137-558: The INF Clairefontaine ( French : Institut national du football de Clairefontaine ), known as INF or simply Clairefontaine , is the national football centre that specialises in training French football players. The INF Clairefontaine is a section of the CNF Clairefontaine . The academy is one of sixteen élite academies located in and around France that are supervised by the French Football Federation (FFF). Only
274-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
411-520: A Friday, and the next day is Lazarus Saturday . The Vespers which begins Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues through the following week. The Paschal Vigil begins with the Midnight Office , which is the last service of the Lenten Triodion and is timed so that it ends a little before midnight on Holy Saturday night. At the stroke of midnight
548-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
685-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
822-404: A number of synods were convened to deal with the controversy, which he regarded as all ruling in support of Easter on Sunday. Polycrates ( c. 190 ), however, wrote to Victor defending the antiquity of Asian Quartodecimanism. Victor's attempted excommunication was apparently rescinded, and the two sides reconciled upon the intervention of bishop Irenaeus and others, who reminded Victor of
959-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1096-512: A player to be selected to the Clairefontaine academy, he/she must be at least 13 years of age, have French nationality (in the 2000s), and be living and playing within the Île-de-France region, though players living in the departments of Seine-Maritime and Eure can also apply and be selected. Registration for new players at the academy normally begins in October the year before players enroll at
1233-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
1370-650: A result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including the United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ,
1507-515: A stadium pitch and even an indoor pitch made of artificial turf . The centre also includes a medical building, gym, fitness room, restaurant and cafeteria. There are even three tennis courts on the grounds. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from
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#17328518947551644-649: A time after the Council of Nicaea. In any case, in the years following the council, the computational system that was worked out by the church of Alexandria came to be normative. The Alexandrian system, however, was not immediately adopted throughout Christian Europe. Following Augustalis ' treatise De ratione Paschae (On the Measurement of Easter), Rome retired the earlier 8-year cycle in favor of Augustalis' 84-year lunisolar calendar cycle, which it used until 457. It then switched to Victorius of Aquitaine 's adaptation of
1781-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
1918-453: A working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As
2055-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2192-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
2329-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
2466-410: Is also used to house the national football team of France and the centre drew media spotlight following its usage as a base camp by the France team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup . Prior to the establishment of Clairefontaine, France had little success at international football, and in large tournaments France had not won any official trophies, in contrast with its neighbours Italy and Germany . In
2603-449: Is celebrated has again differed. In 725, Bede succinctly wrote: "The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox will give the lawful Easter." However, this does not precisely reflect the ecclesiastical rules. The full moon referred to (called the Paschal full moon ) is not an astronomical full moon, but the 14th day of a lunar month . Another difference is that
2740-511: Is derived from the Saxon spring festival Ēostre ; Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by its name ( Hebrew : פֶּסַח pesach , Aramaic : פָּסחָא pascha are the basis of the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels , both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover) and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in
2877-435: Is divergence in the date of Easter in most years (see table). Easter is determined on the basis of lunisolar cycles. The lunar year consists of 30-day and 29-day lunar months, generally alternating, with an embolismic month added periodically to bring the lunar cycle into line with the solar cycle. In each solar year (1 January to 31 December inclusive), the lunar month beginning with an ecclesiastical new moon falling in
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#17328518947553014-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3151-549: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3288-521: Is kept in many different ways among Western Christians. The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics, Lutherans , and some Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil which follows an ancient liturgy involving symbols of light, candles and water and numerous readings form the Old and New Testament. Services continue on Easter Sunday and in
3425-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3562-435: Is located 50 km southwest of Paris at Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines and is one of the best known football academies in the world. It has a high reputation of producing some of the most gifted French and non-French players including Nicolas Anelka , Louis Saha , William Gallas , Hatem Ben Arfa , Abou Diaby , Medhi Benatia , Blaise Matuidi , Raphaël Guerreiro , Kylian Mbappé , and Thierry Henry . The CNF Clairefontaine
