Are Christmas cribs on the verge of extinction? For the right, yes: around twenty LR senators propose to modify the law on secularism of 1905 in order to “preserve nurseries”. They believe that they are “cultural and not religious symbols” and “immemorial traditions of the French nation”, they write in a press release published Thursday.
The senators, led by Stéphane Le Rudulier (LR / Bouches-du-Rhône), have tabled a bill in response to recent court decisions which ordered the withdrawal of Christmas cribs installed at the town hall of Perpignan by the mayor RN Louis Aliot and of Béziers, in the Hérault, whose mayor Robert Ménard is close to this party.
The League of Human Rights had taken legal action in emergency proceedings, considering that these crèches were contrary to the law of 1905. “The symbols of our traditions are attacked by an extremist and wokist political movement which aims to deconstruct this that we are: Christmas trees, nativity scenes, figurines, galettes des rois and even Easter eggs are targeted, ”wrote the authors of this bill.
The latter aims to modify article 28 of the law of December 9, 1905 concerning the separation of Church and State. The elected officials propose to complete the article “by adding exceptional cases in connection with the immemorial traditions of France, namely the temporary presence of nativity scenes and Christmas trees, santons, galettes des rois and eggs of Easter”.
The nurseries of Beaucaire, in the Gard, whose far-right mayor is Julien Sanchez, and of Béziers are regularly the subject of legal proceedings, but continue to be installed each year by the city councilors. In Perpignan, the crèche, deemed non-transportable by the town hall, will remain in the town hall and will be dismantled at the start of the school year in January.