Title: Fête des Rois (Epiphany / King’s Day)
AGE: 55
Date_of_performance: May 1, 2025
Language: French
Nationality: American grew up in Paris
Occupation: Consultant
Primary Language: English
Residence: Toronto, Canada
Folklore Explanation:
“We always did Fête des Rois growing up—it was just part of the rhythm after New Year’s. We’d have the galette des rois, that puff pastry cake with almond filling, and there’d always be a fève hidden inside. The person who got the slice with the fève was the king or queen for the day, and they got to wear the paper crown that came with the cake. In our house, the winner would either kiss the person they loved, or if you were sitting with friends or siblings, it was the person to your left. It was lighthearted, but it felt kind of royal as a kid.
What I remember most, though, was in elementary school. They made a big thing of it. We’d all sit under the table—literally under it—while someone cut the galette, and then they’d call out who got each slice. That way it stayed random. And the second someone found the fève, it was chaos. The winner had to kiss someone, and in a room full of eight-year-olds, that was about the most dramatic thing that could happen. People would scream, laugh, hide under desks. It was silly, but it was something everyone looked forward to. It made January feel less gray.”
Analysis:
Fête des Rois is a form of religious calendar custom celebrated on January 6, tied to Christian Epiphany, marking the arrival of the Three Wise Men (Les Rois Mages) to visit the newborn Jesus. The tradition of the galette des rois with a hidden fève (originally a bean, now often a porcelain figurine) is a blend of symbolic folklore and ritual foodways. Its transmission is both domestic (within families) and institutional (through schools and bakeries), making it a hybrid of private and public tradition.
The custom of crowning a “king” or “queen” and engaging in playful rituals like kissing someone at the table represents performance and participatory folklore, especially powerful among children where the act becomes a rite of social play. Though rooted in religious narrative, the modern version often emphasizes community, chance, and lighthearted social interaction over doctrine. Its survival in French and Francophone cultures is supported by oral tradition, seasonal food marketing, and educational reinforcement, making it a strong example of enduring cultural folklore with evolving forms.
Tag Archives: French
French Schoolyard Catch Riddle
The catch: being asked to spell J,T, and P, in a French accent
Context: The informant is currently studying at USC, but as a child, she attended a French/English bilingual school. She explained that as a child, other kids would tell her to spell out “J, T, and P” in a French accent. Doing so would result in the informant saying “jé, té, pé,” after which the kids would laugh, as they had tricked her into saying something that sounded like “j’ai pété”, which means “I farted” in French.
Analysis: This is very similar to a typical elementary school catch of asking someone to spell “icup” (resulting in saying something that sounded like “I see you pee”). In Jay Mechling’s chapter on Children’s Folklore from Elliott Oring’s Folk Groups and Folklore Genres, Mechling notes how the child’s body features greatly in children’s folklore, specifically bodily functions. This is an example of humor based on the taboo of bodily excretion; the joke is played on an outgroup and results in them saying that they have done something that other children find embarrassing or gross.
Reynard the fox
–Informant Info–
Nationality: French
Age: 39
Occupation: Housewife
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Date of Performance/Collection: 2022
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): French
(Notes-The informant will be referred to as TS and the interviewer as K)
Background info: TS is a mother of 3 who grew up in Nice, France, and moved to Los Angeles when she was in her 20s. She noted that this story was told to her only by her older family members while laughing, never by her mother or other children.
K: Ok, so can you tell me the name of the story, where you heard it, and the context of the performance? Like under what circumstances was it told.
TS: Yes, yes. It is called Reynard the fox, and it is a very very old story. I only ever heard it from my grandparents after they had too much wine *laughter* because it was a dirty story and didn’t teach any uh lessons like so many of uh…I don’t know the word in English…Legende? Uh, fable?
K: Yea, a fable, like a story that teaches you a lesson?
TS: Exactly! It was only really told in the uh house because it was dirty *laughter* it’s not something you tell your child at a dinner.
K: Ok, go ahead, and make sure you even tell the dirty parts *laughter*
TS: Ok ok, it goes that uh Reynard was a fox who had done many many horrible crimes, like robbing and rape and murder, and had done so many that the king lion himself wanted to punish Reynard. But Reynard was tricky. The king sent out his best hunters to bring Reynard in but Reynard had managed to uh…trick all of them and getaway.
K: Can you elaborate on that? Tricking the other characters?
