Beth Winter (bwinter) wrote in little_details,
Beth Winter
bwinter
little_details

French Christmas traditions - 18th century, upper-class

I'm working on a story that features Christmas around 1776 in the family of a French general. He's about 50 at that point and has no particular noble title - I'd think he's a younger son of a provincial noble. He's well-connected though: his wife is a lady-in-waiting to Marie-Antoinette and may be higher-born than he is, while he himself was at one point in the Royal Guards. There are no young children in the house.

I'm stumbling on the history of Christmas traditions in France vs class divisions: would they have a nativity scene at home? Would the house be decorated in any particular way?

I tried searching for French Christmas/holiday tradition history, but while I found plenty of general information (food, decorations, nativity scenes), it's centered on peasant and bourgeois celebrations, not upper-class.
Tags: 1770-1779, france: history, ~holidays
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