We have already devoted a Yabla German lesson to the celebration of New Year's Eve in Germany with an explanation of the phrase Guten Rutsch ("a good slide into the new year"), but let's take a detailed look at the German word for New Year's Eve: der Silvester (or das Silvester, either way is correct).

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The term Silvester originates from the Christian feast which takes place on the anniversary of the death of Pope Silvester I on December 31st, and is also used (with language-specific variant spellings) to denote New Year's Eve in many countries, including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia.

Was machen wir eigentlich an Silvester?

What are we actually doing on New Year's Eve?

Caption 2, Im Zoo - Der Jahreswechsel für die Tiere

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Wie verbringen Sie Silvester? -Ganz gemütlich zu Hause.

How will you spend New Year's Eve? -Very comfortably at home.

Caption 7, Silvester - Vorsätze für das neue Jahr - Linkenheim

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Wer an Silvester nicht alleine Raketen kucken will...

Those who do not want to watch fireworks by themselves on New Year's Eve...

Caption 42, Leidenszeit für Singles - Online-Dating-Hochsaison

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Wie feiert ihr den Silvesterabend?

How do you celebrate New Year's Eve?

Also, ich feier mit meiner Mama und meinem Papa zu Hause.

Well, I celebrate with my mom and my dad at home.

Captions 17-18, Silvester - Vorsätze für das neue Jahr - Karlsruhe

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As you see in the last example, Silvester can be combined with Abend (evening) to form the compound noun der Silvesterabend.

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Further Learning
So regardless of whether you celebrate Silvester at home with family or out with friends, we at Yabla wish you all a happy and safe guten Rutsch into the New Year!