3699-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
3836-636: Is often marked with fasting. The week before Easter, known as Holy Week , is an important time for observers to commemorate the final week of Jesus' life on earth. The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday , with the Wednesday before Easter being known as Spy Wednesday (or Holy Wednesday). The last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday , Good Friday and Holy Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday). Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus's entry in Jerusalem,
3973-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
4110-451: Is swallowed up in victory". The First Epistle of Peter declares that God has given believers "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christian theology holds that, through faith in the working of God, those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with him so that they may walk in a new way of life and receive eternal salvation , and can hope to be physically resurrected to dwell with him in
4247-618: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
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4384-538: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4521-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4658-639: Is the same as in the Western church. The Greek island of Syros , whose population is divided almost equally between Catholics and Orthodox, is one of the few places where the two Churches share a common date for Easter, with the Catholics accepting the Orthodox date—a practice helping considerably in maintaining good relations between the two communities. Conversely, Orthodox Christians in Finland celebrate Easter according to
4795-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
4932-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
5069-496: Is therefore the Saturday after Easter Sunday. The day before Easter is properly called Holy Saturday. Eastertide , or Paschaltide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost , seven weeks later. In Eastern Christianity , the spiritual preparation for Easter/Pascha begins with Great Lent , which starts on Clean Monday and lasts for 40 continuous days (including Sundays). Great Lent ends on
5206-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5343-600: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5480-509: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only a second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and
5617-477: The Easter Bunny and egg hunting . There are also traditional Easter foods that vary by region and culture. The modern English term Easter , cognate with modern Dutch ooster and German Ostern , developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun , Ēastron , or Ēastran ; but also as Ēastru , Ēastro ; and Ēastre or Ēostre . Bede provides
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5754-530: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5891-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
6028-582: The Hebrew calendar , generating a number of controversies . The First Council of Nicaea (325) established common Paschal observance by all Christians on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox . Even if calculated on the basis of the Gregorian calendar , the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox . The English term
6165-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
6302-730: The Kingdom of Heaven . Easter is linked to Passover and the Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper , sufferings , and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection. According to the three Synoptic Gospels , Jesus gave the Passover meal a new meaning, as in the upper room during the Last Supper he prepared himself and his disciples for his death. He identified
6439-655: The Last Supper and the crucifixion . Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum ( Latin for "Three Days"). Many churches begin celebrating Easter late in the evening of Holy Saturday at a service called the Easter Vigil . The week beginning with Easter Sunday is called Easter Week or the Octave of Easter , and each day is prefaced with "Easter", e.g. Easter Monday (a public holiday in many countries), Easter Tuesday (a much less widespread public holiday), etc. Easter Saturday
6576-593: The Northern Hemisphere spring equinox. The Sardica paschal table confirms these complaints, for it indicates that the Jews of some eastern Mediterranean city (possibly Antioch ) fixed Nisan 14 on dates well before the spring equinox on multiple occasions. Because of this dissatisfaction with reliance on the Jewish calendar, some Christians began to experiment with independent computations. Others, however, believed that
6713-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
6850-763: The Patriarch of Constantinople and the Serbian Patriarch , met in Constantinople in 1923, where the bishops agreed to the Revised Julian calendar . The original form of this calendar would have determined Easter using precise astronomical calculations based on the meridian of Jerusalem . However, all the Eastern Orthodox countries that subsequently adopted the Revised Julian calendar adopted only that part of
6987-417: The Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD . It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus , preceded by Lent (or Great Lent ), a 40-day period of fasting , prayer , and penance . Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week , which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which
