My grandmother grows her own muguet on her balcony in Paris ahead of May Day
May 1st in France is known as both la fête du Travail (labour day) as well as la fête du muguet (lily of the valley day). French people exchange springs of lily of the valley to wish each other good luck! May Day marks the beginning of spring and there’s a lot to celebrate about the arrival of the fifth month of the year. The weather starts to warm up (the famous Parisian Spring is finally here!), Rolland Garros gets under way and movie stars descend on Cannes for the film festival. In addition to all these distractions, French people hardly have to work in May, with all the ponts (the French equivalent of England’s Bank Holidays) every weekend is pretty much a three-day excuse to get out of Paris and visit another part of France/Europe.
Of course Parisians need a macaron to celebrate every occasion and Ladurée never disappoints! Every year, the famous fabricant de douceurs et gourmandises comes out with a macaron au muguet available for a limited time and in a lovely keepsake box. Labeled le macaron porte bonheur (lucky charm macaron), it’s my ultimate favourite flavour of macaron!!
[This post was first posted on May 1st, 2010]
They had a seasonal mimosa flavor last time I went there. Really good too!
Mimosa is yummy. I love all the flower flavours for some reason… rose, muguet, violette, mimosa, eglantine… love them all!