The religious calendar in France, and some other countries as well, has a day in February known as La Chandeleur or Candlemas. It occurs on February 2nd, 40 days after Christmas, and has to do with the presentation of the baby Jesus at Temple, as was the custom of the day. By the 7th century the day was celebrated by having candles blessed by the priest. The participants would light their newly blessed candles and make sure they made it home without them blowing out, to ensure good health and prosperity for the coming year.

But the French will be French, and it has become customary to prepare and eat crêpes, lots of crêpes, on this special day. Why crêpes on February 2nd? Many say it was the custom of Pope Gélase I, who helped establish Chandeleur as a church holiday, to feed crêpes to the pilgrims who visited his church. Whatever the reason, February 2nd has become le jur des crêpes, the day of crêpes, in France.

One of the customs that has grown up around this holiday is that of flipping crêpes to ensure your health, wealth, and happiness for the coming year. Ah, but it is not as easy as it sounds. You must hold a coin (preferably gold, but then who has gold coins these days) in your writing hand, and successfully flip your crêpes with your other hand. Now I don’t claim to be ambidextrous by any means, but I had to give this challenge a try. I have been flipping crêpes for quite a long time, but it has always been with my right hand, which is obviously my writing hand. So, with a beautiful crêpe ready to be flipped, I dutifully held a shiny quarter in my right hand and, with my left hand (and a muttered prayer) I went for it. Glory be, my crêpe made a lovely arc in the air, and came back down right in the pan where it was supposed to be. Yes sir, I’m looking forward to a good year.

By the way, just for fun I flipped a few more crêpes with the left hand, just to prove my first try wasn’t a fluke. I must have a guardian angel watching out for me. I went a perfect 5 for 5 as a lefty, and retired from the kitchen with a smile and a quiet “Thank you.”