Chers Amis,

 

Meilleurs vœux pour 2013.

Oui, c’est une nouvelle année and what better way to start the New Year than with the Cercle Français de Belfast’s celebration of La Fête des Rois on …. 

 

Mercredi 9 janvier 2013 à 19h30

in The Dark Horse Coffee House

30-34, Hill Street Belfast BT1 2LB

 

Yes and this year again thanks to Vanessa Franchetti and her troupe for animating this popular event to celebrate La Fête des Rois.  There will be galettes and wine and as with all good parties you are very welcome to give us your ‘party piece’- perhaps a poem or a song in either French or English. So don’t miss ….

La Fête des Rois et Bal Musette                                                            

While this event is free to members we do ask for a small contribution of £5 from non-members.  In order to help us judge numbers could you perhaps email to me the total number you expect in your party?

 

Les Mis

 

On 11^th January the film of the musical ‘Les Misérables’ will open in a cinema near you. Okay, it’s not a patch on Hugo’s masterpiece nevertheless it does capture much of the spirit of his novel.  The French connection is truly there as the music is by Claude-Michel Schönberg and the original French lyrics were written by Alain Boublil.

 

Fest Diez

A new series of monthly session of Breton Dancing begin …

on Saturday 12^th January 2013

in Madden’s Bar, 74 Berry Street, Belfast

from 5pm to 8pm

 

As always the music will be provided by French and Irish musicians and Amélie will be there to guide you through the steps.
For more information on Breton cultural events in Ireland see the BreizhEire website

http://www.breizheire.com/                            

 

Looking forward to seeing you on 9^th January.  Bonne Année, Philip

De Nouveau à Art Déco

Off to the Dark Horse Coffee Shop this evening to hear Sean Nolan give his much anticipated talk on Art Déco to the Cercle Français. This talk along with next month's Bal Musette, was among the first to be included in this year's programme. That's because it follows up on his theme of last year, Art Nouveau.

Sean has subtitled this evening's talk: A significant art movement. Certainly the designs that featured when it first appeared are still with us.

Have you any designs to be with us tonight? We look forward to seeing you from 7.30pm!

 

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L'Empire de la Mort: The Paris Catacombs

We numbered 60 people at our last réunion. Early comers were treated to a selection of French songs performed by Ruari Gallagher. Ruari hails from Belfast and has spent the past few years in the south of France. His vocals and guitar accompaniment went down well and we hope to invite him back soon for one of our Extra! events.

The Dark Horse Coffee Shop was soon packed and Philip McGrory got the technology going for his talk on the Paris Catacombs. He began by taking us through the early history of the site as one of Paris's main limestone quarries. He explained that in 1780, the main cemetery of the city, the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents near Les Halles was forced to close due to its dire threat to public health. The decision was taken to remove remains of those buried there to the disused quarry site and to establish an Ossuary. Remains from other cemeteries were added with the result that skulls and longbones of around 6,000,000 people are preserved there.

Using pictures and web sources, Philip escorted us on a virtual tour. We visited the Workshop and saw how quarrymen cut through the stone to leave pillars of rock standing to support the ceiling. We stopped at the Quarrymen's footbath, a spring where workers drew water for mixing cement; We moved into the Ossuary, marked by a sign over the doorway instructing, " Arrête c'est ici l'empire de la mort". We stopped at the Sepulchral Lamp one of the oldest structures in the catacombs. Quarrymen lit fires in the lamp to create draughts and currents of air. He brought us to Gilbert's Tomb, a piece of reinforcement work designed to look like a stone sarcophagus. And of course we viewed those skulls and longbones. Philip had sourced the biblical origins of the text on the picture above and, thinking about it, we spared thoughts for people now long gone. Finally, we exited to a quiet Parisian street which showed little awareness of what lay beneath.

A show of hands revealed others had also been and all commented on the respectful silence of the place, several metres below the metro and the nearby Place Denfert Rochereau.

Our evening came to a close with several people saying they had not known that the catacombs existed. They mentioned that they would be paying their own visit the next time they were in Paris.

Thanks Philip for a thoroughly researched, fascinating and respectful tour.

 

 

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