What does an ordinary Russian person know about the French? Actually, not so much. Those who have never visited Hugo’s homeland often use common stereotypes in their ideas about the French. The portrait of a “typical Frenchman” in most cases looks a little strange: a sort of sophisticated lover of frog legs and Bordeaux, with an indispensable scarf around his neck and a baguette under his arm, drinking coffee with a croissant in the morning, and champagne in the hotel room in the evenings... But so is this?
About stability
If we talk about sustainable habits, the French are unconditional opponents of experiments. Stability and constancy are valued most of all by them. It can get ridiculous: bread is always bought at the same bakery, Friday lunches are spent in a favorite restaurant, and vacations are spent at a resort that you liked in your youth. Is it worth talking about the Frenchman’s attachment to his work? The same goes for your country. A typical Parisian may know several languages, especially if it is required by his duty, but in any case he remains confident: better than France there is no country, and there is no particular point in traveling abroad either. According to the Frenchman, the Earth revolves around Paris. And the French openly feel sorry for representatives of other nationalities, because, alas, they will never become owners of such refined taste and such a broad outlook as the inhabitants of France.
Every Frenchman sincerely considers himself “the very best” - in politics, fashion, art, culture, gastronomy... You can’t list everything. Well, if a Frenchman does not feel like an expert in some area, then this, of course, is only because this area of knowledge is not at all interesting to him and is not needed in life.
About kisses and style
Another stereotype is about unique French kisses. A French man generally appears to most foreign women as a kind of hero-lover. But in fact, most of the “paddling pools” are ordinary guys, who, by the way, often give in to the ladies. The reason for this is the well-known looseness of French women and their notorious independence.
By the way, about the French women. They do not always look as elegant and stylish as the media tries to demonstrate. Carried away by feminist sentiments, French women often forget about their appearance. But men in France really take care of themselves - sometimes even more carefully than women.
It is believed that the French do not pronounce the sound “r”, but this is only partly true. It all depends on what region of the country a person was born and raised in - Corsicans, for example, have an accent that does not have the characteristic French “r”.
The French are quite lazy, and that's true. The average Frenchman uses all possible occasions for rest: lunch break, coffee break, day off, shortened day, illness, strike... This is especially true office workers. However, traders in numerous shops also do not disdain this kind of thing.
About food
By the way, about the shops. French housewives are some of the most meticulous in the world. In Europe, it is generally not customary to prepare food in advance, and in France it is completely death-defying. A typical Parisian housewife goes around the shops every day, meticulously choosing every piece of cheese. Everything purchased must be perfectly fresh. The very process of eating gives the French incredible pleasure - perhaps, only talking about cooking becomes more enjoyable.
The French are even more conservative when it comes to food than when it comes to work or car brands. Everything should be as usual: foie gras - only with Sauternes, coffee - only after dessert, and God forbid you add milk to it! Yes, table setting and even the order in which guests are seated at dinner are also subject to strict canons.
About tourists
The French have a wary, if not hostile, attitude towards tourists. Sincerely considering their country to be the best in the world, the French believe that any visitor by default is not so smart and sophisticated. And if a tourist also actively violates the rules of behavior - for example, reveals his map while stopping in the middle of the sidewalk - then this is a reason to express his open contempt for him.
The French are generally not very friendly. However, this is not a reason to refuse to visit Paris: if a tourist behaves “correctly”, then he will always and everywhere be welcome. And if you can communicate with locals in French, their attitude towards you will be especially warm.
Each nation has a set of traits that are most characteristic of each individual in a particular country, therefore the concept of “national character” includes many components and, by definition, cannot be an exact value or a scientifically proven fact. National character includes primarily the emotional and sensory characteristics of a particular nationality and people.
What is most characteristic of the French in general?
Based on many years of observations and statements of great people, as well as analysis literary works, we can say that the French are characterized by the following features:
- Fiction and various fantasies are an unconditional feature of the French, because it is no coincidence that they are considered the most active experimenters by nature. At the same time, for representatives of the French nation, the most interesting thing is the passage of the chosen path, and not its final result, because it is the journey that can promise many new and unusual impressions and opportunities.
