Dear friends from Japan,




How are you ? We are students in "secondes". We are from Blois in France and we are writing to you to tell you about our Christmas and New Year's Eve traditions.










In France people celebrate Christmas on December 24th and 25th. It depends on the families.
Christians go to what we call the "midnight mass" although it is often at 9 pm and not midnight.








Before Christmas, we decorate the Christmas tree and put Christmas decorations in our houses.






For our Christmas dinner, we usually have a big meal.
As a starter, we often eat salmon, oysters or "foie gras" (= food product made of the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened (pronounced /fwɑːˈɡrɑː/ in English)








As a main course, we eat turkey or duck or "boudins blancs"  with apples (boudin blanc = a white sausage made of pork without the blood. Pork liver and heart meat are typically included).








We also eat chesnut, potatoes and green beans with our meat.
Then we have cheese and green salad.
As a dessert we usually have what we call a "bûche de Noël".








On December 25th, we open our presents. Children believe in Santa Claus. They think he is the one who brings the presents.








And later in the day, some of us go to see their grandparents and have another christmas lunch or dinner.






What about you ? Do you celebrate Christmas in Japan ?






For New Year's Eve, on December 31st we organise parties. What about you ? Do you celebrate New Year's Eve ? Do you do anything special ?








In France, people go to parties. They eat and drink a lot. They dance and listen to music all night long.
We spend New Year's Eve with our friends or family. Some of us enjoy playing board games.
When it's midnight, we kiss each other and wish everybody a happy New Year. Then a lot of people send short text messages to their family and friends and the party goes on until early in the morning.







This is a photo of New Year's Eve in Paris.





As a lot of people come from Africa, we have a lot of muslims in France. Muslims don't celebrate Christmas. Two pupils in our class are muslims and they decided to tell you about their traditions and what they celebrate at the end of the year.
Muslims celebrate "l'aïd" after the "ramadan". When they celebrate "l'aïd", they give each other presents but it is not like Christmas because the date changes every year. "L'aïd" is celebrated twice : once at the end of the "Ramadan" and once for the "Eid al-Adha" which is the "Festival of Sacrifice". It is a holiday celebrated by muslims to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.  It is also about spending time with family and enjoying the fact that we all have food and a roof over our heads.






We hope you will find this information useful.






We are looking forward to hearing from you.










Best regards






"Les secondes de la Pro "