la tempête a frappé à Noël

Question

In the first sentence, "la tempête [...] a frappé notre village à Noël," why do we use "à" here? Can you say, "la tempête a frappé le Noël"? Is "à" used with all holidays, e.g., "la tempête a frappé à Paques," etc.?

Accepted Answer

Hi Gee,
As Chris says, you have to use à with some celebration days like Christmas.
Take a look at the following lessons with examples of lots of them -
Which prepositions to use with celebration days - like Christmas - in French
Which prepositions to use with name days - like Saint Valentine's Day - in French
Hope this helps!

Answer

No, you need the preposition à in this case. Otherwise, Noel could be taken as a direct object, whereas it actually is an indirect object ("...the storm hit Christmas" versus "...the strom hit at Christmas").