And also from Provence.....

Christmas is now fast approaching, I’m frantically making up orders whilst avidly tracking my lorry load of French soaps, hoping it will arrive very soon so I can replenish my rapidly diminishing soap stocks (It’s in Lyon at the moment – so not too far to go…..)

Des Santons

Our beautiful French soap and the traditional Savon de Marseille hails from Marseille of course, but with it being Christmas, I thought it might be nice to write about a lovely Christmas product from the same region - ‘Des Santons’.

When I first moved to the south of France, my friends told me about this Christmas tradition, and they were (as the French absolutely always are) very proud of it. ‘Des Santons’ are little hand painted figurines made out of local clay from Aubagne and Marseille. Their origins are political in the sense that during the French Revolution when the government closed down churches and banned nativities, people started to make their own nativity scenes and cribs out of whatever they could find. In 1797 Jean-Louis Lagnel from Marseille started to make them to sell, and from there this Provençal tradition grew and grew.

Traditional figures from Provençal villages

It’s not just the usual characters of the nativity crib though – you will find all the different people of the Provençal village represented here, from the farmer to the tailor and the shepherd and his wife, family and sheep!

Christmas Markets & Santons displays

At Christmas time many of the villages, towns and cities of Provence display Santon nativity scenes. You can usually purchase them at Christmas markets throughout the area and even do a workshop tour. In Aubagne they have the famous ‘Village des Santons’ with over 3000 santons and you can even visit for a guided tour during Covid 19 restrictions, with a mask and social distancing of course!

Purchase them online at: https://www.santons-fouque.fr/en/

A gorgeous Provençal Christmas tradition and yet another lovely thing to come from Marseille.