[PDF] HÔTEL + REVEILLON

What is a Reveillon dinner?

For a complete list of this year’s Reveillon dinners, including menus and dates on which the meals will be available, visit HolidayNewOrleans.com. Derived from the French word for 'awakening,' the Reveillon dinner, a reincarnation of an old New Orleans tradition, is updated for modern tastes and lifestyles.

What to eat at Reveillon Hotel St Marie?

While at Vacherie Restaurant (827 1/2 Toulouse St., 504-207-4532), located in the Hotel St. Marie, the four-course feast can start with seafood gumbo and end with Louisiana pecan pie of bread pudding with a whiskey sauce. Other Reveillon menus are accentuated by dining rooms that seem to invoke holiday tradition at this time of year.

What is Reveillon in New Orleans?

Derived from the French word for “awakening,” Reveillon originally was a meal served after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Early New Orleans was almost entirely Catholic, and virtually the entire community would participate in these ceremonies.

What happened to Reveillon dinners in New Orleans?

Through the 19th century, American holiday conventions like Christmas trees, gifts for children and shopping frenzies began gradually to establish themselves in New Orleans. By the turn of the century, Reveillon dinners could be found only in very traditional homes, and by the 1940s the custom was all but extinct.