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#17328518947557124-432: The UEFA Euro 1984 , the FFF selected Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines as the site for the centre. Construction commenced in 1985 and lasted nearly three years. The centre opened its doors in January 1988. During the 1998 World Cup, which France hosted, Clairefontaine hosted the France national team. That same year, the FFF named the centre in Fernand Sastre's honour. A bust of Sastre was put on the grounds in 2000; also present on
7261-428: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by
7398-430: The Western Christian date. In the 20th and 21st centuries, some individuals and institutions have propounded changing the method of calculating the date for Easter, the most prominent proposal being the Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite having some support, proposals to reform the date have not been implemented. An Orthodox congress of Eastern Orthodox bishops, which included representatives mostly from
7535-436: The World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
7672-471: The astronomical equinox is a natural astronomical phenomenon, which can fall on 19, 20 or 21 March, while the ecclesiastical date is fixed by convention on 21 March. In addition, the lunar tables of the Julian calendar are currently five days behind those of the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the Julian computation of the Paschal full moon is a full five days later than the astronomical full moon. The result of this combination of solar and lunar discrepancies
7809-497: The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco; the Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to
7946-427: The ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in
8083-414: The 1960s, Spain and England also had success, forcing France to establish a football centre to catch up. In 1976, French Football Federation president and longtime official Fernand Sastre desired the creation of a national centre of football. The project was initiated by Ștefan Kovács , who was inspired by the former Romanian communist training centres. Six years later, following France's victory at
8220-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
8357-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
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#17328518947558494-448: The 29-day period from 8 March to 5 April inclusive is designated as the paschal lunar month for that year. Easter is the third Sunday in the paschal lunar month, or, in other words, the Sunday after the paschal lunar month's 14th day. The 14th of the paschal lunar month is designated by convention as the Paschal full moon , although the 14th of the lunar month may differ from the date of the astronomical full moon by up to two days. Since
8631-431: The Alexandrian system. Because this Victorian cycle differed from the unmodified Alexandrian cycle in the dates of some of the Paschal full moons, and because it tried to respect the Roman custom of fixing Easter to the Sunday in the week of the 16th to the 22nd of the lunar month (rather than the 15th to the 21st as at Alexandria), by providing alternative "Latin" and "Greek" dates in some years, occasional differences in
8768-403: The British Empire and colonies, a determination of the date of Easter Sunday using Golden Numbers and Sunday letters was defined by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 with its Annexe. This was designed to match exactly the Gregorian calculation. In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, within about seven days after
8905-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
9042-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
9179-415: The Christian celebration was, and still is, called Pascha (Greek: Πάσχα ), a word derived from Aramaic פסחא ( Paskha ), cognate to the Hebrew פֶּסַח ( Pesach ). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival known in English as Passover , commemorating the Jewish Exodus from slavery in Egypt . As early as the 50s of the 1st century, Paul the Apostle , writing from Ephesus to
9316-408: The Christians in Corinth , applied the term to Christ, and it is unlikely that the Ephesian and Corinthian Christians were the first to hear Exodus 12 interpreted as speaking about the death of Jesus , not just about the Jewish Passover ritual. In most languages, the feast is known by names derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha . Pascha is also a name by which Jesus himself is remembered in
9453-492: The Collège Catherine de Vivonne de Rambouilet in Rambouillet . After departing Rambouilet, players enroll at the nearby high school Lycée Louis Bascan de Rambouillet with hopes that they will earn their Baccalauréat . All costs required to attend an academy are borne by the federation and the Ligue Nationale de Football. Youth development at Clairefontaine incorporates many principles on football, such as: A large array of notable players, many of whom have represented France at
9590-409: The Council in 325. The Canons of the Council preserved by Dionysius Exiguus and his successors do not include any relevant provision, but letters of individuals present at the Council mention a decision prohibiting Quartodecimanism and requiring that all Christians adopt a common method to independently determine Paschal observance following the churches of Rome and Alexandria, the latter "since there
9727-443: The Easter or Paschal season , begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday , but in Eastern Christianity the leavetaking of the feast is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension . Easter and its related holidays are moveable feasts , not falling on a fixed date; its date is computed based on a lunisolar calendar (solar year plus Moon phase) similar to