- The novelty of concepts and ideas in the most different directions– an excellent horse for a self-respecting Frenchman! Serious things like technology and nuclear energy, railways and democracy are all opportunities for fun.
- Meeting the highest requirements is also one of the main features of the French. At the same time, absolute novelty, which shines with paint that has not yet completely dried, is of particular importance to them, despite its blatant absurdity.
- The speed and transience of life attracts the French, creating a reputation for the French nation as a frivolous people. This national trait The French fully admit it, because the expression “Frivolous, like a Frenchman” is popular and even recorded in the famous Encyclopedia of Arts, Sciences and Crafts.
- Wit, grace, delicate taste and wit are not by chance considered the main features of the French nation, because many examples of history, captured in the works of world classics, testify to the ease French character, the ability to quickly forget unpleasant life moments and enjoy life.
The words “breakfast”, “lunch”, “dinner”, “food” and all the same root and related meanings are sacred to the French. Only “rugby”, “bicycle”, “football” can “compete” with these words. And only if on a full stomach. It is strictly forbidden to call a Frenchman when he is eating! Keep that in mind. And this is not a joke. Being late from lunch will be forgiven more quickly than being stuck in a traffic jam.
The French in communication
In the process of communicating with other people, one can say about the French that their honesty in private relationships is perfectly combined with their desire and ability to cheat in relation to authorities. According to some reports, it is difficult to find a Frenchman who has not deceived a tax collector at least once.
The French are polite to foreigners - this stems from their natural need for gallantry, as well as a taste for communication. French politeness is especially evident when communicating with female representatives. Remember, it was the French language that was adopted in all high-society salons where women were mistresses.
Ease and ability to conduct a conversation, the desire to shine with words - all this defines the French nation as one of the most intellectual and broad-minded. Politeness, courtesy and a penchant for humor also make it easy to communicate with the French.
Even in an ordinary handshake, a real Frenchman can bring so much various shades, which is beyond the power of a prim Englishman to reproduce: when performed by a Frenchman it can be friendly, dry, hot, careless, cold.
It should be noted that the speed French speech recognized as the largest among other countries in the world.
French family
Family relationships are very important for the French, and sometimes several generations live peacefully under one roof. If, after the children’s marriage, they separated from their parents, they will always strive to live as close to each other as possible.
Sunday lunches and holidays are an excellent occasion for regular family meetings, while the participation of outsiders in such events is rare occurrence. Only close friends can be invited to a family celebration.
Family relationships very often become the main support in business, and all members of the French family strive to mutually help in various enterprises.
The French and business
Ease of communication helps a Frenchman make and maintain the necessary connections and acquaintances, and politeness and a cheerful disposition help him resolve conflicts that arise without any complications.
However, the French are also characterized by character traits such as independence and criticality, due to their education system, as well as some intolerance and categoricalness, which makes joint business and business relations dealing with the French is not the simplest and easiest thing to do.
The scrupulousness of representatives of this nation makes it possible to conduct business clearly, and the desire to study in detail every aspect of a business partnership leads to a longer procedure for drawing up and signing a contract. At the same time, due to their high intelligence and as a result of their superiority over others, they are sometimes intolerant of other people’s points of view.
FRENCH, France (self-name), people, the main population of France (56.3 million people). They also live in the possessions of France (Guiana, New Caledonia, Reunion, French Polynesia), in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Madagascar. Large groups of French people are concentrated in the USA (650 thousand people), Italy (320 thousand people), Belgium (132 thousand people), Switzerland (80 thousand people), etc. The total number of French people is 59.4 million people. French is spoken by the Romance group of the Indo-European family. Believers are mainly Catholics, there are Reformed Calvinists (mainly in Paris, in the Pyrenees, in the Rhone basin, in the Marseille region, in Normandy).
