The Christmas atmosphere has always been special.
Lights everywhere, people animated by an enthusiastic
frenzy, loud chatting and rushing into shops and stores
decorated for the occasion.
In Italy, Christmas means religion, happiness and
gifts, but the most important thing about Christmas is
family. Family always comes before anything else.
The December 8 feast of the Immaculate
Conception, is the day to make a Christmas tree. This is
also the time to make the Christmas crib, also known as a
nativity set. There is some competition between churches;
many children make and build something for the church’s
crib.
I have always spent Christmas Eve watching
Christmas movies. Everyone has different traditions, for
example some families wait until midnight to open gifts, my
family and I have always waited for the early morning of
Christmas Day.
There are many differences between lunch and
dinner: a lot of people have cenone, a big dinner, others
prefer to have big lunches and eat all day. Two traditional
desserts are Panettone and Pandoro. Panettone is a type of
sweet bread loaf with raisins, originally from Milan. Pandoro
is a sweet, yeast-bread originally from Verona and it looks
like an 8-tipped star. Another important sweet is Torrone,
a nougat that is made with honey, sugar, eggs, almonds and
nuts.
The most common gift between families is a
Christmas basket. You can buy one pre-made or you can
buy an empty basket and add what you prefer.
This is a good time for everyone, especially
children, because schools are closed from December 23 to
January 6. Some people spend some of days of this period
going to the Alps, the mountains in northern Italy. This is
called the “settimana bianca” or white week.
Italian people really enjoy the last day of the
year and the first day of the New Year. Teenagers love to
party all night long starting the night of the 31 until the
morning of January 1st, called “Capodanno” or the head of
the year. Everyone, at midnight, eats lentils and cotechino,
drinks sparkling wine and kisses all the people in the room
on the cheek, boys first and girls after. People continue this
tradition because it is said they bring good luck and money
in the new year.
The 6th of January is the Epiphany day that
celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Baby Jesus. In Italy,
during the night of the fifth, a Befana, an old woman who is
a witch, brings candies to children in a sock that the children
left near the fireplace. Good children will receive chocolate
and sweets, bad children, black coal.
After the Epiphany, school and jobs resume,
starting a new year and ending the old one.