Tag Archives: giboulées

“Écappons”

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St-Joseph’s Day is March 19th. It snowed last night. “What’s the link between St-joseph and the snow,” you will ask?

RouXy’s Master explains: “Joseph was a carpenter. He would plane boards. Joseph being up there, in Heaven, shaving of wood [copeaux in French] would fall on Earth, the shape of big flakes of snow. Genuine Savoyards say les écappons – dialect for copeaux.”

My Master says that the snow will melt soon. But we can expect other snow showers. “The French word for écappons is giboulées. But if you look up giboulées in a dictionary, or on Wikipedia, you’ll find different descriptions of giboulées, with hail, rain, sleet, thunder… It depends on the regions, “ my master adds.

 

 

 

“Giboulées”

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030816_snow

This morning – Tuesday 8th March 2016

My Master says there seems to be no exact equivalent of the French “giboulées” in English. A “giboulée de mars” is a snow-fall that occurs in March. The quantity of snow can be quite important (10 to 25cm) but very often it melts before the end of the day.

In Savoie, old people would call these snow-falls “écappons” – dialect word for “chips of wood”. St-Joseph Day is on March 19th. Joseph was a carpenter and used to plane pieces of wood. When big flakes of snow fall on St-Joseph Day, they are supposed to be chips of wood, the byproduct of Joseph’s work.

031816_FRTrad. française plus bas

030816_talloire

The Lake this morning

Webcam in Talloire http://www.talloires-lac-annecy.com/fluxwebcam/image.jpg?rand=6148

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Yesterday morning, in my garden

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Yesterday afternoon…

031816_FR  Mon Maître il dit qu’il n’y a pas d’exact équivalent de “giboulées” en anglais. Les “giboulées de mars” c’est des chutes de neige qui ont lieu en mars. La quantité peut être importante (10 à 25cm) mais le plus souvent elle fond très rapidement.

En Savoir, les anciens appellent souvent les “giboulées” les “écappons”, mot patois pour “copeaux de bois”. La St-joseph c’est le 19 mars. Joseph était charpentier et il rabotait des morceaux de bois. Quand de gros flocons de neige tombent le jour de la St-Joseph, ce sont les copeaux du travail de Joseph.