The autochthonous population of France was most likely Indo-European origin. From the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the settlement of the country by Indo-European Celtic tribes began. By the middle of the 1st millennium BC, they practically mixed with the local population and occupied the entire territory of modern France. The Phoenician-Carthaginian and Greek colonies, the main one is Massilia (modern Marseille) - in 600 BC. From the 2nd century BC, the Romans began to penetrate here. They called the Celts Gauls, and their country Gaul. The Roman conquest of Gaul led to the Romanization of its population (especially in the south of the country) and the emergence of a Gallo-Roman ethnic community that spoke a local version of folk Latin. During the Great Migration (5th century), Gaul was invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Visigoths (to the south and southwest), the Burgundians (to the east and southeast) and the Franks (to the north and northeast). At the beginning of the 6th century, the Franks ousted the Visigoths from Gaul, and in 534 they conquered the kingdom of the Burgundians. From the middle of the 6th century, the entire territory of Gaul became part of the Frankish kingdom, and German-Latin bilingualism was formed. By the end of the 9th century, folk Latin absorbed the Germanic dialects and formed the basis of the future French. A consequence of the unequal degree of Romanization of the north and south of France was the formation of two ethnic communities: northern French (north of the Loire River) and southern French. Their languages were named after the characteristic difference in the pronunciation of the word “yes”: lang d'oil (from oil) in the north and lang d'ok (from oc) in the south. The northern dialects initially remained only colloquial, while in the south, by the 11th century, literary language(Provencal). On special languages spoke the peoples living on the western outskirts of the empire. Since pre-Roman times, the Basques have lived at the foot of the Pyrenees - a people of unknown origin who resisted Romanization. At the end of the 6th century, from beyond the Pyrenees, the Vascons (ancestors of the Gascons), most likely of Iberian origin, came to the southwestern coast of France. In the V-VI centuries. The resettlement of the Celtic tribes of the Britons (ancestors of the Bretons) began from the British Isles to the North-West of France (the modern Brittany Peninsula). From the 8th century, Scandinavian tribes of Normans began to arrive from the north to the Frankish lands. The formation of a single community was facilitated by the political unification of French lands around the royal Capetian domain of Ile-de-France, with its center in Paris (from the end of the 10th century). By the beginning of the 14th century, most of France was united under the rule of the French kings. Based on the Ile-de-France dialect, the Northern French literary language began to form. Ethnic and linguistic consolidation took place in northern France much faster than in southern France. By the end of the 15th century, the merging of northern and southern ethnic communities began. Northern French becomes the common French spoken and written language. Formation of a national French culture was accelerated in the 16th century by the strengthening of political centralization and internal economic ties, the establishment of the French national language, which supplanted the Latin language from judicial and administrative records, the flourishing secular culture during the Renaissance. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. French hegemony in Europe was established. French served as the language of diplomacy and aristocracy European countries. The decisive factor in the formation of the French nation was the Age of Enlightenment and French Revolution the end of the 18th century. Philosophy of the French Enlightenment, French classical literature played a big role in the spread of the French literary language in the provinces, where until that time local dialects had held firm. Administrative reforms Revolutionary era (destruction of provinces with their customs, establishment of departments, introduction of universal conscription), reform school education etc. contributed to the erasure of regional differences and the merging of the French people into a single nation.
In the conditions of modern national leveling of culture, the French still retain the consciousness of belonging to certain historical regions (Norman, Picardy, Burgundian, Auvergnat, Gascon, etc.) with local cultural characteristics.
With high industrial development in France, a significant role remains agriculture. The main industry is livestock farming (cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry); Agriculture occupies a significant place (the main crops are wheat, barley, corn, sugar beets, tobacco, etc.). Traditional viticulture and winemaking are also developed. Traditional crafts (wood carving, making painted ceramics, lace weaving) are losing importance. However, some of them (Lyon silk manufactories, Sevres porcelain, perfume production in Grasse near Cannes, etc.) turned into industrial sectors and gained worldwide fame.
The majority of the French live in small towns (20-30 thousand inhabitants) and several large metropolitan areas. Small towns with a population of less than 20 thousand inhabitants retain a medieval radial layout with a castle or monastery in the center, with main square, where the church, city hall and market are located.