9864-524: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
10001-476: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
10138-577: The Gregorian calendar (during the 20th and 21st centuries). Consequently, the date of Orthodox Easter varies between 4 April and 8 May in the Gregorian calendar. Orthodox Easter is usually several days or more than a month later than Western Easter. Among the Oriental Orthodox , some churches have changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar and the date for Easter, as for other fixed and moveable feasts,
10275-621: The Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as a second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as
10412-448: The OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as a second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
10549-667: The Orthodox Church, especially in connection with his resurrection and with the season of its celebration. Others call the holiday "Resurrection Sunday" or "Resurrection Day", after the Greek Ἀνάστασις , Anastasis , 'Resurrection' day. Easter celebrates Jesus' supernatural resurrection from the dead, which is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith. Paul writes that, for those who trust in Jesus's death and resurrection, "death
10686-628: The Paschal celebration itself begins, consisting of Paschal Matins , Paschal Hours , and Paschal Divine Liturgy . The liturgical season from Easter to the Sunday of All Saints (the Sunday after Pentecost ) is known as the Pentecostarion (the "50 days"). The week which begins on Easter Sunday is called Bright Week , during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday. The Afterfeast of Easter lasts 39 days, with its Apodosis (leave-taking) on
10823-584: The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches had begun to determine a common date for the celebration of Easter. The agreement is expected to be reached for the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025. The WCC presented comparative data of the relationships: In most branches of Western Christianity, Easter is preceded by Lent , a period of penitence that begins on Ash Wednesday , lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays), and
10960-667: The Sunday in the period from 9 to 15 April). However, the legislation has not been implemented, although it remains on the Statute book and could be implemented, subject to approval by the various Christian churches. At a summit in Aleppo , Syria, in 1997, the World Council of Churches (WCC) proposed a reform in the calculation of Easter which would have replaced the present divergent practices of calculating Easter with modern scientific knowledge taking into account actual astronomical instances of
11097-465: The academy when prospective applicants are 12 years of age. Players have until December to register with their club for acceptance into the academy. The first set of trials are carried out by each district within Île-de-France. Each district selects a set number of players who will travel to Clairefontaine to attend a tryout, which is usually held over a three-day period during the Easter school holidays. After
11234-502: The allegory of Jesus as the Passover lamb . As the Gospels assert that both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus occurred during the week of Passover, the first Christians timed the observance of the annual celebration of the resurrection in relation to Passover. Direct evidence for a more fully formed Christian festival of Pascha (Easter) begins to appear in the mid-2nd century. Perhaps
11371-420: The astronomical full moon. The preceding Friday, Good Friday , and following Monday, Easter Monday , are legal holidays in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions. Eastern Orthodox Christians use the same rule but base their 21 March according to the Julian calendar. Because of the thirteen-day difference between the calendars from 1900 through 2099, 21 March Julian corresponds to 3 April in
11508-518: The best players from the Île-de-France région train at the Clairefontaine academy. The twelve other academies are situated in Castelmaurou , Châteauroux , Liévin , Dijon , Marseille , Ploufragan , Vichy and Reims , Réunion , Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire , Guadeloupe and Talence . Clairefontaine opened in 1988 and is named after Fernand Sastre, the president of the FFF from 1972–1984. The academy
11645-525: The betrayal of Jesus is mourned), and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday , commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper , as well as Good Friday , commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity , the same events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great", and Easter itself might be called Great and Holy Pascha. In both Western and Eastern Christianity, Eastertide ,
11782-507: The bread and cup of wine as his body , soon to be sacrificed, and his blood , soon to be shed. The Apostle Paul states in his First Epistle to the Corinthians : "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." This refers to the requirement in Jewish law that Jews eliminate all chametz , or leavening, from their homes in advance of Passover, and to
11919-622: The calendar. In most European languages, both the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover are called by the same name; and in the older English translations of the Bible, as well, the term Easter was used to translate Passover. Easter traditions vary across the Christian world , and include sunrise services or late-night vigils ; exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings ; flowering
