muguet
Lily of the Valley--plant it chez vous!
"The young Gustave Flaubert glumly predicted that he would end up 'a cog like everybody else'." In the new book, "Flaubert : A Biography," read about how the French author "decisively turned away from his feared destiny of dull conformity." --Booklist
le muguet (mew-geh) n.m.
lily of the valley
The following lyrics are from the beloved French folk singer George Brassens. Check out his music and hear a few samples.
Le premier mai c'est pas gai / The first of May is not cheerful
Je trime a dit le muguet / I slave away, said the lily of the valley
Dix fois plus que d'habitude / Ten times more than usual
Regrettable servitude / A regrettable encumbrance
Muguet, sois pas chicaneur / Muguet, don't be a quibbler
Car tu donnes du bonheur / Because you make people happy...
Brin d' muguet, tu es quelqu'un... / Little bouquet of lily, you are somebody...
A Day in a French Life...
Question: So what are the French doing today, the first of May, besides fattening up their morning* (or 'sleeping in,' as we say back home)?
Answer: Waving snow-white porte-bonheurs* through the air and wishing each other good luck!
Along little cobblestone paths in the French hinterland, and at noisy intersections across the city, French 'vendeurs de muguet'* are warming street curbs with buckets of lilies of the valley and shouting "Le muguet du premier mai!"--cashing in on today's national holiday, Labor Day (or "La Fête du Travail"), ironically enough. On May 1st it is the custom to offer loved ones little bouquets of those sweet-scented, clochette-shaped* flowers that grow wild in some areas--in a gesture of friendship and in celebration of spring (a.k.a. la Fête du Muguet).
The commercant commercants* are handing out the friendship flowers: the butcher (who should be off work, non?) is offering "un brin de muguet" to his faithful clients and some fancy boxed cakes have been seen leaving the chocolate shop with the little flowers tucked beneath the pearly-white ribbons that fasten the boxes.
"Ah, bon?"* My mother-in-law replies over the phone, étonnée.* "Shopkeepers here in Marseilles don't offer muguet!" After a moment of silence, she quietly admits that no one has ever offered her a bouquet of muguet des bois.* But that doesn't stop my belle-maman* from taking "un petit brin"* to her 'little neighbor' downstairs, a coo-toom* she took up several years ago, to add cheer to the lonely foyer of another forgotten heart.
* * *
After so many "good luck" wishes from readers on Friday, it is my turn to return the kindness: Bonne Fête du Muguet! Good luck to you in the challenges you face--wherever on this globe you may call home.
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References: faire la grasse matinée = "to do the fat morning" (to sleep in); un porte-bonheur (m) = lucky charm; vendeur, vendeuse de muguet = lily of the valley seller; Le muguet du premier mai! = The First of May's Lily of the Valley (buy some now)!; la clochette (f) = bell; commerçant(e) (adj) = businesslike; commerçant(e) (mf) = shopkeepers; Ah, bon? = oh, really?; étonné(e) = puzzled; le muguet des bois (m) = "lily of the woods" (woodruff); la belle-maman (f) = mother-in-law; un petit brin (m) = "a little blade" (a little bouquet); coo-toom (pronunciation for 'coutume' (f) = custom
Listen--hear my son, Max, pronounce the word 'muguet': Download muguet.wav
Buy muguet des bois for your garden, and be prepared for the next May Day!