Among rural settlements, small villages with several dozen or hundreds of inhabitants, or very small ones, consisting of 5-10 households, predominate; There are also farmsteads. The layout of settlements is mainly linear. Traditional rural dwellings have several types in terms of layout and design principles. The main type is one-story stone or adobe buildings on a wooden frame, where living quarters and adjacent stables, stables, barns and wine cellars are combined under one roof. The gable steep roofs of ancient houses in Northern and Central France are covered with slate, tiles, etc. On large farms in Northeastern France, the Paris region, Picardy and Flanders, residential and outbuildings on four sides enclose a courtyard with a well or pond in the middle. In mountainous regions (Alps, Pyrenees), the Alpine type of house is common - two or three storeys, with a lower stone floor and an upper log floor. In the south of France (Aquitaine, the Rhone and Saone valleys, the island of Corsica), small two-story houses under low tiled roofs, stone or adobe, are typical; the second floor is residential, sometimes wooden, with a gallery, which is reached by an external stone staircase. Peasant house usually consisted of a common room that served as a kitchen and dining room, and one or two bedrooms. Family life was centered in a common room with a fireplace in a niche near the gable wall. Food was prepared in it on a cast-iron tripod, and food was stored on the shelves in front of it. kitchen utensils. Modern peasant housing only partially preserves the traditional interior.
The folk costume was no longer worn in the 19th century. The basis of a women's traditional costume is a wide skirt with gathers, a jacket, a corsage, an apron, a cap or a hat. Men's suit - pants, leggings, shirt, vest, jacket or wide blouse, headdress - beret or hat. Vintage shoes - wooden clogs. Different provinces had different embroidery motifs, cap shapes, cut and decoration of bodice and apron.
Traditional food is characterized by vegetable and onion soups (usually pureed), steaks (beef; in villages many dishes are made from pork) with fried potatoes, lamb stew under various sauces, omelettes with ham, mushrooms (truffles and champignons) and other seasonings, fish dishes; Cheese is widely consumed (the French eat less other dairy products than others European peoples). A lot of vegetables, fruits, oysters, lobsters, crabs, sea urchins, shellfish. Traditional centers of winemaking are the Gironde department, the regions of Burgundy and Champagne. The diet in villages depends largely on the season and the nature of rural work, and the majority of townspeople strictly adhere to the traditional hours of an early light breakfast (coffee, toast or rolls with butter, jam, honey), second breakfast ( meat dish with vegetables, snacks, coffee with dessert) and a late, hearty lunch.
The main holiday - Christmas (December 25) - is celebrated in the family circle. In the villages, geese and turkeys are fattened for Christmas, pork and blood sausages are prepared. An abundance of dishes on the Christmas table is considered a guarantee of well-being. The custom of decorating a Christmas tree spread to cities in the 19th century, but hardly penetrated into the French countryside. Christmas, New Year and Kings' Day (January 6) make up the winter cycle of holidays ("twelve days"). The end of winter festival (carnival) is now celebrated mainly in the cities of the southern provinces, in particular in Nice; The procession with the Carnival effigy is accompanied by theatrical performances. On Easter, Trinity, and patronal feasts, fairs, folk festivals, and comic competitions are held. For Easter, special breads are baked and an omelet with meat is served. All Saints' Day (November 1) is celebrated as a day of remembrance of the dead. Pots of chrysanthemums are placed on the graves of relatives. The main national holiday - Bastille Day (July 14) is celebrated with a military parade, and in the evening - with folk festivities with songs and dances on the Place de la Bastille. In addition to national holidays, local holidays are also celebrated. From national games The most popular is the game of boules. Local traditional shows and games are preserved: in the south - bullfights and cow racing, in the Basque regions - ball games, in Languedoc - boat wrestling competitions, etc.
Folklore has fed French literature, music, and theater for centuries. A special kind urban folklore, subjected to literary processing, became songs performed by professional chansonniers. Traditional dances (farandola, goliard, minuet, bourre, gavotte, etc.) are performed during folklore festivals to the accompaniment folk instruments(bagpipes, tambourine, viola, facita).
- Ethnological overview
Information about ethnogenesis
French les Français listen)) are the people who make up the main population of France and number 63 million people today.
