What is on Your Mind?

It is my impression that things have been evolving in the US. We seemed to celibrate Christmas earlier and earlier. Thanksgiving served as a boundary to stop the "holiday creep". This lengthening of the season also diluted the importance of Christmas. We used to get a major new Christmas song every year. Now they're rare. One constraint used to be erecting a living Christmas tree in your house...they only last a couple of weeks at best. But the new plastic jobs will last forever. I also would be interested to hear more about the holiday customs in other countries. I think that Thanksgiving never made it out of the US, but I'm not sure. I don't think that Christmas would be very big in non-Christian counties. In the US, "Happy Holidays" is largely replacing "Merry Christmas" because it is more inclusive.

Christmas is HUGE in big cities in Bangkok. The big departments are all decorated just like in the US. There are cute girls in Santa suits everywhere as we get closer to Christmas. Large building have Christmas lights. People greet (the tourists especially) with Merry Christmas etc.

No one cares about any of the traditional religious meanings at all. They love the trees, the balls, the lights, giving gifts, decorating, it is all in great fun.

So, if you think Christmas has little traditional meaning in the US, you should visit Bangkok, where it is another excuse to party and have fun!

However, since there is no Thankgiving holiday here, the stores do not begin to decorate as early.

A Bonne Année prior to New Year just seems odd it's not a rule but rather that the words when used in French are interpreted literally. It's actually very difficult to describe this type of cultural/linguistic idiom, a bit like trying to translate a word that does not have an exact translation.

I wrongly thought "Bonne Année" and "Happy New Year" were similar enough idioms for triggering my initial comment.

In France, can't you send a card with "Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année"? Or do you send two cards, one before christmas and one after new year?

Apparently Google Translate agrees with you that "Bonne Année" and "Happy New Year" are one and the same!

They are but the big difference is context. In the French way the meaning translates inexactly to English more like "(Welcome to a) Happy New Year", in other words it is not an advance greeting.