{"id":4806,"date":"2026-04-05T16:19:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T20:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hoperoth.com\/blog\/?p=4806"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T20:28:31","slug":"joyeuses-paques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hoperoth.com\/blog\/joyeuses-paques\/","title":{"rendered":"Joyeuses P\u00e2ques"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fun fact: here in France, the Easter Bunny doesn’t bring eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we have the Easter bells (“les cloches de P\u00e2ques). Wait, what<\/em>? Traditionally, Catholic churches don’t ring their bells between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. It symbolizes the state of mourning over Jesus. Somehow, this turned into a story for children that the bells have all flown away to Rome, to be blessed by the Pope. When they come back, they rain down chocolates for all of the good children. Which is why French children hunt for their chocolates outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The internet tells me that the French chocolate hunt can take up an entire morning, unlike the American version).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are parts of France near the German border where the Easter Bunny brings eggs. Also, the American influence means that the Easter bunny has been getting a pawhold into the zeitgeist. The internet also tells me that this can get quite contentious. We didn’t have to pick a side, however, because Lilian is 13 and knows that her chocolates came from the store<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Lilian got a scavenger hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Outside the Gentle Chat. Lumi is keeping a watchful eye on the cats. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Lilian asked Kristian for a hunt. There may have been a slight<\/em> miscommunication (Lilian asked us this morning if she needed to clear out of the living room so we could “hide some stuff”). But, we had so much, I’m glad for the mixup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came up with a list of 9 locations, all places we’ve been before. They were all in our general vicinity. The farthest, the Monument to Saint-Exup\u00e9ry<\/a>, is a km away (no, I will not be translating that into American, look it up). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We printed clues for each location out, put them in an order that wasn’t too much of a straight-line (but not so much of a zig-zag that we tortured our child) and then divided the clues in half. At each location, Lilian was met by one of us. We gave her some chocolate eggs and her clue for the next location (where the other parent was waiting). I sewed her a little bunny-shaped treat bag to put her chocolates in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(We also blocked her from using “Find My” on her phone so she couldn’t cheat).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Oh, modern life).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few notable locations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n