Distinguishes three ethnic groups: Aquitanians, Celts and Belgians. When Augustus broke Gallia nova into three provinces, he retained this grouping, and Gaul was divided into Iberian Aquitaine, central Celtica and Belgium, where Galatian and Germanic elements predominated. The most ancient layer of the Gallic population consisted of a dark-skinned people with an oblong skull, related to the Iberians and belonging to the “Mediterranean” type of anthropologists. Later, along the Alpine ridge, a new dark-skinned people, short-headed and short in stature, penetrates into Gaul; some of its representatives seemed similar to the Mongols; these were ligurs. The Celts, also brachycephalics and, perhaps, also of Asian origin, enter Gaul along the same route. Finally, during the Iron Age, tall, blond and long-headed conquerors descended from the north. Mixed with the Ibero-Ligurians and Celts, they form the Gallic people.
Anthropological (racial description)
There are three types of appearance: tall, blond with white skin and blue eyes (descendants of the Gauls), dark-haired brunettes of medium or short stature (descendants of the Celts), dark-skinned people, short-headed and short; some of its representatives seemed similar to the Mongols; (ligurs).
Geography of the ethnic group.
The French gene pool is dominated by the Celtic element (Gauls). Germanic tribes also played a significant role in the formation of the French people: the Franks, Normans, and Burgundians. The Romanesque contribution of the ancient Romans is important.
VI century The Vasconians (Basques) came to France from behind the Pyrenees. They are a people of unknown origin, although there is a version about the relationship between the Basques and Georgians, as well as other versions. These are the ancestors of the Gascons.
The Brittany peninsula was inhabited by the Britons, later called the Bretons.
The Franks formed a state in the north and center of modern France, the Burgundians in the southeast. Repeatedly the Frankish lands were subjected to raids by the Normans or Vikings (aka Norwegians and Danes). In the 10th century The Normans captured the northern part of Frankish territory and founded a duchy there.
During the time of the Capetians, a unified French nation began to form. The geographical region of Ile-de-France becomes the center. The language becomes unified in the 15th century (based on the Ile-de-France dialect). Separatism manifested itself most strongly in the south of the country, whose population had been speaking their own languages for quite a long time - Provençal, as well as Occitan, and in Brittany, whose people were of Celtic origin.
However, there is still a desire in the minds of the people for the historical regions of their origin - the Normans, Bretons (?), Gascons, Picardians, Auvergnants, Burgundians, etc.
Economic and cultural description
France has highly developed industry and agriculture. The main branches of agriculture are animal husbandry, agriculture, viticulture and winemaking. The main crops are wheat, barley, corn, sugar beets, tobacco, and grapes. They raise cattle, pigs, sheep, and poultry. Traditional crafts, wood carving, painted ceramics, and lace weaving are losing their importance.
XVII-XVIII centuries France became the hegemon in Europe in the field of culture. World-famous industries developed here: the production of silk, porcelain (Sèvres Manufactory), and perfumes. Before this, French lace (Valenciennes, after the city of the same name) had world fame.
Language
the language of the French (See French), the general population of France, part of the population of Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, the population of Haiti and some former or modern possessions of France in America and Africa. The official and literary language in these countries, as well as in Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, and a number of African countries (Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Zaire, Congo, Benin, Burundi, etc.). One of the official and working languages of the UN. Total number speakers - about 80 million people. (1974, assessment). Belongs to the group of Romance languages (See. Romance languages). Main dialects: French, Poitevin, Norman, Picard, Walloon, Lorraine, Burgundy. The southeastern dialects (Lyon, Dauphiné, Savoyard) are combined into a group of Franco-Provençal dialects, intermediate between French and Provençal. Literary F. I. in Belgium, Switzerland and especially in Canada it has specific features, mainly in the field of vocabulary. Based on F. i. arose Creole languages(in Haiti, the M. Antilles and Mascarene Islands).
