Which prepositions to use with celebration days - like Christmas - in French

In French, there are two ways of expressing a celebration day.

Prepositions with celebration days in French 

Look at these examples:

À Noël, on mange toujours trop !At Christmas, we always eat too much.

Je t'ai vu le jour de Noël.I saw you on Christmas Day.

À Pâques, les enfants vont à la chasse aux oeufs.At Easter, the children go egg hunting.

À Hanoucca, on allume des bougies.At Hanukkah, we light candles.

Note that when talking about doing something on a celebration day, you can use either:

à + [celebration]
or
le jour de + [celebration].

While à is more general (i.e. at Christmas), le jour de insists a bit more on the very day (i.e. on Christmas Day).

Case of Eid = l'Aïd

À l'Aïd, on prie et on va à la mosquée.At Eid, we pray and go to the mosque.


Je vais chez mes parents le jour de l'Aïd.I'm going to my parents' on Eid day.
As Aïd starts with a vowel, we use à l' or le jour de l', in order to ease the pronunciation.  

Also see Which prepositions to use with name days - like Saint Valentine's Day - in French

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Examples and resources

Le jour de Pâques, nous faisons un grand repas familial.On Easter Day, we have a big family meal.
À Noël, on mange toujours trop !At Christmas, we always eat too much.
Je t'ai vu le jour de Noël.I saw you on Christmas Day.
À Pâques, les enfants vont à la chasse aux oeufs.At Easter, the children go egg hunting.
À Hanoucca, on allume des bougies.At Hanukkah, we light candles.
À l'Aïd, on prie et on va à la mosquée.At Eid, we pray and go to the mosque.
Je vais chez mes parents le jour de l'Aïd.I'm going to my parents' on Eid day.
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