New Year in France it is celebrated on the night of December 31 to January 1. The French meet him with close friends and relatives. They arrange home gatherings, go to parties in clubs or restaurants, have fun, sing and dance on the city streets in masquerade costumes.
The heart of the New Year's events is the capital of France - Paris. During the winter holidays, a special atmosphere of magic reigns here. The streets of the city are illuminated by magnificent illumination. The boutique windows are decorated with unusual trees and Christmas designs. The showcases of the Lafayette and Printemps shopping galleries attract the attention of townspeople and tourists with living dolls' miniatures. France's main Christmas tree is located in Paris on the square in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. She amazes with her size and beauty.
Traditions and rituals
An interesting and vibrant tradition is merry festivities on the streets of cities on the evening of December 31. The French wear cone-shaped caps and fancy dress. They jokingly call each other Sylvester Claus and shower them with sweets, tinsel and serpentine.
A favorite New Year's entertainment among friends is a festive lottery in which you can win an unexpected gift: a pork head, a chicken or a turkey carcass.
There is a tradition among French housewives to put a grain of bean in a closed pie. A guest who comes across a piece with a bean is jokingly called the "Bean King" all New Year's Eve.
Winemakers have their own tradition. The owner goes down to the wine cellar, clinks glasses with a barrel, wishes her a Happy New Year, and wishes himself a rich harvest in the coming year.
The French give each other on January 1 postcards, souvenirs, toys, books, money. Postcards are sent to loved ones who were not around on New Year's Eve.
history of the holiday
New Year's Eve in France is called Saint Sylvester's Day. The name comes from the name of the Pope, who died on December 31, 335. According to legend, Saint Sylvester defeated the terrible serpent Leviathan, who was going to destroy the world. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, the French make noise and have fun in the streets and squares in fancy outfits, which, according to belief, should scare away evil spirits.
New Year decoration
In France, the New Year and Christmas holidays last a whole month - from December 6 to January 6. Streets and houses begin to take on a solemn look from the end of autumn.
The streets are flashing with festive illumination. The windows of restaurants and cafes are painted with snowflakes, pictures with a New Year's theme and funny inscriptions. The houses are decorated with flowers. The French place them in bouquets, bunches and one at a time in all rooms and put them on the dining table.
On city squares, in the halls of restaurants and cafes, in apartments, the main attribute of winter holidays is established - a spruce decorated with garlands and balls. Another important New Year's symbol in France is mistletoe. An ornament made of it has the shape of a ring or a sphere with a wire frame entwined with greenery. The mistletoe is considered a symbol of good luck for the next year.
Festive table
New Year's table of the French amazes with its luxury and abundance. Different geographic regions of the country have their own characteristics in the festive menu. The main attribute of the New Year's table in the northeastern part of France is baked goose, in Burgundy - baked turkey with chestnuts. In Brittany and Provence, housewives serve buckwheat flatbreads with sour cream. Parisians prefer seafood (oysters, lobsters) and goose liver dishes.
The festive table of the French surprises with the amount of sweets, which reaches up to 13 items. The most popular dessert is log cake.
Among the alcoholic drinks on the New Year's table, there is always sparkling wine (champagne), the home of which is the French province of Champagne.
When we are still making the last feverish preparations for the New Year, some of the inhabitants of the Earth have not only met it and had fun, but by this time they even had time to rest and sleep. For there are places in the world where the New Year is celebrated much earlier than here. In our photo gallery, we represent the places where the first to celebrate the New Year on our planet.
1. Traditionally, the first to celebrate the New Year 2015 in Kiribati. More specifically, on the Linear Islands, which are located to the east than other islands in this country. In 1994, one of the presidential candidates promised the citizens that if he wins the elections, he will make it so that Kiribati will be the first to celebrate the New Year around the world. He won and kept his word: he moved the demarcation line of time (a conditional line on the map of time zones). Since that time, Kiribati has been divided into three time zones, and in the most eastern of them, midnight comes 14 hours earlier than in London. (Photo: DS355 / flickr.com).
2.
