I've spent Christmas in the Beaujolais region (around Macon and Lyon) and there we would have the "reveillon" after midnight mass ... a full meal, at 2.00am! However, I think that's one tradition I'll avoid - especially as we will be doing a more traditional English style Christmas lunch of turkey with all the trimmings.
But I've just found this about Christmas traditions in Provence.
The "great supper" is eaten on Christmas Eve, before going to midnight mass. Everything is minutely prepared. Each dish has its own symbolism and numbers are important :
The "great supper" is paradoxically made up of 7 lean dishes in memory of the 7 sufferings of Mary. It is served with 13 bread rolls followed by the 13 desserts, which represent the Last Supper with Jesus and the 12 apostles.
These lean dishes differ from one part of Provence to another. The dishes often served are chard stalks and celery, cauliflower, spinach and cod, omelette, snails, garlic soup & but never any meat, simply fish, shellfish, gratins, vegetables, soups and anchoïade (anchovy paste). The only abundance is that of the thirteen desserts.
The thirteen desserts are eaten after Midnight mass. They will remain on the table for the following 3 days, until 27th December:
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