Hi,

Judy: the French celebrate the Toussaint (=all saints, "All Hallows") which is the celebration Halloween ("All Hallow's eve") comes from. Halloween has become a celtic celebration in recent times - it was brought to America by the conquistadores, for whom all saints was a big Christian event (it still is in Spain). The Indians (?) of Central America they converted added to it death imagery and philosophy that came from their own religion (Halloween, well, All Saints, is still a big thing in Mexico today). Working its way north, a Hispano-Indian, Roman Catholic mixture of Christianity, superstition and traditional beliefs revived a moribund All Hallows' celebration. Of course, in true folk "recycling" tradition, it is now a ancient celtic mysterious feast, but it just hasn't been ancient for very long :-)

About the Blanche biche, a biche is definitely a doe. A deer is a cerf (red deer) or a daim (a smaller, southerner species).

Finally thanks for the disco & biblio-graphy... That folk songs are published in scouting, children and religious associations' books was so obvious to me that I would even have thought of saying so. Nice to know there are fans of George Brassens too.

Charles