Do the french celebrate christmas?
Yes, and hundreds of years before Westerners ever arrived and celebrated in the U.S. It’s a major holiday in most European countries — just think of all the really old churches they have around and the significant role Christianity has played in Western civilization. In France, Santa Claus is known as Père Noël — Father Christmas. The holiday tends to be less commercialized in Europe, however. The one major U.S. holiday that’s only started to catch on in France the last decade or so is Halloween. Though some countries have more spiritual “Day of the Dead” things around that time of year, the more pagan festival of Halloween has primarily been a U.S. practice until recently.