La Rentree in France – what’s it all about?

Waiter looks out of a cafe in Paris on an autumn day — *Autumn in Paris © Dawne Polis*

Autumn in France means la Rentrée – a very French thing! It literally means ‘the return’, which sounds quite mysterious, the topic of a thriller film perhaps, but it’s not at all.

With the summer holidays over, the kids go back to school, and almost everyone gets back to work and into their normal routines which in France is known as la rentrée. But it’s more than just the return to routine – it’s a cultural thing that’s unique to France.

I said almost everyone goes back to normal, but the mamies and the papies, the grannies and grandpas who looked after the kids in the school holidays – they now take time off for their own holidays to enjoy the autumn sun. And for anyone who doesn’t like it too hot, as it can be in July and August, or who wants to visit France without the holiday crowds – autumn is the perfect time to visit France.

La rentree

What does it really mean la rentrée? Well, schools go back generally the first Monday of September so there’s a last-minute panic the week before, to get schoolbooks, pens etc ready. Did you know that the long holidays are because traditionally children were needed to help out with the harvest time? And it’s said that the first recorded official long break granted was in the year 1231 because there were so few students in universities during harvest time. It wasn’t a break for a holiday like now, but so that students could go home and help out – and actually it was still the case that the summer break was about 10 weeks long until quite recently and farming families could request even longer off school for kids over 12 if they were needed to help out. It was in the 1980s that school summer holidays began to follow the pattern we have now – generally the whole of July and August.

There’s no rush for a school uniform in France like there is in the UK – well not officially, generally kids wear jeans, a sort of unofficial uniform.

And did you know that jeans are French – kind of? They were of course actually invented by Levi Strauss in America. Legend has it that he went to San Francisco to join in the California Gold Rush and took some dry goods to sell, like wagon covers and canvas for tents. A prospector said to him – you should have bought pants – because everyone struggled to get a pair of pants (trousers to Brits), that could take the tough work and last longer than a few weeks.

Strauss was a smart cookie and took the challenge on. He settled on a tough cotton fabric known as serge de Nimes, a cotton produced in Nimes, southern France. It was dyed blue because that was the cheapest colour dye and it was so strong it was used as tarpaulin. Strauss called the pants ‘jeans’ after the blue dye called ‘genoa’ and he called the fabric denim – from the name serge de Nimes. And his jeans were a massive success. In France they did something a bit different. The cloth was made into jackets, overalls and trousers. They weren’t like jeans, no copper rivets or coloured stitching. And they were called ‘bleu de travail’ blues for work. They’re still popular in rural areas and for people with jobs that involve manual work, whilst jeans are popular everywhere – the uniform of life really.

La rentrée is also about getting back to work, the French generally don’t stress too much about that though, there’s no rush to be busy. They spend time sharing stories of holidays, mostly what they cooked and what they ate, this is France after all, and they gently ease themselves back in.

September is also the time when the politicians get back to work after their long luxurious holidays in the sun. And it’s the time of la rentrée litteraire. It’s traditional for new books to be published and released to the market then, mostly because there are two big literary prizes awarded in October and November in France, so September is a good time to publish.

And it’s the time when the arts world gets a renewed lease of life and loads of new exhibitions start in museums and galleries all over France and especially in Paris.

For me la rentrée is also a time for gardening. In my village everyone will be harvesting their fruit and vegetables in gardens, and of course the farmers are in the fields getting crops in before the cooler weather hits. My neighbours, all of whom are keen cooks, will be making jam, chutneys and sauces, and freezing summer fruits and vegetables. Potatoes will be dug up and hoarded in cellars, carrots stored in boxes of sand. Pumpkins are ready for harvesting and there is always a contest to see who grew the biggest in the village. One year, my neighbour managed to grow one that was so big no one could lift it and it had to be rolled into a tractor bucket to be taken out of the garden. I think you could have put wheels on it and driven it into town. I have been trying for years to win, but it’s a fiercely fought competition, and my neighbour Jean-Claude is a frequent title holder and goes around telling everyone that he is ‘biggest pumpkin of the year.”

We see a lot of wild animals this time of the year, pheasant, deer, hedgehogs, wild pigs, sangliers in French. . They are generally shy creatures though I read in the newspaper that in Nancy, in Lorraine, northeast France, a wild pig ran in to a supermarket and went on the rampage, a sort of supermarket sweep. It broke things and knocked over displays until it was cornered by a security guard armed with a flowerpot. True.

Welcome to la rentrée.

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com