Joyeuses Pacques!

Happy Easter all! (it's technically Easter Monday here already, but I wrote this post earlier today by hand while sitting in front of Notre Dame and people/tourist watching) I missed the big mass at Notre Dame, but there are plenty of people lingering and there's a giant screen next to the cathedral. There were also free hug people, but I think they got chased away by the police.

So. Easter in Paris - kids dressed in their best spring clothes (even though it's still cold enough for a peacoat), a full house this morning at church, and colored eggs at the Bastille market. To be honest, other than that it seems like a pretty typical Sunday in Paris.

I'm not actually surprised though. In French, there's a term, laïcité, which can only be roughly translated to the separation of Church and State in the public sphere. The closest word in English is secularism, and even that's not quite accurate. With laïcité, in 1905 a law was enacted to separate the two entities, and in the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, one of the key descriptions of France as a nation is laïque. Needless to say, there aren't any big Easter sales, or signs in front of stores celebrating the holiday around Paris. There are Easter chocolates and of course Easter egg hunts, but other than that most of the celebrations remain inside the church.

Although this idea of laïcité has been around since the French Revolution, there are still certain inconsistencies/holes with the concept. The big one to come to mind is that tomorrow/today is Easter Monday, and it's a holiday (at least for Paris). I have a day off, and so do most of my friends. Ascension is also a holiday in May. For a country claiming to be laïque, why are the spring holidays religious?

This question of laicite is particularly interesting to me because I'm interning at a Catholic children's rights organization - I wonder if the organization is looked at differently because it is religious. For my research paper this semester, I'm planning on tackling this subject. Despite having a four day weekend, I chose to stay in Paris because I wanted to see the city during a major holiday (and I was sick again but that's not as important).

So I write this post with a question for you all. In the past few years, there have been several debates, conflicts and controversies related to laïcité, particularly with the wearing of religious symbols (most recently, a woman lost her licensing at the Creche Baby Loup because she wore a veil while working). My question is, what defines the public sphere? Not just in France, but all over the world. Does it change from country to country?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject - comment here, email, FB, whatever works (besides phone unless you're in France). Thanks guys!

Dana