12056-575: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Easter Easter , also called Pascha ( Aramaic , Greek , Latin ) or Resurrection Sunday , is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by
12193-595: The cross ; the wearing of Easter bonnets by women; clipping the church ; and the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb ). The Easter lily , a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include Easter parades , communal dancing (Eastern Europe),
12330-478: The customary practice of consulting Jews should continue, even if the Jewish computations were in error. The settlement of the controversy about the Paschal season caused by the Quartodeciman practice of Asian churches is listed in our principal source for the works of the Council of Nicaea , Socrates Scholasticus 's Ecclesiastical History , as one of the two reasons for which emperor Constantine convened
12467-408: The date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar . The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter of contention. By the later 2nd century, it was widely accepted that the celebration of the holiday was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. The Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Easter controversies , arose concerning
12604-507: The date of Easter as fixed by Alexandrian rules continued. The Alexandrian rules were adopted in the West following the tables of Dionysius Exiguus in 525. Early Christians in Britain and Ireland also used an 84-year cycle. From the 5th century onward this cycle set its equinox to 25 March and fixed Easter to the Sunday falling in the 14th to the 20th of the lunar month inclusive. This 84-year cycle
12741-584: The date on which the holiday should be celebrated. The term "Quartodeciman" refers to the practice of ending the Lenten fast on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew calendar , "the L ORD 's passover". According to the church historian Eusebius , the Quartodeciman Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna , by tradition a disciple of John the Apostle ) debated the question with Anicetus (bishop of Rome). The Roman province of Asia
12878-445: The date; subsequent scholarship has refuted this tradition, but, with regards to the rule of the equinox, evidence that the church of Alexandria had implemented it before 325 suggests that the Council of Nicaea implicitly endorsed it. Canons and sermons condemning the custom of computing Easter's date based on the Jewish calendar indicate that this custom (called "protopaschite" by historians) did not die out at once, but persisted for
13015-766: The day before the Feast of the Ascension . Pentecost Sunday is the 50th day from Easter (counted inclusively). In the Pentecostarion published by Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, the Great Feast Pentecost is noted in the synaxarion portion of Matins to be the 8th Sunday of Pascha. However, the Paschal greeting of "Christ is risen!" is no longer exchanged among the faithful after the Apodosis of Pascha. The Easter festival
13152-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
13289-452: The earliest extant primary source referring to Easter is a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis , which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one. Evidence for another kind of annually recurring Christian festival, those commemorating the martyrs, began to appear at about the same time as the above homily. While martyrs' days (usually the individual dates of martyrdom) were celebrated on fixed dates in
13426-579: The ecclesiastical new moon falls on a date from 8 March to 5 April inclusive, the paschal full moon (the 14th of that lunar month) must fall on a date from 22 March to 18 April inclusive. The Gregorian calculation of Easter was based on a method devised by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio) for adjusting the epacts of the Moon, and has been adopted by almost all Western Christians and by Western countries which celebrate national holidays at Easter. For
13563-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
13700-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
13837-457: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
13974-439: The following Sunday, had in common the custom of consulting their Jewish neighbors to learn when the month of Nisan would fall, and setting their festival accordingly. By the later 3rd century, however, some Christians began to express dissatisfaction with the custom of relying on the Jewish community to determine the date of Easter. The chief complaint was that the Jewish communities sometimes erred in setting Passover to fall before
14111-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
14248-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
14385-480: The grounds is a statue of the FIFA World Cup . The best young football players from the Île-de-France region (of which Paris is the capital) stay at Clairefontaine from 13 to 15 for training and the development of their technical skills. Most of the players who attend here are tracked by established French clubs and go on to have very successful careers. Today, many top local clubs play at the grounds. In order for
14522-472: The international level, have graduated from the academy. This is a short list of academy players who have represented France and other national teams: Clairefontaine is an immense football centre, encompassing 56 hectares of land and containing 66,000 square metres of turfed grounds. It is located in the valley of Chevreuse in the heart of the Rambouillet forest . Clairefontaine has several training grounds,
14659-460: The keeping of this or any other festival. Although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed. Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts , in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead,
