On Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, the Alliance Française (AF) hosted a French Holiday market in Berkeley. The event was featured in the Berkeley High School bulletin, which invited students to attend. AF is an independent non-profit organization that aims to share the French language and culture. They do this through language courses, workshops, and cultural events such as this one.
This event was hosted in the Alliance Française de Berkeley, a small yellow Victorian house. An AF intern said, “We’ve done the marketing, all the advertising. We reached out to vendors, and we’ve reached out to a lot of the French community, and obviously, we’re hosting and we’ve done a lot of the organization, the decorating. But all the foods here are from local vendors who are French or French-inspired.”
Inside the house were a multitude of different tables. The event had a table selling classic French children’s books and French pastries. There were also honey and chocolate vendors as well as soap stands and jewelry stands. In the backyard of the house, there was a food vendor, selling all sorts of French crepes with fillings ranging from Nutella to just plain sugar. Upstairs, there was a table where kids could do crafts such as drawing and paper cutouts.
“The El Cerrito high-school French honor society has been coming for four years to do crafts with students and children and adults. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the high school students to come and speak some French with native French speakers and to have fun with the children,” said Karina Tindle, a teacher from El Cerrito High School who was at the market.
Around 50 people attended the event, creating a joyful blend of different types of people. There were French families going there to see other French families, Berkeley folk just coming to enjoy French culture for the first time, and BHS students.
The executive director, Charlotte Attry, said, “It’s a tradition in France. We used to have a Christmas market just before Christmas and we want once a year to open the house, for people who want to feel this vibe.”
French holiday or Christmas markets are markets that happen in many cities all over France such as Strasbourg and Lyon. These markets usually start at the end of November and go throughout the month of December. They typically run through the streets, featuring stands selling baked treats, handmade gifts, or serving mulled wine. This tradition dates all the way back to German cities in the 1400s. The earliest trace of French holiday markets started in the region of Alsace in Strasbourg. Strasbourg, known as the “Capital of Christmas”, which still continues the tradition to this day.
Organizing the holiday market is very meaningful to members of Alliance Française. “I’ve been living in Berkeley for 10 years. And I love the idea (of sharing) my culture with people who live around, and, you know, share the spirit and personally also, I’m far from all my family, far from my friends. So I would say it’s also feeling the community in the same place,” Attry said.