Gervaise's saint's day fell on the 19th of June.

On such occasions, the Coupeaus always made a grand display; they feasted till they were as round as balls, and their stomachs were filled for the rest of the week.
There was a complete clear out of all the money they had.

The moment there were a few sous in the house they went in gorging.

They invented saints for those days which the almanac had not provided with any, just for the sake of giving themselves a pretext for gormandizing.

Virginie highly commended Gervaise for stuffing herself with all sorts of savory dishes.