A political nativity

Mrs. TT did not think it a good idea to do a strenuous hike today so instead we went to Perpignan and collected some snow chains we had left at the garage. After popping into Decathlon for a couple of things we had lunch in the Halles, soup and boles de picolat, a very traditional Catalan dish. There was far too much of it and we could not finish our meal. We could easily have managed with one soup and one main but the menu board was very misleading. After lunch, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art and then to the hotel Pams, a wonderful Art Nouveau building. The family who built it made their fortune manufacturing cigarette papers. The building originally housed the factory until it became a magnificent private residence. There was also a nativity scene to admire. We had time to visit some of the other nativity scenes around the city, one on the river, one In a dedicated exhibition at the medieval burial site, the Campo Santo, and one in the town hall. This latter crèche or Pessebre in the Catalan tradition, has caused some strong debate. Last year, the administrative tribunal of Montpelier ruled that, under the principle of laïcité which bans all religious symbolism in schools, town halls and administrative buildings, the crèche should be removed from the town hall. The Maire then put it in the town hall courtyard with a grill giving onto the street maintaining that it was no longer in the town hall! This follows  a pattern of various right wing communes challenging the principle of laïcité, the separation of church and state, which forms part of the bedrock of French society and values.