plays although the Nativity Scene (Crèche) is commonplace throughout many French villages etc.

Boxing Day is not celebrated in France – it’s not a public holiday either. The French do not send Christmas Cards – they may send a card for New Year with the message ‘Bonnes Fêtes’ (Happy Holidays) or ‘Bonne Année’ (Happy New Year) instead.

Here in the UK stockings are the receptacle of choice for the delivery of gifts from Santa Claus – travel to France where shoes are left by the fireplace or a door for ‘Père Noël’.

Overall Christmas in France is much less commercial compared with the UK.

Many thanks to Vice-Chair, Mark Moorhouse, for the piece above.

What’s happening in the Sandwich Honfleur Twinning Association?

The festive period started for members of SHTA with two favourite annual events, namely the Christmas Lights Switch-On including our Vin Chaud stall featuring prominently, and our Christmas Dinner & Party at Tan Bueno Restaurant.

The last day of November saw 22 members volunteering to do a stint on the SHTA Vin Chaud stand producing and selling our marvellous mulled wine brew. A very impressive 369 cups were sold in around three and a half hours. From the proceeds we have decided to donate £300 to the Martha Trust, a registered charity that provides residential and respite care for people with profound physical and multiple learning disabilities. The Trust combines round-the-clock nursing care with state-of-the-art facilities at homes in Deal, Kent and Hastings.

In addition, we have agreed that SHTA be Sponsors of the Christmas Tree for this year in the Guildhall Forecourt, the Association’s name and logo being promoted by an accompanying banner. Why not pop along there and take a look? These two donations still leave a healthy £287 profit from the Vin Chaud stall. Many thanks again go to all of those who gave up their time on the afternoon/early evening of 30th November and in preparation for the event.

Five days later was the occasion of our annual Christmas Dinner & Party at Tan Bueno Restaurant in Sandwich. Forty of our members signed up for an evening of festive food, festive games and even some festive singing. You’ll soon be able to see photos on our website of ‘Holly & Ivy’,

joint winners of the Best Christmas outfit, as well as others doing their best to eat a Mars bar whilst ‘wrapped up warmly’ and a couple on opposite teams being transformed into Mummies! Well done to all who participated in the games, and thanks to all Committee members for their work in advance and on the night.

Ahead, our first two film nights of 2025 will be on Wednesday 15th January when we’ll be showing ‘La Famille Bélier’, and Wednesday 19th February when you’ll be able to see ‘Un Singe en Hiver’.

‘La Famille Bélier’ is a French-Belgian coming-of-age comedy-drama released in 2014 and directed by Éric Lartigau. In a family of four people, Paula, the elder child, is the only one who can hear and speak. When Paula gets a chance to join an elite choir, her parents disapprove of it.

The film received 6 nominations at the 40th César Awards, winning Most Promising Actress for Louane Emera. It won a Magritte Award in the category of Best Foreign Film.

If you’d like to reserve your place for our film in January please send me an email on stuartpjones100@yahoo.co.uk. Admission to film nights remains at £7.50 per head and priority will be given to members who book in advance. You can pay in advance online to SHTA, account number: 42027168; sort code: 30-90-09. Alternatively, you can pay by cash or card on the night at the cinema.

Looking further into 2025, following the very successful hosting of our Normandy friends just a month ago, Pierre and his team have confirmed our suggested dates for the Group Visit to Honfleur as Thursday 19th-Sunday 22nd June 2025. Apart from visiting our beautiful twin town in mid-Summer, we will also be treated to the 43rd edition of the ‘Fête de la Musique’ on Saturday 21st June when: “Honfleur offers you a wonderful evening of music and concerts. From one year to the next, young and old alike will be able to enjoy open-air concerts by local groups and renowned artists: many stages are in fact set up in the streets of the town”.

“This national event celebrates music in all its genres and styles such as jazz, rock, traditional French song, and rap during free concerts. Many artists and music groups will perform in concert in Honfleur for the occasion. The concerts of the Fête de la musique 2025 in Honfleur will take place in the streets, bars and cultural venues in Honfleur”.

The cost for the visit which will include travel by coach and Tunnel crossing, group visits and accommodation with hosts in Honfleur for three nights, will be just £140.00 per head. It’s not essential that you participated in the November/October visit for you to be involved next June. If you’d like to reserve your seat(s) on the coach for this trip, please get in touch; my contact details, along with all of the other Committee members, are at the end of this newsletter. If you have questions about the trip, please don’t hesitate to ask.

That completes our round-up of recent events and a few of those to come in the first part of 2025.

I’ll conclude with the lyrics from ‘Petit Papa Noël’, by far the most popular French Christmas song. All French people know at least the four first verses of this song. It is truly one of the most famous French Christmas songs, it’s not too religious but more about the Christmas spirit and Santa, which a lot of people like.

Petit papa Noël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N’oublie pas mon petit soulier.
Mais avant de partir
Il faudra bien te couvrir
Dehors tu vas avoir si froid
C’est un peu à cause de moi.

(Little Santa Claus
When you come down from the sky
With thousands of toys
Don’t forget my little stocking.
But before you leave
You should dress well
Outside you will be so cold
And it’s kind of my fault.)

C’est la belle nuit de Noel
La neige étend son manteau blanc
Et les yeux levés vers le ciel
A genoux, les petits enfants
Avant de fermer les paupières
Font une dernière prière.

(It’s the beautiful Christmas night
The snow spreads its white coat
And their eyes raised towards the sky
On their knees, the little children
Before closing their eyelidsAddress a last prayer)

Le marchand de sable est passé
Les enfants vont faire dodo
Et tu vas pouvoir commencer
Avec ta hotte sur le dos
Au son des cloches des églises
Ta distribution de surprises.

(The sandman has passed
The children are going to sleep
And you will be able to begin,
With your sack on your back,
To the sound of church bells,
Your distribution of surprises.)

Il me tarde que le jour se lève
Pour voir si tu m’as apporté
Tous les beaux joujoux que je vois en rêve
Et que je t’ai commandés.

(I can’t wait for sunrise
To see if you brought me
All the lovely toys that I see in my dreams
And that I ordered from you.)

Et quand tu seras sur ton beau nuage
Viens d’abord sur notre maison
Je n’ai pas été tous les jours très sage
Mais j’en demande pardon.

(And when you are on your beautiful cloud
Come first to our house
I wasn’t always very good
But I ask for your forgiveness.)

Hoping that you keep warm, dry and healthy over the festive period, we look forward to seeing you sometime soon and wish you a very Happy Christmas and very Best Wishes for the New Year.

Stuart, Mark and the Committee.