BEST TRADITIONS FOR CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE
So was your New Year’s resolution to speak Parisian French fluently? Confidently? To get by?
When you are in France or speaking to the French around the winter holidays, it may be a little challenging if you don’t know what to say, no?
Check out the article below about a few traditions for Christmas in France, and listen to the podcast for some festive pronunciation!
Joyeux Noël
Priority number one: Learn how to say “Merry Christmas”. Joyeux translates to “joyous,” while Noël is simply the word used for “Christmas.” After you’ve mastered the pronunciation, use it as your number one go-to for Christmas greetings—and as a starter phrase for building even more holiday phrases.
Christmas Eve
The evening of December 24th is when French families sit down together to celebrate Christmas and enjoy festive French foods and wines. If you’ve heard about French people eating long and slowly, this dinner is the greatest example of this French custom. The meal can go for up to six hours.
Le Réveillon
This is the name of the French Christmas Eve meal, which is a big and long feast. The name comes from the verb réveiller, to wake up or revive. Increasingly more families start this French Christmas tradition on Christmas Day, when it is easier for the whole family to gather together.
Traditional French Christmas food
Food is a big part of French Christmas traditions. It depends on the region but some common French Christmas foods include: smoked salmon and oysters with bran bread and (real) butter, foiegras (goose or duck liver pâté), goose, capon or turkey stuffed with chestnuts. Servings of vegetables such as green beans cooked with garlic and butter and provincial herbs sautéed potatoes.
To finish the feast you will get the amazing looking and tasting La bûche de Noël, a sponge cake decorated like a yule log, traditionally made of chocolate and chestnuts.
Got a minute?
Let’s practice with today’s episode from the Daily Minute with J’Ouellette® podcast:
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NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!
Tell us in the comments below, what is your favorite French Christmas tradition? 🙂
Let me guess.
Do you constantly have the feeling that you can’t hear what the French say and you don’t know how to read all the French words because they are written so much differently than they sound?
Learn 3 secrets that will help you be self sufficient in the way you pronounce French words – even if you don’t know what they mean – so that you can read that sophisticated menu in your favorite French restaurant.
Immerse yourself as you FINALLY reach your dream of becoming bilingual, learn to speak Parisian French on Skype and BREAK your language barrier!
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Always in your corner,
Llyane
Photo credit: Tatyana Markovtsev, A.G. photographe
