Easter Sunday, called Pâques in French, is important in France to Christian and secular families alike. Like many Christian holidays in France, you may recognize some of these traditions if you celebrate Easter in the United States. Others are unique to France and may be new to you. Either way, let’s dive into all things Pâques!
Learning French with Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method will give you plenty to celebrate and plenty to learn beyond rote memorization. Learn more about Easter in France below or dive right in to your first Rosetta Stone lesson.
Honoring La Semaine Sainte (Holy Week)
Holy week, called La Semaine Sainte in French, is the week that precedes Easter. For Catholics in France and elsewhere, observing Holy Week is of utmost importance. Most churches have special masses and events for the week that attract the biggest crowds of the year. Each day of Holy week commemorates the events that led up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Dimanche de Rameaux/ Dimanche de Palmes (Palm Sunday)
Holy week starts with Palm Sunday, called Dimanche de Rameaux (literally Sunday of Branches) in Northern France and Dimanche de Palmes in Southern France. This commemorates Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. The gospels describe Jesus riding into the city on a humble donkey, greeted by residents with palm branches. In France, churchgoers take palm branches, box tree branches, or olive branches to church to be blessed. The type of branch they use depends on the climate. Palm trees grow naturally in the south of France where it’s warm, but don’t typically in the north!
At many French churches, this blessing is followed by a procession either to another church or another location that the church chooses. After mass, churchgoers take their branches home to decorate their front door. This ritual is believed to grant god’s protection to the house for the rest of the year. On Ash Wednesday the following year, the branches are brought back to the church and burned.
>> Traveling to France soon? These basic French words and phrases will help you get around.
Jeudi Saint (Maundy Thursday)
Maundy Thursday commemorates the last supper, when Jesus dined with his disciples one last time before his arrest. At this supper, he washed their feet and declared the bread and wine they consumed to be his “body and blood given to them,” a ritual that inspired holy communion. The Catholic Maundy Thursday mass traditionally includes a foot washing ceremony, in which the priest washes the right foot of twelve churchgoers.
Vendredi Saint (Good Friday)
Good Friday commemorates Christ’s death on the cross. This is a day of mourning and sometimes fasting for the church. There isn’t usually a mass, but churches often set up stations of the cross, called le chemin de croix in French. In this ceremony, churchgoers stop at fourteen paintings or symbols around the church representing moments of Christ’s descent to the cross. The priest gives a short prayer or meditation at every station until the congregation finally reaches the station representing the cross itself.
Dimanche de Pâques (Easter Sunday)
Easter Sunday, of course, is the main event. It is a joyous day to commemorate Jesus rising from the dead. For non-religious families, this is usually when their celebration starts. The church bells ring after days of silence to signal the start of the day. For Catholic and Protestant families alike, there is a special, joyous Easter service. Later come the egg hunts, the feast, and the chocolate.
Lundi de Pâques (Easter Monday)
Easter Monday is an extension of Easter celebrations. Easter Monday is a public holiday where all businesses close and people get to enjoy a long weekend. It doesn’t have religious significance like the rest of the week, but people often spend it outside with family and friends to enjoy the spring weather.
Les Cloches de Pâques (Flying Easter Bells)
The Easter Bunny, which originated in Germany or Norway, is not a French tradition. However, it has recently made its way to some northern regions of the country. Instead, treats are delivered to French children by church bells that are traveling home from Rome. Why were they in Rome in the first place?
Since the 7th century, church bells in France have been silent between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. This practice led to a legend about what the bells are doing instead. In it, the bells fly to Rome on Maundy Thursday. Once they arrive, they are blessed by the pope, pick up the treats for the children, and drop them into families’ yards as they fly back to their home churches. Chocolate bells, eggs, and bunnies, are all common loot. Easter Bells are usually depicted with wings and ribbons. On Easter Sunday, the bells are back home and joyously ringing to celebrate the miraculous day.
La Chasse aux Oeufs (Easter Egg Hunt)
Easter Egg Hunts for children are popular in France like they are in the United States. The start of the hunts is signaled by the church bells chiming in the morning. Some families keep the hunts in their own yards and homes. There are also community-wide hunts organized by local governments. The biggest, most elaborate Easter egg hunt in France takes place at Château de Commarque near Sarlat in southwest France. Organizers hide golden eggs around the grounds for children of all ages to find.
The tradition of easter egg hunts started in France in the 13th century. At the time, they used hard-boiled eggs dyed red to represent the blood of christ. Over the years, the decorations got more elaborate and cheerful. In the 18th century, aristocrats held highly competitive adult egg hunts with decorative eggs made of porcelain and precious metals. Chocolate eggs didn’t become part of French Easter celebrations until the 19th century.
