My 13 year old niece and I are working on a France project for Girl Scouts. We have been doing a lot of research and will be continuing to do so for a few more weeks.[return][return]Some interesting facts that we learned from reading this book:[return]* French people do not have to buy much food from abroad because they have more farmland than any other in Western Europe and therefor can produce most of the foods themselves.[return]*France produces enough types of cheese that you could eat a different type every day of the year.[return]*Most of France is Roman Catholic[return][return]Interesting Holiday Facts:[return]*Christmas celebration begins on Dec 6 with Festival of of Saint Nicholas. Santa rides on a donkey through out towns passing out gingerbread cookies and candy to children.[return]*Christmas Eve dinner in Provence includes 13 different desserts.[return]*Festival of Kings, celebrated on Jan 6, is when people in France give gifts to each other. They also eat a special dessert cake that contains a charm. If you get the charm in your piece of cake you are king/queen for the day and get to wear a crown all day.[return]*Mardi Gras is a time to eat up the surplus of meat and other animal products to prepare for Lent.[return]* Carnival comes from the Latin words "carne vale" meaning "good bye to meat."[return]*The biggest carnival of the year is in Nice.[return]*Good Friday - many regions celebrate Good Friday by making omelettes from freshly laid eggs.[return]*Many town have food festivals to celebrate their local food such as but not limited to strawberries, snails, lemons, and oranges.[return]*Beauliu-Sur-Dordogne holds the Guinness Book of World records for a strawberry tart made at their Strawberry Festival that used 1,870 lbs of strawberries and was 23 feet across.[return]*One of the stangest festivals in the pig squealing festival held by farmers and villagers helpd in Trie-Sur-Baise ( )