Tokelau is located in the same time zone as Kiribati, which includes a group of islands made up of three coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunono and Fakaofo. It is a dependent territory of New Zealand. The time zone change here happened quite recently, in 2011, and the main reason for this was the problem of interaction in contacts with New Zealand, since the island was previously on the other side of the demarcation time line. (Photo: Haanee Naeem / flickr.com).
3.
An hour later, the people of Samoa will celebrate the New Year. In 2011, there also was a time zone change; the date of December 30, 2011 was absent in the Samoan calendar. This was done to better interact and develop cooperation with Australia and New Zealand. Interestingly, the previous time zone change was made in 1892 in order to adjust the time to California. (Photo: Savai'i Island / flickr.com).
4.
At the same time as in Samoa, the people of Tonga will celebrate the New Year - an island located one third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa. (Photo: pintxomoruno / flickr.com).
5.
Residents of the Chatham Islands will be the next to celebrate the New Year. This small archipelago, which consists of two inhabited islands - Chatham and Pitt. Other small islands have reservation status and are generally inaccessible to both islanders and tourists. Interestingly, Chatham Island has its own time zone, which is 45 minutes (less) than New Zealand. (Photo: Phil Pledger / flickr.com).
6.
After the inhabitants of the Chatham islands, the next New Year 2015 will be celebrated in New Zealand. (Photo: Philipp Klinger Photography / flickr.com).
7.
At the same time as in New Zealand, they will celebrate the New Year in Fiji. This state, which is located on 322 islands and islets of volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs, of which only 110 islands are inhabited. (Photo: brad / flickr.com).
8.
The first mainland state whose residents will celebrate the New Year 2015 (along with the residents of New Zealand and Fiji) is Russia, or rather, the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, located in the southeastern part of the Kamchatka volcanic peninsula. (Photo: Jasja / flickr.com).
9.
In the same time zone as Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, there are numerous small islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean: Tuvalu, Nauru, Wallis and Futuna, Wake and the Marshall Islands. Photo: Nauru Island. (Photo: Hadi Zaher / flickr.com).
10.
We travel further and head west. Next, the New Year will be celebrated by the inhabitants of New Caledonia - a French overseas territory located in the western Pacific Ocean, in Melanesia, about 1400 kilometers east of Australia and 1500 kilometers north-west of New Zealand. (Photo: Tonton des Iles-Bye bye Everyone /flickr.com).
Countries celebrating New Years at the same time as New Caledonia are Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands.
11.
Together with New Caledonia, residents of another Russian city, Magadan, will celebrate the New Year 2015. (Photo: Vagabond / flickr.com).
12.
On our journey, we finally arrived in Australia, where the first to celebrate the New Year, of course, are the residents of the east coast - Sydney and Melbourne. (Photo: El Mundo, Economía y Negocios / flickr.com).
13.
Simultaneously with the residents of Sydney and Melbourne, they will celebrate the New Year in Vladivostok and on such Pacific islands as Guam, the Mariana Islands and Papua New Guinea. In the photo: the island of Guam. (Photo: orgazmo / flickr.com).
We end our journey in this time zone, and if you want to continue it, the atlas will help you with this!
MOSCOW, December 29 - RIA Novosti. Without exception, all the leaders of the State Duma and parliamentary factions after a turbulent 2012, which returned discussions to parliament sometimes after midnight, and thousands of rallies on the streets, intend to celebrate the New Year at home with their families.
Chairperson
The first person of the chamber, Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, who from the private offices of the presidential administration got into the parliament heated by the intensity of passions and spent a year under the views of deputies and television cameras, will be with his family with children and grandchildren, whom he calls "his youngest children." ...
Naryshkin, who, as the New Year's Eve showed, knows how to organize holidays for those around him, did not say that he would give his household for the holiday, but promised that "there will be gifts."
United Russia
The head of the United Russia faction, vice-speaker Vladimir Vasiliev also intends to celebrate the holiday at home with his family.
"I always celebrate the New Year with my family. So on this New Year's Eve at a dacha in the Moscow region, we will gather with family and friends, there will be many children: first we will traditionally sit at the table, and then we will launch fireworks at the site," Vasilyev told RIA Novosti.
And on the morning of the first day of the new year, Vasiliev dreams of leaving for the Tver region.