F. I. - the result of the evolution of the folk Latin language on the territory of Gaul (See. Gaul), conquered by the Romans in the 1st century. BC e. From the language of the Gauls (See. Gauls) some words have been preserved (bouleau, charrue, grève, etc.). A more significant lexical layer (guerre, garder, heaume, etc.) remained from the Frankish language (See. Franks), who captured Gaul in the 5th century. n. e. and mixed with the local population. Gallic influence Substrate and also Germanic Superstrat and explain some features of sound and grammatical structure F. I. History of F. I. divided into periods: Gallo-Roman (5-8 centuries), Old French (9-13 centuries), Middle French (14-15 centuries), Early Modern French (16 centuries), New French: classical (17-18 centuries) and modern (from the 19th century). The first written evidence of F. i. belong to the 8th century. (Reichenau glosses), the first coherent text is from 842 (“Strasbourg Oath”). Old French differed significantly from modern French in the areas of phonetics and grammar. From the 14th century a common French written language is being created (based on the French dialect). In the 16th century The French national language is formed, which by royal decree (1539) becomes mandatory in official records, pushing aside both local dialects and the Latin language. In the 17th century a literary language norm is established, which remains largely unchanged to this day. Even in the Middle Ages, F. I. used outside France from the 17th-18th centuries. it begins to be used as an international one.
Confessional description
In France, the predominant religion is Catholicism. 84% of French people are Catholics, although this number also includes those who broke with religion but were baptized in the Catholic rite from birth.
About 2% of the French are Protestants, the rest of the believing population belongs to various sects.
The number of atheists is growing rapidly in France. Nowadays only 4 French people attend Sunday mass. This figure is average. The religiosity of the population varies in different social strata and regions of the country. The influence of the Catholic Church is still strong in Brittany, Vendee, in certain departments of the Massif Central, Alsace, Lorraine, Savoy, as well as in the Basque region.
In rural areas, the religiosity of the population is higher than in the city.
The French Church, considered “avant-garde” in the Catholic world, led the search for new religious, political and ideological concepts that would allow it to adapt to the modern era and keep working people in its sphere of influence. Criticizing capitalism and allegedly defending the vital interests of the working people, the French church calls for the reconciliation of classes, the subordination of the labor movement to the “common interest,” and the association of labor and capital.
The French clergy strives to demonstrate solidarity with the working masses. Nowadays bishops can be found among the striking workers.
In the country, about 9.5 million inhabitants (15%) are Muslims: they are mainly from countries North Africa(Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians and others).
2. National psychological characteristics:
2.1 Motivational background features
Cultural and value orientations
Concept la force("strength, authority, power") underlies everything the French have done - whether good or bad - for at least the last millennium. La force- the essence of their life. This concept is connected with other, no less great concepts: la gloire(“glory”) and la patrie("homeland").
In France, developed intellect, high qualifications, as well as the activities of some academic institutions have always been treated with great respect.
In France they are confident: anyone can achieve anything in the world if they have received the appropriate qualifications, but if they have received them, then they are simply obliged to provide them with the opportunity to achieve everything they want, as soon as they prove that they were going towards their goal in the right way, observing generally accepted norms and conventions.
The French truly admire intelligence. The products of intellectual activity, that is, both the Mind and the Feelings, have always evoked the greatest respect and love in them. They are able to worship both ideas and those who create these ideas. That is why French politicians of various sizes have the opportunity to come up with any of the most daring, fantastic, expensive and, in general, ridiculous projects that are simply doomed to universal approval (even if it is clear that they may subsequently end in terrible failure) precisely because were originally so daring, fantastic, etc.
In the 1980s, for example, the French began frantically searching for oil near Paris. One can only admire their ability to harbor such wild, frighteningly unrealistic hopes.
They have the courage to endlessly experiment, fail and experiment again - truly they are a people not burdened by their own past, but always ready to use the present as a springboard to jump into the future and revel in this ability!
Psychological configurations of culture according to various parameters: individualism/collectivism
In France, individualism is viewed negatively. This is a collectivist culture.
The French attitude towards money and wealth is quite specific. Most of them have a quality that they consider a great achievement - frugality. The French’s dislike of waste is explained primarily by the desire to secure their future in old age, to reliably protect themselves and their family in case of need, and also to avoid the humiliating material and moral dependence that is associated with debt. The French never resort to risky financial adventures, seeking to save rather than earn money.
Intellectually and spiritually, the French still feel very much connected to the land, incredibly romanticizing rural life. Every Frenchman is a true "paysan" at heart.
