French Sundays: should you dedicate a day each week to sex and a stroll?

French Sunday is framed as a viral happiness trend that feels new, while the idea itself is quite old — Old Testament old. “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” It’s inspired by the country and its people, but it’s less a rule than a state of mind: finding your inner Frenchness on a Sunday.

Vogue has compiled a list of rituals — get up late, have a coffee and a pastry, read a little Proust, spend the afternoon listening to jazz and making love; find a pretty view and let your thoughts flow. Other suggestions are to avoid work, planning and productivity, and to cook something that takes forever, like a whole roasted chicken with lemon.

Flâner means to stroll aimlessly while the chicken cooks; alternatively, visit a museum and study each painting, sculpture or exhibit without the need to figure anything out. Traditionally shops are closed and Sundays are taken seriously.

France

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