Italian Christmas traditions I love

When it is Christmas don’t you wish you could be small again?

Do you remember the excitement, your heart pounding running to see what Father Christmas had brought you? The magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child is just so wonderful.

In Italy Christmas does not end on the 26th but it carries on until the 6th of January with Epiphany.. so Christmas is more “diluted” in fact Italians often say “Buone Feste” or “Happy holidays” instead of just “Happy Christmas”.

Here are my favourite traditions of the Christmas period:

Santa Lucia on December the 13th.

Children get a “taste” of Christmas on December the 13th with the arrival of Santa Lucia (St. Lucy), she is like a mini Father Christmas.

Lucia was a girl from Sicily who died as a martyr and was later made the patron saint of sight. She was almost always depicted with her gouged-out eyes on a plate.. gruesome I know but this is an ancient figure dating back to the third century.

The cult of Santa Lucia is celebrated all over Italy, she arrives on a donkey and brings lots of gifts and sweeties for the children. I used to put my shoes outside my bedroom and I would wake up to find them filled out with goodies.

Some regions instead celebrate San Nicolo’ or Saint Nicholas on December the 6th.

Santa Lucia

The Nativity scene

The Nativity Scene is one of my absolute favourites, it is an essential element of the Catholic traditional Christmas.

In Italy the main focus has always been on the nativity rather than the Christmas tree. As a child I used to go out with dad to get moss and wood in the woods to make our nativity, usually in our sitting room. I had hours of fun making mountains, roads, ponds and rivers and every year I would buy more sheep, shepherds, houses, and figurines representing stereotypical figures of village life.

Most villages usually have their own nativity scene, usually churches and sometimes coffee bars have their own one too!

If you happen to be in Naples at this time of year, you would see how nativity scenes represent true art; the statuettes are often hand carved out of wood or they are made of ceramic, or silver, they are just so beautiful and made by real artisans.

Ceppo

A classic Italian Christmas’ eve tradition still practiced in some parts of Italy, is burning a yule log on the hearth. The log would be dragged into the house and slowly burned while all the family would celebrate singing festive songs with good food and a glass of wine. The log signified good fortune for the new year and it would then be left on the hearth for the following 12 days of Christmas until Epiphany.

The Zampognari

Traditionally the “zampognari” or pipers were shepherds coming down from the mountain to entertain crowds with their music.

These days you can find them entertaining Christmas shoppers in many Italian cities usually in their traditional colourful costumes often made of sheepskin vests with long dark cloaks, knee-high breeches and white stockings.

Watch this zampognari’s video!

Panettone, Pandoro and Torrone.

Yum.. my mouth waters just by mentioning them! Panettone and pandoro are classic Italian Christmas cakes: panettone usually has raisins and candies whereas pandoro, typical from Verona has a softer and more buttery consistency. I love pandoro especially!

Italian Pandoro

Torrone, or nougat, made with sugar, honey, eggwhite and nuts can never miss on the Christmas table. Some time ago I made a chocolate version of torrone with hazelnuts which was really delicious.

Torrone – Nougat

La Befana!

We say: ” L’Epifania tutte le feste si porta via”, Epiphany takes away all the festivities and it is true as everything will over after the 6th of January…and by then we probably all had enough of wolfing down food and non-stop celebrating!

As a child (and I must say still to these days) I was literally obsessed with the befana, which is a witch… but a nice one, who brings small gifts and sweeties to children on Epiphany day, the 6th January.

Epiphany is a Christian feast and it is the day when the Three Kings, guided by a star, reach Baby Jesus. They went to worship him and bring him gifts.

If you haven’t been good the befana would bring you charcoal.. yes but sweet coal! I used to love it! These days I could not possibly eat it as it is as hard as rock, a lethal weapon for your teeth!

And I wonder what I will be getting this year.. I already dusted by stocking… cannot wait to find out!

The big Epiphany bonfire!

The tradition of lighting a bonfire on the day of Epiphany is pre-christian and steps right back to the Middle Ages, a period of demons and magic. This was acquired and adapted by the Christian tradition. It is very popular in the north-east of Italy.

Lighting a bonfire meant saying goodbye, therefore what had not been good of the past year was burned. Basically a good wish for the new year.

And let’s toast to the new year, to a good prosperous 2016!

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