According to an Ifop poll published by Le Parisien, 71% of French people, or 7 out of 10 French people, are ready to be confined until the end of the year, sacrificing the end of year celebrations in the process.
Between the canceled Christmas markets, the Pope forced to do without his faithful and the stockouts of toys, the French, reconfined since October 30, already expect that the traditional December celebrations will be complicated.
On November 1, in an interview with the
Journal du Dimanche
, the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran thus envisaged small parties, declaring that this year, "
Christmas will not be a normal holiday
"
...
How do the French see this prospect?
How are they preparing for it?
We interviewed some of them.
Read also: "Four weeks of confinement will not be enough to spend Christmas as if nothing had happened"
"We will watch mass on TV"
"
It is the Christmas spirit, the family spirit that is at stake,
" says Marie-Solange, 71, who is especially very worried about the Christmas Eve.
“
Fortunately the bishops grumbled about mass!
», Adds her friend Cécile.
This Monday, November 2, in a column published by
Le Figaro
, five bishops demanded from the government that masses be authorized during confinement, and in particular during Christmas, when the faithful had already been deprived of the celebration of Easter. this year.
“
Sad and resigned
” faced with the prospect of spending Christmas without a real religious celebration, Yvette, 77, tries to console herself by planning, for lack of ceremony, to “
have a good lunch
” and “
watch mass on television
” .
If it is always "
difficult to anticipate anything
" and that "
we
lack visibility
" as stated by Thomas, 30, the latter is however preparing to spend Christmas away from his relatives: "
most members of my family work in the medical field, so it complicates things even more for us,
”he laments, explaining that he is afraid of infecting his parents.
“
In addition, if the maximum gauge for private meetings is limited to 6, that may be a problem,
” he adds.
Others claim to be "
relieved
" to escape the traditional Christmas with the family: "
I am happy to be able to celebrate Christmas this year only with my companion and my children
", testifies Emmanuelle to Le
Figaro
.
If this thirty-
something
admits to being "
a little sad
" for her two sons, aged 2 and 4, the prospect of a Christmas in a small committee rejoices her: "
I am already starting to choose the log!
She exclaims.
"We must rethink Christmas"
"
I try to see the bright side of things,
" says
Figaro
Hélène, mother of four children.
“
Even if it's complicated, confinement forces us to reinvent ourselves every day, to reinvent Christmas, to rethink each celebration, to no longer do things automatically
”, nuance the fifty-something, for whom this particular Christmas also allows “
realize the importance of seeing loved ones
”and“
the joy that this reunion brings
”.
“
It's when you lose something that you realize its value,
” she recalls thoughtfully.
Read also: Reconfinement: Christmas will necessarily be impacted
This year, Guillaume, 27, intends to “
refocus on the values that this festival is supposed to convey
”.
Out of the question for him to spend Christmas alone face-to-face in Paris with his brother: he will join his family in the South, who plan to meet in a small committee after being tested.
“
This year is very special, most of us have been cut off from all family ties, it's time to meet and end on a high note this cursed year.
As far as gifts are concerned, we will improvise, maybe it's time to go back to old values by offering an orange, who knows?
He wonders.
An opinion shared by the elderly, who fear that this Christmas will make Amazon's game.
Yvette confided to
Le Figaro that she
had planned to order books on booksellers' sites, "to support them".
But she may wait to find her children and grandchildren to offer them, because "
sending them costs more than the gift itself
", she notes, dumbfounded.
For Hélène, "
rethinking Christmas
" also means "
rethinking the consumer society
" which had "
biased what Christmas represents
" and what "
giving a gift implies
".
"
With the closure of certain businesses and store shelves, perhaps we will think more about the gifts we want to offer, and we will not do it at the last moment
", hopes the mother, for whom this particular Christmas will be. the opportunity to "
consume less, but consume better!"
".
"Renewing the intergenerational link threatened by the Covid"
“
The saddest thing is that I will not see my grandchildren
,” sighs Cécile.
"
For me, it doesn't matter, it wasn't my turn, my children had to go to their grandparents on the other side
", replies Marie-Solange, shrugging her shoulders.
"
It's still very sad for people of our generation, we will probably not see anyone,
" breaths, thoughtful, Yvette.
Same echo from the side of the youngest: Clémence, 25, apprehends the fact of not being able to join her family for Christmas, remembering that, each time she visits her grandparents, she says to herself "
that this 'this may be the last time
' she sees them.
Aware of the loneliness that awaits our seniors for the end of year celebrations, some associations have taken initiatives.
In Tours, the Secours Catholique, the Little Brothers of the Poor, the Red Cross and Visitors to Hospital Patients have launched the operation '
A drawing for Christmas
'.
The objective is to collect around 600 children's drawings for the elderly in order to "
renew the intergenerational bond damaged by the threat of Covid
", indicates to
Figaro
the delegate of the Little Brothers of the Poor in Indre-et-Loire Sandrine Le Bars .
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