TS: I’d love to! Bruin the bear is tricked because Reynard says there is honey inside a tree and he gets stuck. Tybalt (sometimes goes by a different name) the cat is tricked because Reynard sends him to a chicken coop owned by a priest, and gets locked inside by Reynard. Reynard alerts the priest, who beats Tybalt but Tybalt retaliates by biting one of the priest’s testicles off *laughter*. Eventually, Grimbert, a badger who is also Reynard’s cousin, manages to trap him. But when Reynard is brought before the king, he uh…throws everyone under the bus I think is the phrase?
K: Like sabatoges them?
TS: Yes! So Reynard does that to everyone that tried to capture him by saying they hid a treasure from the kind and only Reynard knows where to find it so the king frees him! But reynard flees. Later, he is found by Cuwart the hare, and Belyn the ram. He murders Cuwart, puts his head in a bag and gives it to Belyn, and tells him to uh bring the bag to the kind.
K: Good god
TS: Told you it was dirty *laughter*. So when Belyn does, she is executed by the king. By the time everyone uh understands they have been tricked again by Reynard, he has already fled and was never caught.
Interpretation:
This was a very interesting story to hear. I think most notably is how the informant said specifically it’s not like a traditional fable, as it doesn’t teach a lesson, but people still regarded it as such. It’s a very satirical story, and it’s meant to be a sort of social commentary mocking the aristocratic people of the time. There are so many different versions of the story, due mainly to its old age, that nearly everyone comments on a different thing in society. Many on the aristocratic people, some on food, some on the crime itself. It’s interesting how many variations there can be of the same story.
For another version of this story, see: Anonymous. (1982). Le Roman de Renart. Champion.
The bee and the orange tree
–Informant Info–
Nationality: French
Age: 47
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Date of Performance/Collection: 2022
Primary Language: English
Other Language(s): French
(Notes-The informant will be referred to as DK and the interviewer as K)
Background info: DK is a mother of 1 who was born in the United States and moved to France when she was young, moving back to the US in 2017. She notes that she was told this story all the time but has not heard of it once in the US, and when she has brought it up to other people, they have never heard of it.
K: Ok so, what’s the name of the folklore, how do you know of it, and what’s the context of the performance? Like when is it told, under what circumstances?
DK: It’s called uh..The translation would be The bee and the orange tree. It was always told to me when I was little, in like school, or my parents and people like that. It’s kinda like Cinderella, you know? It was told like that.
K: Yeah that makes sense! Uh whenever…whenever you’re read you can tell the story.
DK: Ok. The story goes that there was this princess called uh Aimée who was lost after a ship wreck. She drifted to a little island in her crib, where a lot of uh…ogre’s lived. They only took her in because they wanted her to marry their son when she got older, normally they eat people who come ashore. When she was uh 15 I believe, she was told she would marry that ogre but the thought of that disgusted her. She went for a walk along the beach and found a man, who was actually her cousin, but neither of them knew that or could uh…say that. After a little while, the man, a prince, discovered who she was because she had a locket with her name on it. The little ogre said it was time for them to marry, and she fled but hurt herself on a thorn so she couldn’t walk. The prince went to find her when she didn’t show up and got captured. I don’t really remember the details here so I’m sorry
K: Thats alright! Just whatever you do remember tell me, even if its confusing
DK: Alright, uh so Aimee managed to trick some of the ogres into eating each other and found an uh magic wand somehow. Using it, she made herself speak the prince’s language and he told her everything. She used the wand again to distract the ogres and flee, but one of them followed them using his…magic boots. She would use the wand to disguise herself and the prince each time the ogre came close. She turned herself into a bee and the prince into an orange tree and stung the ogre, and in the chaos, the wand was stolen so they were stuck like that. Later, another princess fell in love with the orange tree, who was the prince. Aimee stung her out of jealousy, and the other princess ribbed a branch off the tree to defend herself, causing blood to flow out of the wound. Aimee left to fetch balm for the wound. A fairy came by while she was gone and detected the enchantment on the prince, turning him back. The prince explained the situation, and when Aimme returned the fairy uh turned her back also. They returned home to her parents and got married. The end *laughter*.
Dried Sausages
Content:
Original: Ces six saucissons-secs-ci sont si secs qu’on ne sait si s’en sont.
Translation: These six dried sausages are so dry that we don’t know if they are.
Background: K is a 22 year old from Fairfax County, Virginia. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. K has spoken French for nine years.
Context: This tongue-twister was told to me at a hangout among friends.
Analysis: I thought this tongue-twister was interesting because the informant, K, did not grow up around French speaking people. Instead, he began learning French in middle school, where his teacher taught them this tongue-twister. Despite learning the tongue-twister nearly a decade ago, it’s stuck with him.