A Frenchman who has long left his native place and lives in the city is able to forgive everything in the world to a portly peasant who, in his spare time, shoots squirrels, fattens geese hanging in a net to make “fois gras” (foie gras), and tortures his own liver with coarse cider.
Starting from a simple village square, the French reached incredible heights of intellectual development.
The populations of France and England are approximately the same, but the area of France is more than twice that of England. That is why everyone who comes to France first of all experiences a feeling of spaciousness. There seems to be enough space here for everyone.
However, the French do not think so at all. From their point of view, there is simply nowhere to turn in France. And not only because they do not like (although they hide this dislike) immigrants who settle in French houses and mansions and deprive the natives of jobs, but also because the French tend to have a painfully possessive attitude towards every ditch, heap of manure and bush nettles in their native land.
The land - or rather, the ownership of it - can serve as the very bone of discord, because of which close family and family ties collapse, and prosperous, strong marriages break up. “Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Streams” were by no means an invention of Marcel Pagnol.* In the first film, the hero played by Gérard Depardieu shot himself, in the second he hanged himself. And all because of the land! But every Frenchman is close and understandable to the experiences of both movie characters.
The French consider the only long-term and truly valuable achievement of the French Revolution to be that it gave the people land that could not be taken away by any intriguing relative who suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Temporality:
The French generally perceive a clear sequence of actions as something very boring, and, from their point of view, being boring is completely unacceptable. This attitude is characteristic of their entire life in general.
Self-name “Français”. French is spoken by the Romance group of the Indo-European family. Believers, mostly Catholics, include Calvinist Reformers.
Ethnogenesis
The population of France was most likely of Indo-European origin. From the end of the second millennium BC. The settlement of the country by Indo-European Celtic tribes begins. By the middle of the first millennium BC. they practically mixed with the local population and occupied the entire territory of modern France. The Mediterranean strip was inhabited by the Iberians (southwest), and later the Ligurians (southeast) settled here. In the 7th-6th centuries. BC The Phoenicians and Asia Minor Greeks founded numerous colonies here, from which the cities of Marseille (ancient Massalia), Nice, Antibes, Arles and others originated. From the 2nd century. BC The Romans began to penetrate here. They called the Celts Gauls, and their country Gaul. Roman conquest of Gaul in 58-52. BC led to the Romanization of its population, which continued intensively until the end of the Roman Empire, and the emergence of a Gallo-Roman ethnic community that spoke a local version of folk Latin. Since the 3rd century, the Christian Church of Rome, whose official language has always been Latin, which influenced the emergence of the French language, played a significant role in the transformation of these ethnic groups into Romance-speaking ones. During the Great Migration of the 5th century, Gaul was invaded by the Germanic tribes of the Visigoths to the south and southwest, the Burgundians to the east and southeast, and the Franks to the north and northeast, and the Huns. At the beginning of the 6th century. The Franks ousted the Visigoths from Gaul and in 534 conquered the kingdom of the Burgundians. From the middle of the 6th century, the entire territory of Gaul became part of the Frankish kingdom, and German-Latin bilingualism was formed. By the end of the 9th century. folk Latin absorbed Germanic dialects and formed the basis of the future French language. Since the Romanization of the north and south of France proceeded differently, two ethnic communities emerged: northern French and southern French, whose languages were called Lang d'oil and Lang d'oc. In the south by the 11th century. The literary Provençal language began to take shape.
By the 10th century, a single political community was being formed, uniting around the royal Capetian domain of Ile-de-France, with its center in Paris. By the beginning of the 14th century, most of France was united under the rule of the French kings. Based on the Ile-de-France dialect, the Northern French literary language began to form. Ethnic and linguistic consolidation took place in the north of France much faster than in the south. By the end of the 15th century. the merging of northern and southern ethnic communities begins. Northern French becomes the common French spoken and written language. The formation of a nationwide French culture was accelerated in the 16th century. the strengthening of political centralization and internal economic ties, the establishment of the French national language, which supplanted the Latin language from judicial and administrative proceedings, and the flourishing of secular culture during the Renaissance.