Is Labor Day in France. When King Charles 1X received a bunch of them as a sign of goodwill and good luck; he thought it a charming custom and officially called it so in 1561. It's been celebrated ever since.
What happens? People buy little bunches of Lily of the Valley flowers and hand them off to strangers. We learned about this charming custom firsthand when we landed at Charles De Gaulle and were walking to the Air France bus into Paris where my best friend Michelle would pick us up. Various people handed us a small bouquets of these lovely blossoms.
At first I thought these strangers were selling them - some kind of promotion and started to fish out my billfold. "No, no" - the strangers insisted. Michelle quickly set us straight when we met..
It is a lovely custom if you don't know that these flowers are extremely toxic and can poison small pets and medium-sized children.
Good luck my foot!
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