Saint Nicolas: L'effet renaissance

As I mentioned in the previous post, Saint Nicolas is the patron saint of the Lorraine region. Nancy is perhaps the biggest French city that celebrates Saint Nicolas Day (December 6). In fact, each year Nancy has a whole city-wide festival during the first weekend of December in honor of Saint Nicolas.

Here are some highlights from this year's Saint Nicolas festival, whose theme/title was "Saint Nicolas: L'effet renaissance." As Nancy is undergoing major developments in 2013, the city is going through a rebirth of sorts.

• Spectacle pyrotechnique (Pyrotechnical Show) on December 1:

This is my shorten video of the half hour long pyrotechnical show. The show told the legend of Saint Nicolas and how he saved three children from an evil butcher. The show integrated video, fireworks, and music. It was very cold that night, but the show was totally worth seeing!

 Les feux d'artifice (Fireworks)

The three children from the Saint Nicolas legend 

 Lights!

Saint Nicolas!

• Le défilé (parade) on December 2:

My friends and I braved another cold evening to see the Saint Nicolas parade today. The parade included floats from the neighborhoods/villages surrounding Nancy.

The wicked boucher (butcher)

Saint Nicolas!

In sum, Nancy is the place to be the first weekend of December!