“I’ll walk there in the woods, go hunting and fishing with my friends. Closer to Christmas, I’ll return to Moscow,” Vasiliev said.
During the New Year holidays, Vasiliev wants to devote time to children, to communicate with loved ones more and to get some sleep.
“I plan to take my granddaughter with her friends and girlfriends to the circus. And I also want to talk with loved ones, read, and, of course, get some sleep during these holidays,” Vasiliev said.
The first deputy head of the United Russia faction, Vyacheslav Timchenko, will also celebrate the New Year with his family.
"I will celebrate the New Year traditionally. We will dress up a Christmas tree in the forest ahead of time to surprise and delight the kids. And closer to 12 o'clock we will go there with the whole family. We always celebrate this holiday all together - my wife and I, adult children, grandchildren. And we always meet in Russia, "he said.
The Communist Party
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Gennady Zyuganov, traditionally plans to celebrate the New Year in a cozy home environment with family and friends, especially since he has eight grandchildren who will not let their grandfather get bored. In addition, the plans of the leader of the communists include participation in a billiards tournament during the New Year holidays. He also does not forget about work - preparations for the forthcoming congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2013 will be in full swing.
“I have eight grandchildren, I need to visit everyone, congratulate everyone, play snowballs with everyone, ride a sled, give wise advice. This is a home holiday. We will gather in the home circle, under the Christmas tree,” Zyuganov told RIA Novosti.
He clarified that his son has five sons, and his daughter has two sons and a daughter.
"Ivan is the youngest, he is five years old. He loves to play chess. I am sure that he will definitely stick around, say," let's play the New Year's tournament. " ...
“We will also have a New Year billiards tournament, 20 people will participate in it, good masters. I also usually participate, I hope to win something,” Zyuganov added.
Fair Russia
The head of the Social Revolutionary faction Sergei Mironov, answering a question from journalists about how he wants to celebrate the New Year, smiled and answered briefly that he would meet him - like most Russians - traditionally at home with his family with Olivier salad.
"The weather is winter, the main thing is not to get carried away with walks on the street, not to freeze, and be careful with fireworks and other fiery amusements, because the year of the dragon is leaving, but it can still scorch someone too hot," Mironov advised.
Liberal Democratic Party
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky believes that it is best to celebrate the New Year in nature, in the country, but the most important thing is to congratulate all your loved ones, wish them joy and not forget to call those with whom you will not be able to meet this evening.
"I believe that we should all be kinder. Everyone who needs to be invited to visit, agree to any invitations. Give any gifts. It is imperative to call, forgive each other, so that there is joy, because this is the only universal holiday - everyone else political, sectoral, and this is a common holiday, "Zhirinovsky told RIA Novosti.
He stressed that the most important thing on New Year's Eve is to try to return to childhood and feel the holiday atmosphere.
"To return to childhood, hand in hand, in a round dance around the Christmas tree. We walk, walk, walk ... half an hour, an hour, two, tired, fell, fell asleep, and woke up - it's a new year. That's how we celebrate," said the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party.
According to him, the New Year's table in his family will be modest: jellied meat, vinaigrette, capital salad. "A little bit, on a spoon. And no vodka and champagne. Just clap your hands that the new year has come and tell each other: be happy, brother or sister, kiss, break up," said the parliamentarian.
The Liberal Democratic leader plans to give small and modest gifts to his family and friends.
“I have already given everything. I have already given them everything I can. Well, I’ll give some trinkets: someone a T-shirt, someone a snake, all the little things. No need for expensive gifts,” concluded Zhirinovsky.
At different periods of life, people celebrate the New Year under different circumstances. One way or another, most often the celebrations take place at home. This raises the logical question of how to celebrate this holiday so that it remains in your memory for a long time. Of course, you can make it corny, but sometimes you want variety and a cheerful mood. Let's talk in this article about how to do it in practice. Conditions will vary depending on the composition of the family.
