This weekend there is a Fête de Bretagne in the square in front of our Mairie (City Hall). One of the benefits of living near the city hall of the 15th arrondissement is that they often have special events in the square (like the Christmas market).

Bretagne, otherwise known in English as Brittany, is an area located in the northwest of France. You will often also see it called Breizh which is its name in the Breton language.

Early this morning we were woken up by music that sounded like Bagpipes playing. I didn’t make it over in time to see the performance but perhaps later today they will play again. It must be some instrument local to the area, that is, not bagpipes…?

What they did have when I went over were many food stalls with pastries, cookies, crepes, oysters, beer, and sausages.

To start with I brought home a “Far Breton”. This is a traditional Breton dessert somewhat like a clafoutis or flan made with eggs-and-milk custard with flour added. Prunes or raisins are commonly used as well. In mine, there were prunes.

Mon mari, got two crêpes. The one on the left is a savory crêpe which is made using buckwheat flour. This is a traditional Breton crêpe. The one o the right is a sweet crêpe using regular wheat flour.

In addition to the food stalls they had an extensive display about Breton and the Breton language.

The Fête de Bretagne is here for two days. I’ll head back, perhaps for some saucisson for lunch and to spend a bit more time learning about the Breton language and listening to the music.