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

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.
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.
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