Does Anyone Know Why The French Call New Years Eve The Fete De Saint Sylvestre?
 

I'm trying to research this and am getting nowhere fast. I wondered if anyone out there has the answer.

December 31 is the day of a saint called Silvester = Saint Sylvestre who was Pope and died in the year 335.

Read all about him at
http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/12-31.htm

In German speaking countries as well, New Year's Eve is known as Silvester.

But why do the French call it Fete de St Sylvestre instead of "le soir de l'année nouvelle"?

At least it's better than calling it circumcision eve, which I suppose would've been a possibility (if Jan. 1=circumcision day).

well, they call it that because that's what it is. France is historically a very Catholic country and many Catholic feast days are still national holidays. I'm sure that feast day was known long before glitzy New Year's Eve celebrations became a thing and so it would be known that way traditionally.

Well perhaps, C,

But why don't they call "Le Jour de Merci Donnant" Le Fete de St. Clement?

Thanks for your help. There are some really interesting replies here.

This reminds me of the poem by F.R.Scott:

The advantages of living with two cultures
Strike one at every turn,
Especially when one finds a notice in an office building:
"This elevator will not run on Ascension Day";
Or reads in the Montreal Star:
"Tomorrow being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,
There will be no collection of garbage in the city";
Or sees on the restaurant menu the bilingual dish:

DEEP APPLE PIE
TARTE AUX POMMES PROFONDES

Great poem, laverendrye.

"The advantages of living with two cultures
Strike one at every turn ..."

There is that other uniquely Canadian characteristic of French word-common word-English word on some road signs, such as "Pont Gunningsville Bridge." I think someone once referred to that as "bling." Funny how that word now has a completely different meaning.

Anselm

Then why do they say "le jour de l'an"?

-Kevin

An observation and questions on Saint's days and religious holidays:

1. Though ira was just kidding about "merci donnant", there is in fact a French term for Thanksgiving (which we in Canada celebrate in mid-October). It is "Action de grace".

2. I believe here in Canada, New Year's Eve is also described -- though not formally titled -- as "la veille du Jour de l'an". "Le soir du..." would be the evening of Jan. 1.

3. If I remember my smattering of Russian lit, Russians celebrated and perhaps still do celebrate birthdays on their Name Day -- the feast of the saint whose name they carry. Is this a practice anywhere else?

4. How recently did France drop the requirement that children have a saint's name in order to be legally registered at birth? (Without registration, you could not go to school, get social services etc.)

Those who balked had interesting ways of getting around the requirement.

Giscard d'Estaing and his wife were keen on flower names (his wife was so named) and confected clever compounds that met the "saint" test thus: ANNE-Aymonne (anemone) etc.

However the state was powerless against the father who wanted to name a son (in whatever spirit of bitterness) "Parfait-Coccu" -- perfect cuckold. Seems there was a St. Parfait once so the name passed.

In German, New Years Eve is called Silvester as well

>...here in Canada, New Year's Eve is also described -- though not formally titled -- as "la veille du Jour de l'an". <

Thanks tedgale, I had thought that my machine translator had made a mistake.

"Merci donnant" calls to mind the famous Art Buchwald explanation of Thanksgiving to the French, as I'm sure ira intended.

If you haven't read it yet, it's at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/24/news/edbuch.html

Tedgale, name-day fetes must have occurred in Belgium also - they're discussed in Charlotte Bronte's Villette. I tend to think that there were name-day fetes throughout continental, Roman Catholic Europe.

To add to the above, obviously the Russians in the books Tedgale is referring to were not Roman Catholic, so this name-day custom was obviously not limited to Catholics.

Actually, the practice of celebrating one's "name day" is fairly widespread in the areas that were colonized by roman catholic missionaries. In Mexico, where multiple names (e.g., Jose Luis, Juan Antonio, Maria Lourdes)are common, one gets to celebrate the feast day for each.
There was an old practice in the RC church that that the first name (aka "christian name") given to a child must be one of a saint, but it was been relaxed in the last part of the 20th century. Prior to that, devout adherents got around it by appending a saint name to the front of the name the child would be called - thus Mary Jane, James Hobbs, etc. (or maybe there are obscure Saints Tiffany, Brady, Ashley, Madison, Morgan, Kyle, Jennifer, etc.)

"Those French have a different word for everything." - Steve Martin