The annual Giant Omelette Festival of Bessières
Wherever it’s celebrated, eggs are a central part of Easter imagery. Bessières has a unique celebration of the humble egg: making a giant omelet. The concept of the festival comes from a local story: when Napoleon visited the area he liked the local eggs so much that he requested a giant omelet to feed his troops. The festival is free to attend and lasts three days. Events include more standard French Easter activities like egg hunts, parades, performances, and plenty of food. On Easter Monday, it all culminates with the titular omelet.
The organizers, who call themselves the Brotherhood of the Giant Omelette, and over 100 volunteers get cracking—cracking 15,000 eggs to be exact. Once the eggs are cracked and whisked, the Brotherhood pours them along with 70 liters of duck fat into a 13-foot frying pan over a giant bonfire in the center of the city. Next, they stir in huge quantities of salt, pepper, chives, and mild chili peppers with large wooden paddles. The final result is an omelet big enough to feed 2,000 attendees free of charge.
The festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. In these years, it has inspired six other giant omelet festivals in Provence, Belgium, Argentina, Louisiana, New Caledonia, and Quebec. Each of these festivals season their omelet according to local tastes. For example, the Provence festival uses herbes de Provence and the Louisiana festival uses crawfish and cajun seasonings.
Why are eggs so central to French Easter traditions?
Eggs have been associated with the arrival of spring since ancient times. Romans, Egyptians, Persians, and other ancient cultures used egg motifs in their spring celebrations. Across cultures, they represent fertility and new beginnings. Eggs took on another meaning for Catholics in the 15th century. At the time, both meat and eggs were forbidden during lent. That meant eating them, decorating them, and molding chocolate into their shape became exciting parts of the celebrations.
Traditional French foods served on Easter
The traditional Easter main dish in France is a leg of lamb roasted in the oven and seasoned with provençal herbs, cumin, garlic and olive oil. Why lamb? Because they are born in spring and exist as a symbol of new life. The lamb is also a common symbol for Jesus and his followers in Christian tradition. In some regions, chicken and rabbit are also served.
The common side dishes are potatoes, green beans, flageolet beans, and asparagus. It’s all washed down with red wine and plenty of chocolate. There are variations on the meal depending on the region and budget of the family. A popular dessert in Alsace is the Lamalas de Pâques, a cake shaped like a lamb. Most families decorate the Easter table with vases of fresh daisies and dyed Easter eggs to bring the freshness of spring inside.
>> Check out our full list of French Holidays, where we break down dates, traditions, and more!
French phrases to know for celebrating Easter
Traveling to France for the Easter holiday? Here’s are some helpful words and phrases for celebrating Easter in France:
| French | English |
| Pâques* | Easter |
| l’œuf (m) | the egg |
| la cloche (f) | the bell |
| le chocolat (m) | the chocolate |
| la chasse aux œufs (f) | the egg hunt |
| célébrer | to celebrate |
| décorer | to decorate |
| le lapin (m) | bunny |
| le dimanche (m) | Sunday |
| la Semaine Sainte (f) | Holy Week |
| le Vendredi Saint (m) | Good Friday |
| le Jeudi Saint (m) | Maundy Thursday |
| la Marché de Pâques (m) | Easter Market |
| l’agneau (m) | lamb |
| la messe (f) | mass |
| le printemps (m) | spring |
*Note that Pâques is one of those rare exceptions in French. It should never have an article (une, la, or las) in front of it!
Where does the name Pâques come from?
The French name for Easter is Pâques with an “-s.” The French name for Passover, the Jewish celebration, is Pâque without the “-s.” To make the distinction clearer, Pâques is never used with an article. Why are they so similar? They come from the same root word. Pâque comes from the Latin word pascua (food). Pascua, in turn, comes from the Hebrew word Pessah (passing way), which is also the Hebrew name for Passover.
The two traditions are tied to each other in every country where they are celebrated. Passover celebrates the exodus of Jews from Egypt. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ. According to the gospels, the latter happened while Jesus was celebrating the former. That is why Easter is not on a fixed date every year, but follows the same lunar calendar as the Jewish holidays.
Get to know France even better with Rosetta Stone
Though Easter is celebrated by Christians around the world, the traditions that are specific to France are shaped by their particular history and resources that are available. French holiday traditions continue to change over time as the population gets less religious, non-local resources become more available, and influences from other countries take hold. Whether you get the chance to celebrate Easter in France or choose to incorporate French traditions in your own Easter celebrations, we hope you’ve added some depth to your understanding of French language and culture.
After all, learning a foreign language is about so much more than memorizing enough words, phrases and grammar rules. Getting deeper requires immersion as well as cultural and historical context. That’s why Rosetta Stone goes above and beyond with real-world, culturally relevant exercises. Our Dynamic Immersion method helps students of all ages learn efficiently, letting them explore more in less time. Plus, our TruAccent speech recognition helps you sound convincing based on data from thousands of native speakers.
Written by Luca Harsh
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