France has such a rich culture that hundreds of thousands of visitors stop by every year to experience the magic of Christmas. With fantastic traditions, beautiful cities, and so many festive things to see and do, you’ll certainly want to capture the memories forever. To ensure the pictures and video footage you take do your experiences justice, a creative suite will have all the tools you need.
What to know about Christmas in France
When you go to France for Christmas, there are so many traditions and fun things to get involved with. Let’s take a look at the top things you’ll want to know before setting off:
Christmas celebrations
Visitors can expect celebrations right from the 6th of December to commemorate when St. Nicholas arrived with a donkey, carrying treat-filled baskets. Many villages still have events for this. A week before Christmas, Santos figurines and nativity scenes appear in homes, representing villagers like the baker, the doctor and the mayor. Christmas trees are typically decorated a few days before the 25th, ready for the main gift-giving event.
Burning the Yule log
Traditionally, at Christmas, the French will bring a cherry wood log into the home, sprinkle it with red wine and burn it on the fire. The log and candles are left to burn throughout the night. Food and drinks are left out for Mary and the baby Jesus, in case they stop by before Père Noël (Father Christmas) brings the gifts. Those in eastern France also expect Le Pere Fouettard to come, the man in black who brings lumps of coal to the naughty children.
Christmas dinner
The main Christmas meal, known as the Réveillon, is eaten either late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning after the midnight church service. This is followed by a chocolate log sponge cake called bûche de Noël. In some parts, tradition involves eating 13 different desserts made from nuts, fruits and pastries.
Ongoing festivities
Christmas extends on to January 6, as France celebrates Epiphany. This is the biblical event where the three kings delivered their gifts to Baby Jesus. All across France, French King Cake, Galette des Rois, is shared. One lucky individual will find a hidden charm known as a fève and earn the title of king or queen for the day.
Preserve your festive memories for years to come with a creative suite
Whether you decide to use a camera or simply record Christmas with your mobile phone, you’ll want to make sure that those wonderful memories last forever. Photo and video editing isn’t just for marketing and business purposes; you won’t need to enlist professional help to get high-quality results.
The CapCut creative suite is a selection of editing tools that are powered by AI so that even those with zero editing or design backgrounds can still enjoy the benefits of stunning imagery. Users can expect:
The top video editing functions
Whether you’re filming your time at the Christmas market, recording the church service, or you simply want to capture laughs with loved ones, you will likely need to cut, trim, or resize footage after the event. With traditional tools, you will have to spend some time learning how things work, but the AI capabilities of this suite automate processes and take the hard work out of basic editing.
Editable photo and video templates
For those with little creative vision or time, editable photo and video templates are a fantastic way to curate albums, slideshows and even sharable clips that are preset to fit social media platform parameters.
Royalty free music
Why not make those home videos even more festive and add some royalty-free music and sound effects? This suite has an entire catalogue in a range of genres.
Background removal
There’s nothing more annoying than taking beautiful Christmas photos or footage and looking back to see that a stranger is lurking in the background or an unwanted item that detracts from the overall sentiment. Background removal is another editing process that can take some time to perfect, but AI blurs, mimics colour, texture, and more for a professional finish.
Multi-track editing and auto captions
If you want a little more from your efforts, this suite offers unlimited multi-track editing and auto transcription that won’t take longer than a few seconds to produce.
Cloud saving opportunities
This suite has a secure cloud space where projects can be saved and shared. All you’ll need to do is create a free account (all the CapCut tools are entirely free to use, including the video editor for YouTube).
All of these features are unique to this creative suite and can be leveraged to take recording your memories to the next level.
Two tips to maximise the creative suite’s functionality
Getting the most out of the creative suite means starting with well-shot photos and video footage. While you won’t have to worry too much as AI has amazing functionality, there are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Always prioritise source material
This means you should always take more photos and longer videos than you may need. The more an editing suite has to work with, the better the results.
- Familiarise yourself with your surroundings
When you are filming your memories, it can be worthwhile to consider your environment to maximise the final results. For example, low-light or dark events may need a different photographic approach than footage taken during the day.
Why spend Christmas in France this year?
With such a beautiful cultural approach to the festive season, France is well-known for its amazing Christmas markets, stunning festive-themed events and even beautifully decorated cities and landmarks. It is a well-loved European destination at any time of the year, but Christmas is when the country really comes to life. With fantastic cuisine, a welcoming environment, and so many attractions with a festive twist, you won’t want to miss out on France this year.
Featured image: Photos by grafvision via Envato Elements
