Rien Fertel

Brigtsen’s Restaurant is aglow with shimmering lights. It’s mid-December 2019 and a stripe of red ribbon decorates each table. Everyone is dressed for what we New Orleans locals, sensitive to dropping temperatures, call “gumbo weather.” Spirited discussions reverberate off the dining room walls as family and friends chat about the holidays, the fast-approaching Mardi Gras season, the promises of the year beyond.

This is Réveillon dinner—from the French word for “awakening”—an old French yuletide custom.

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