Say it now!

One night this week on the TF1 evening news, the anchorman announced that it is permissible, according to les bonnes manières and people who practice them, to express happy new year wishes starting on December 26!

Until now, the rule in France has always been that expressing such wishes prior to midnight on December 31 was bad form. I guess that's a French custom (or superstition) that is changing. Fact is, nearly everybody here is still very careful not to say Bonne Année before January 1. If somebody does say it, he or she apologizes or qualifies the expression to acknowledge that a rule is being broken.

One French friend who now knows a lot of "Anglo-Saxon" expatriates in the Touraine region told me the other day that she now has to cope with expressing two sets of holiday greetings at year's end. The Anglo-Saxons expect a Christmas card and a Merry Christmas, whereas French people are indifferent to Christmas greetings of that sort. Sending Christmas greetings is just not important in the culture. People might say « Bon Noël » to you in the shops and markets on December 23 or 24, but they might as well be saying « Bon appétit ! » The family dinner on Christmas Eve is sacrosanct. Meanwhile, you won't get any Christmas cards from friends and neighbors.

French people do celebrate Christmas, of course. It's a family holiday, are religious holiday. It has become more commercialized, with present-buying, especially for children, at fever pitch in the days before December 25. There are decorations and lights in the cities, towns, and villages, and even on some houses, at Christmastime. But the holiday itself is a private affair.

However, French people do expect new year's greetings in January. This month, it is very important and polite to seek out friends, close acquaintances, neighbors, and others who are important to your daily life and "present your best wishes" — presenter vos meilleurs vœux — to them for a happy and healthy 2011. A telephone call will do, and it's nice to send a Happy New Year card to special people. You have until January 31 to express or send greetings and wishes, I've been told. Don't mention prosperity, however, the way we Americans tend to do. Talking about money is in bad taste.

So today I can finally say it:

Très Bonne Année à Toutes et à Tous.
En vous souhaitant une année 2011
pleine de joie et de bonheur —
et surtout bonne santé ! —
je vous envoie tous mes bons vœux...

Happy New Year