Traveling to France in May can be a bit complicated: we have many holidays, and many long weekends.

A "poisson d'avril" is a joke made on April 1st. In France, children try to stick a fish picture on their friends' back. When the joke is discovered, they shout "poisson d'avril !"

New Year's eve in France is called "la Saint Sylvestre" (pronounced "la sin(nasal) seal vay str") and is - unlike its name might indicate - not a religious holiday. Celebrated during the night of December 31st, we usually party with friends and/or family, in a more or less casual way.

Joyeuses fêtes de fin d'année à tous, and thank you all for your support of French Today.
I've published a couple of Christmas related blogs that I thought I'd list here for your convenience:

Dans la nuit du 5 au 6 décembre, Saint Nicolas passe dans les maisons pour apporter aux enfants sages des friandises (fruits secs, mandarines, gâteaux, bonbons, chocolats et surtout de grands pain d'épices représentant le saint évêque). Dans certaines maisons qui s'inspirent de cette tradition, c'est même lui qui remplace le Père Noël, et qui apporte les cadeaux.

Happy Halloween to you all!

French people don't typically celebrate Halloween. In the 90s, young international hipsters started to have costumed parties for Halloween, and some bars and restaurants took the trend as well (French people typically love costume parties, they are very popular for New Year's Eve or Birthdays, even among grown-ups). Stores tried to get advantage of Halloween, and it's not unusual to find a "carve your Halloween pumpkin (une citrouille)" display at your local grocery store.

(Before we start just a reminder that the French don't call it Bastille day but "le quatorze juillet" or, less often, "la fête nationale". If you say "Jour de la Bastille" while in France, you will get some strange looks!)

Since Camille and I just returned from a week in Paris, I wanted to share some of my observations with you. Now of course, if you want to experience Bastille day in Paris, then, that will obviously be the best time for you to go. For all others, avoid that time of year if you can...

En ce jour de la Saint Valentin, je vous propose de revoir quelques posts qui célèbrent l'amour... ainsi que l'utilisation délicate du verbe "aimer".

Joyeuses fêtes de fin d'année à tous, and thank you all for your support of French Today. I've published a couple of Christmas related blogs that I thought I'd list here for your convenience:

Today is Mothers Day in France, and this is what I told my Mom.