Bretagne Local Custom Tips by bzh

Saint Ann, for Breton people, is the saint of sailors. If you walk along the coast, you are fairly likely to see small statues of the saint on top of a cliff or at the back of a beach facing the sea. They symbolise the saint watching over the sailors who have gone out to sea and wish them success and safe return.

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Until the XV Century, Brittany was an independant realm. At the end of the 1400's, Anne de Bretagne, Duchess of Brittany, born in Nantes in 1477, was to be wed and several kings and princes of Europe saw the opportunity to extend their realms. She was very shortly married to Maximilien of Austria in 1490. She was then married to the King of France, Charles VIII in 1491 and, after his death in 1499, re-married with his heir, Louis XII. Anne died in Blois in 1514 but since then Brittany has been part of France.

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Brittany is called Breizh (or Breiz) in Breton. This is usually abbreviated to BZH, especially on car bumper stickers. Hence my nickname in VT.

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Bretons can be very touchy when it comes to mistaking them for who they are not. Never call them Normands. It'd be like calling Scots "English". The two regions share similarities. Both of them together form the North coast of France, Brittany in the West, Normandy in the East. Both of them have connections with England. Both of them produce cider and every possible type of apple alcohol. But the culture and history are different and each region is fiercely proud of its own identity.

Note, to get an idea of scale, there are nearly 600km between the North-eastern tip of Normandy and the Western tip of Brittany.

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Brittany is too cold and too wet to grow grapes but perfect to grow apple trees. Consequently, the traditional drink of Brittany is neither wine nor beer but cider. You will typically find three types of cider:

Cidre Doux, sweet cider, is deep yellow, clear and fizzy, has 2% alcohol and is ideal for kids who want to have cider like the adults.
Cidre Brut, dry cider, is similar in aspect to sweet cider but, obviously, is dry and has 4 to 5% alcohol.
Cidre Fermier, farmhouse cider, is a yellow brownish, cloudy liquid, less fizzy than the other two and has 5% alcohol. This is the real traditional cider.

Good cider will always be "Cidre Bouché", i.e., contained in a glass bottle with a real cork, similar to a Champagne cork. There are some cheap brands with screw on caps but they are really not worth the saving.

Cider is traditionally drunk out of a sandstone bowl. Hence traditional restaurants will have "Bol de Cidre" or "Bollée de Cidre" on their drinks list rather than "Verre de Cidre".

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