Preparation for the event is equally important. On the contrary, it’s the most important thing that you should do to make your holiday interesting, exciting and memorable. In the second half of December, you can already start preparing the home atmosphere for the main holiday of the year. You need to start with the interior of the room. First of all, buy garlands, streamers and other New Year's decorations. They can be harmoniously hung around the house, which will create coziness and you will already be looking forward to the New Year's holidays. Many people hang garlands on the window and turn them on at night. If you have your own house with a private area, we advise you to buy special garlands that are hung on the cornice and hang down in the form of rain. In this way, you will decorate the whole house.
As for the trees, some of them grow in the yard. This is a great excuse to dress up a real tree and turn it on in the evening. Children will be happy to run near her and play. However, do not forget about the hearth. For sale today a large number of artificial trees. Once purchased, you can disassemble and reinstall it every year. Thanks to the huge assortment, you can choose white, green and even blue Christmas trees. Sizes also vary. From 50 centimeters to three meters and above. Dressing her up with beautiful jewelry, she will create coziness and a festive atmosphere no less than the real one. The only negative is the lack of odor, which not only smells good and has a positive effect on the human nervous and respiratory system.
Entertainment program
Another important point in preparation is to draw up an entertainment program. Of course, it is not relevant in all situations, but if you are celebrating the New Year with children, why not have fun and give your loved ones even more fun. We are sure that you will also receive only positive emotions and diversify your life. This is much better than sitting at the table all the time, eating and drinking alcoholic beverages. All the same, New Year is a family holiday that needs to be celebrated accordingly. So which entertainment program will be relevant?
Thematic holiday
Today, it is not uncommon to celebrate the New Year by creating a party in a certain style. For example, you can throw a pajama party, dress up like a pirate, or host a Venetian carnival. This is really interesting if you are a versatile person and always experiment. If you like such a holiday, then you need to prepare for it in advance. In particular, know exactly who will be present to make special costumes. Most likely, such a holiday is not suitable if there are elderly people in the family, since they do not want to participate in such a masquerade for their own reasons.
Games
Entertainment in the form of games is perhaps the most popular way to celebrate a holiday with children in an interesting way. You can think of a huge number of hobbies, from banal hide-and-seek (if you have very young children) to serious board games. After all, when you still manage to gather the whole family around you and enjoy the game. Let's take a look at some of the types of entertainment with children.
Prepare artificial snow in advance. When the festive night comes, you can arrange a small competition - who is the best to blind a snowman or other New Year's character. And if you are not afraid of cleaning, then you can arrange a snowball fight. It will be fun, snow will be scattered all around, which will only give the house a New Year's atmosphere. Be sure to record the games on camera so that later there will be something to remember. Cleaning is not the worst thing, because positive emotions will stay with you for life.
Stretch more ropes over the ceiling or furniture. Then distribute the scissors to the contestants. The winner is the one who collects the most artificial snowflakes hanging from the ropes. It will also be spectacular, because a crowd of children will rush to carry out the task and will "fight" to the last.
Another great fun for kids. Prepare Christmas tree appliques and colored markers in advance. During the holiday, hand them out to the children and have a small competition. The task is to decorate the appliques as beautifully as possible by drawing balls and other decorations. Whoever wins gets a prize. This task can also be completed temporarily if you have a large entertainment program. In the event that there are not many contests, you can give an assignment and continue the conversation at the table yourself. Thus, everyone will be busy with interesting things.
Why not add some intrigue to the festive atmosphere. Prepare a large New Year's bag before the holiday and put the task cards in it. All family members can take part in this event. List the tasks on the cards. As a result, you need to put your hand into the bag and accidentally pull out the card. The element of surprise will give you a lot of pleasure, and uncomfortable tasks will cause shame and vivid emotions. However, it is even beneficial for development.
Guess the gift. Prepare gift boxes in advance and wrap them up. The more gifts there are, the more interesting and longer the competition will last. You can use not necessarily expensive things. So, when the holiday night arrives, it's time to make a draw. Players must ask leading questions to the leader and guess what is in the box. Whoever guesses first gets a gift. Agree, this will cause more resonance, both among children and adults. Be sure to record the competition on camera so that later you can watch the interesting time spent.
Desires. An equally interesting competition that will be useful for children and adults. You've probably heard that in the New Year it is customary to make wishes or set goals. Why not do it by communicating and motivating yourself to achieve. Distribute a Whatman paper with markers to all family members. Let everyone draw their goal or dream for the next year. Then show it to others and promise that you will make it a reality. Thus, the importance of this task will increase dramatically, since the responsibility will be on you. This is a really interesting idea.
