French Christmas
Joyeux noël! The Christmas expectations and the potential for conflict harboured by the festive season are equally high, also in France. Christmas Eve (réveillon) is initially an ordinary workday. The festivities begin towards the evening, although the Christmas tree (sapin de noël) is usually put up in the living room and decorated a week before that. In France, the highlight of the Christmas celebrations – how could it be otherwise? – is the festive Christmas dinner. The presents are handed out only after a long and rigidly set menu sequence, as Father Christmas (père noël) first has to deliver them through the chimney.
The entire extended family usually gathers, which often creates plenty of ‚warmth‘ thanks to friction. Recent disappointments lie under the Christmas tree together with old childhood memories; champagne and wine loosen tongues, and more than a few people are relieved by the fact that Boxing Day is not a public holiday in France .
Eva Mattes has acted on stage and in front of the camera since the age of twelve, and is still fascinated by her chosen profession. Since 1966, she has had starring and supporting roles in approx. 200 cinema films, TV and theatre productions, and has won numerous prizes and awards. She has been directed by R. W. Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Michael Verhoeven and Peter Zadek, amongst others. From 2002 to 2016, she played police inspector Klara Blum in the episodes of the long-running crime series Tatort that are set in the town of Constance by Lake Constance. She has recorded almost one hundred audio books, including the collected works of Jane Austen, and also tours the country with her music evenings featuring songs that tell stories of emigration and the loss of home.
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Menu / festive dinner after the reading
(optionally bookable)
Spicy salmon mille-feuille
served with a celery and pumpkin salad
Pear and Roquefort soup
A duet of corn fed chicken and farm reared duck
with cinnamon and star anise aromas,
honeyed parsnips and potato layer cake
El Jardin bitter chocolate,
orange and salted caramel desert
