How time flies! Here we are already on November 24, and in 10 days Christmas festivities will begin. Don’t look so surprised! I will explain.
On December 4, the feast day of Saint Barbara, it’s time to start the Nativity scene. But before you get your figurines out of the box, I invite you to sow grains of wheat in small plates as our Provençal ancestors did on the farms. Formerly, if the wheat sprouted well, it was a premonitory sign of a year to come full of good harvests and happiness.
Nowadays, this Provençal tradition continues. On a bed of well-moistened cotton, the wheat is sown in three saucers, a reminder of the Trinity. Placed in a spot where natural daylight is diffused, it will grow more or less well and serve as decoration for the Christmas Eve table.
On the evening of December 24, the tips of the wheat are cut. The children then place it in the miniature stable to welcome baby Jesus at midnight.
On December 25, Mary’s son is born. The small plates of wheat, now surrounded by red and yellow ribbons, will once again adorn the table of the day.
Having eaten well and drunk well, the Christmas celebration is over! The wheat bowls without the ribbons will be placed in the Nativity scene to represent fields.
It is only at Epiphany that this wheat will be planted directly into the soil of the Provençal countryside.
Thanks to the association “Le Blé de l’Espérance” created in 1989, this custom has become a symbol of an act of solidarity: through the magic of the heart, the little bag of wheat was born!
This association, which shines throughout the PACA region, aims to help children and residents of centers for people with disabilities to better cope with their hospitalization, as it is never easy to be sick away from home in an unknown place.
The sale of bags of wheat for the feast of Saint Barbara is one of the actions of this association to achieve its noble cause. Bakeries, bank branches, and all places indicated by the association’s visuals sell this small bag of solidarity for only 1 euro.
A good deed that will allow you to know if the year 2006 will be a happy one, so don’t forget to plant “Le Blé de l’Espérance”! And as they say in Provence: “When the wheat comes good, all goes well.”
Audrey Bollaro
Contact:
Association Le Blé de l’Espérance – Maguy Roubaud
134, avenue Roger Salengro. 13003 Marseille
tel.: 04 96 13 31 13
