How is New Year's Day celebrated in France?

What are the French doing on New Year's Eve, December 31st?

We can celebrate New Year's Eve differently in France. First of all, it is more common to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends. Generally, Christmas is reserved for family and New Year's Day for friends.

Most often, on December 31, New Year's Eve, we celebrate with our friends. We start with a dinner where there is not necessarily a culinary speciality. Raclette remains a popular dish for New Year's Eve, it is common to see the French eating it that evening. The evening is also often accompanied by foie gras and champagne. New Year's Eve is usually a very drunken evening, which means that the majority of the French, or 90% according to one study, consume alcohol on New Year's Eve. 

 New Year's Eve on December 31 is a very festive celebration. People dance, have fun, laugh. When midnight arrives, everyone gathers and counts down and everyone shouts in their hearts: Happy New Year. Traditionally, right after that everyone kisses each other and wishes each other a Happy New Year. Even though it's midnight, the evening is not over yet. The New Year's Eve party lasts until the early hours of the morning.

To celebrate the new year, it is also possible to attend fireworks usually organized in large cities like Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille, etc.. 

Another tradition that exists for the New Year comes to us from the President of the Republic who on the evening of December 31 at 8:00 p.m. announces his presidential greetings for the New Year on television.

It's time to make good resolutions! 

A great custom that the French are used to do is to make good resolutions for the New Year.

What is a resolution? 

A resolution is to take advantage of the New Year to make a commitment to yourself to improve one or more aspects of your life.

This can be, for example, "I'm going to lose weight"; "I'm going to quit smoking"; "I'm going to go to bed earlier"; "I'm going to spend less time in front of the screens"; etc.

If you have noticed, most often to formulate a resolution we will use the near future.

The near future is constructed with the verb to go to the present tense and a verb with an infinitive that corresponds to the action that we designate.

My resolutions for the new year :

I am going to share with you my resolutions for the year 2021 :

• Je vais voyager. (s’il n’y a plus de pandémie 🤞) / I am going to travel. (if there is no longer a pandemic 🤞)

• Je vais lire plus. / I will read more.

• Je vais continuer à me lever tôt. / I will continue to get up early. 

• Je vais m’accorder plus de temps. / I will give myself more time. 

• Je vais faire plus de randonnée. (s’il n’y a plus de confinement 🤞) / I'm going to do more hiking. (if there is no more lockdown 🤞)

And you, what are your good resolutions for the New Year?

The New Year in France now has no more secrets for you. 

See you soon for new adventures, in French of course! 🇫🇷