14796-450: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
14933-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
15070-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
15207-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
15344-529: The local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish lunisolar calendar . This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity during its earliest, Jewish period , but does not leave the question free of doubt. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of pre-Christian custom , "just as many other customs have been established", stating that neither Jesus nor his apostles enjoined
15481-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
15618-467: The only documentary source for the etymology of the word, in his eighth-century The Reckoning of Time . He wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English for 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede 's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre , in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month". In Latin and Greek,
15755-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
15892-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
16029-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
16166-567: The revised calendar that applied to festivals falling on fixed dates in the Julian calendar. The revised Easter computation that had been part of the original 1923 agreement was never permanently implemented in any Orthodox diocese. In the United Kingdom , Parliament passed the Easter Act 1928 to change the date of Easter to be the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April (or, in other words,
16303-485: The spring equinox and full moon based on the meridian of Jerusalem, while also following the tradition of Easter being on the Sunday following the full moon. The recommended World Council of Churches changes would have sidestepped the calendar issues and eliminated the difference in date between the Eastern and Western churches. The reform was proposed for implementation starting in 2001, and despite repeated calls for reform, it
16440-506: The three days, the academy director and officials will convene to select a maximum of 22 players with three or four of the 22 being goalkeepers . Players who are selected to attend Clairefontaine stay and train at the facilities from Monday through to Friday. Players are given the weekend off to visit family and train and play with their parent clubs. They are also given school holidays off. Players are also required to meet educational criteria. Players age 13–15 training at Clairefontaine attend
16577-453: The tolerant precedent of Anicetus. Quartodecimanism seems to have lingered into the 4th century, when Socrates of Constantinople recorded that some Quartodecimans were deprived of their churches by John Chrysostom and that some were harassed by Nestorius . It is not known how long the Nisan 14 practice continued. But both those who followed the Nisan 14 custom, and those who set Easter to
16714-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
16851-738: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
16988-562: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
17125-479: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
17262-587: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
17399-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
17536-497: The world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share the official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in
17673-604: Was Quartodeciman, while the Roman and Alexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following (the Sunday of Unleavened Bread), wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus persuaded the other, but they did not consider the matter schismatic either, parting in peace and leaving the question unsettled. Controversy arose when Victor , bishop of Rome a generation after Anicetus, attempted to excommunicate Polycrates of Ephesus and all other bishops of Asia for their Quartodecimanism. According to Eusebius,
17810-491: Was among the Egyptians an ancient science for the computation ." Already in the end of the 4th century and, later on, Dionysius Exiguus and others following him maintained that the bishops assembled at Nicaea had promulgated the celebration of Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox and that they had adopted the use of the 19-year lunar cycle, better known as Metonic cycle , to determine
17947-791: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
18084-456: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
18221-633: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
18358-445: Was not ultimately adopted by any member body. In January 2016, the Anglican Communion , Coptic Orthodox Church , Greek Orthodox Church , and Roman Catholic Church again considered agreeing on a common, universal date for Easter, while also simplifying the calculation of that date, with either the second or third Sunday in April being popular choices. In November 2022, the Patriarch of Constantinople said that conversations between
18495-406: Was replaced by the Alexandrian method in the course of the 7th and 8th centuries. Churches in western continental Europe used a late Roman method until the late 8th century during the reign of Charlemagne , when they finally adopted the Alexandrian method. Since 1582, when the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar while most of Europe used the Julian calendar, the date on which Easter
18632-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
18769-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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