Fireworks. What a New Year's holiday without fireworks. Buy as many as you can and make sure to go outside after the New Year to set them on fire. You need to choose only high-quality products so as not to harm your health.
Festive events
You can celebrate the New Year with your family not only at home, but also outside it. In particular, you can go for a walk. This option is especially relevant in situations where you live in large cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg. It is no secret that mass festivities are organized on the squares, where interesting entertainment programs are organized. Why not please your children and yourself. As a rule, the squares also have large Christmas trees, slides and other snow products. Children really like to ride and get a lot of emotions from it. Remember yourself when you were also trying to find a bigger slide and ride from it as a child.
In Moscow, you will not experience problems finding such places. Here, as a rule, you can look at the fireworks that explode in the immediate vicinity, from which you will get even more positive emotions. Unfortunately, the smaller the city, the shorter their duration, as well as the quality, but this is not a reason to sit at home and get bored. Most likely, famous artists will perform in the squares with popular songs. The main thing is to stick together, especially if you have a large family. Children love to be distracted and need to be monitored.
If it's cold outside and you don't want to freeze, there are sure to be interesting activities elsewhere. In particular, many restaurants host festive dinners with interesting personalities. It can be not only singers, but also comedians. They are great to cheer up, and the live performance is much more interesting than on TV.
Drive
What to do in cases when the house is not interesting and you want more variety, but you live in a small town or village. It's time to think about a trip for the whole family to another city or even another country. Of course, this will require more money, but if you are a reasonable person, then most likely during the year you were able to save some amount for the holiday. It's time to go on an interesting trip with the whole family. So, first of all, you should think about visiting large Russian cities, where life is in full swing, numerous festive events with an entertainment program are organized. The main thing is that they have a place for children. Perhaps the kids will find new acquaintances here.
If you are interested in visiting another country, then we advise you to consider the option of a family vacation in a ski resort. You can find great holiday destinations in Finland, Italy, Germany and other European countries. Even in Africa, there are wonderful resorts. In this way, you will teach your children how to ski and snowboard. With specially trained instructors, you and your children will take their first steps. Who knows, maybe you will enjoy this type of entertainment and will return to the mountains more often. But perhaps this is not the most important thing. As a rule, individual houses are rented at ski resorts, where you can feel the real New Year's atmosphere while sitting by the fireplace. Imagine a wooden house, a large fireplace, beautifully decorated rooms, and a complete family.
You will definitely remember such a holiday for a long time. And as soon as you go outside at night, a whole shroud of stars will appear in front of you. Living in the city, you most likely have never seen so many of them and how bright they are. And if you find yourself in Finland, you can also look at the northern lights, which are mesmerizing with their beauty.
As for other countries, you can also celebrate the New Year on the seashore. This option is most suitable for those couples who live in harsh climates and winter is not uncommon for them. In such cases, it's time to buy tours for the whole family to Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives or other warm regions. Although the traditional New Year is celebrated here at a different time, many tourists come here and Thais are also forced to celebrate in the European style. Egypt and Turkey are very popular for the Christmas holidays. A large number of tourists from Europe and the post-Soviet space come to these regions.
The main feature of tropical countries is that it is in December and January that warm weather sets in without rain. This is usually the high season in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. As for Dubai, the weather is mild. The average air temperature is +25 degrees, and the sea warms up to +20. For the indigenous people, it is rather cold, but for residents from the post-Soviet space, the temperature for swimming and sunbathing is quite normal. For comparison, in summer the temperature in the UAE can reach +50 degrees. Therefore, winter is also a great time of the year for long excursions around the country. But there are many interesting and even unique places for viewing.
It's no secret that Dubai is all the best, big and beautiful. A large indoor ski complex has also been built here, where you can visit in winter and summer. As for the cost of rest, it will depend on many factors: in which hotel you are staying, in which restaurant you will have dinner and where to celebrate the New Year. But regardless of the program chosen, everyone will see one of the best fireworks in the world. The show involves skyscrapers and other buildings in the city.