Volunteers and Spring arrives in France
Spring arrives at La Giraudiere, the wysteria is in bloom, the grass is growing, the cookoo have had their say and the birds are roosting. The village prepares for the spring fete for the weekend of the 4th, 5th and 6th of May and at La Giraudiere we prepare for hosting volunteers and interns.
Despite early concerns what with the troubles in Paris and Brexit it looks like it is going to be another Bumper year at La Giraudiere. It is on the 1st of May that LG opens it’s doors and welcomes its first arrivals on this day also is the “fete du travail” et “Fête du Muguet”.
Fete du Travail
The French holiday “Fete du Travail” is unique due to a combination of global and historical French traditions.
Fete du Travail is a time for the French people to spend time with their friends and family members while enjoying a day off from work. Why ” Fete du muguet ” on May 1st? Well offering les muguet, or lily of the valley in English, on the first of May is in fact an almost natural gesture as warmer weather returns.
The Celts celebrated the return of summer on May 1 and considered lily of the valley, present at this time of the year, as a lucky flower.
Fete du Muguet
In the Renaissance, May 1st was the feast of love during which a wreath of flowers was made to offer to the loved one. The Muguet, blooming in May, often adorned these wreaths. At the same time, King Charles IX received, on May 1, a muguet as a lucky charm, he then decided to offer Muguet every first May to the ladies of the court.
The tradition of offering Mugueton May 1 persists until today and everyone can sell Muguet on the street, there are no formalities or taxes that day.
So as France and the French welcome the warm breezes of summer La Giraudiere welcomes its international bouquet of guests coming from all points of the globe.
This year La Giraudière encompass another Erasmus project this time funded by the European Solidarity Corps. The project “Recognizing Young Entrepreneurs and teaching Entrepreneurship” attracted hundreds of applicants from which five were selected one from each of the following countries Spain, Germany, Greece, Russia and Portugal. You can read more about the project on our website at http://www.lagiraudiere.com/
Apart from those participating in the Erasmus project we continue to welcome our international volunteers coming from as far as New Zealand. For May alone our volunteers are American, British, French, Canadian and Australian together with our Erasmus volunteers we have a mix of 10 nationalities presenting a true culture exchange in France.
Much is planned for this year and next weeks blog post will give you fuller information on the other projects and the programs for 2019. So please keep returning and see you then.
