Curious about Christmas in Italy, the Bel Paese?

Christmas is serious in Italy. It should be no surprise that celebrations center around food, regional traditions and most importantly, family togetherness. In Italy, Christmas is more than just Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Today, December 8th, is the official start to the holiday celebrations that will last beyond the ringing in of the new year. Every day holds time honored habits, celebrates folklore and other local customs.

December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the first public holiday of the Christmas Calendar, marks the beginning of Italian Holiday Cheer. This is the day Christmas Trees go up, homes are decorated and presepe (nativity scenes) are set up at family gatherings. By the end of this day, homes and villages across the country will be sparking with twinkly lights, garlands stretched across buildings, and nativities, large and small, elaborately displayed in piazzas, church entryways and even tucked into an unsuspecting windowsills. One of our favorite things to do on this day is to visit little villages to enjoy all the decorations and listen to laughter and merrymaking coming from shuttered windows. It is like a Christmas version of Hide-and-Seek trying to find all the presepe in the nooks and crannies with the joy of family celebrations wafting through the air.

Christmas Markets make their debut to the delight of all ages. Wooden stands with shiny trinkets and artisanal crafts on display are shopped with abandon. Simple, handmade gifts and food items are a time honored tradition in piazzas and small village everywhere. While flashy malls and shops with neon holiday discount signs are certainly present, the ‘mercatini’ are a must for every Italian. Parents shop, kids enjoy kiddy rides, Babbo Natale’s elves (or his jolly presence himself!) and candy, and most importantly it is an extended family affair.

December 24th is the Vigilia or vigil. This is perhaps more important than Christmas Day. Families gather all day over a long, multi-course meal that often goes well into midnight. As per Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from eating meat on the eve of any feast day, this day is exclusively fish based. Many will attend midnight mass to end the evening, others will sleep soundly waiting for Christ and Santa to ‘arrive’.

If Christmas Eve was not enough food, Christmas Day is ‘technically’ Feast Day. The day is marked by a gregarious lunch. Most families feast on specific dishes that have been served for generations. All involve pastas and meats and of course sweets. Panettone, Pandoro, Pan Giallo Pan Pepato, Torrone…Italians know how to make sweet treats and the holiday time is epitome of sugary offerings. Indulging in cakes, cookies and chocolate is central to the Christmas Spirit. It is not the time of year to hold back. To truly celebrate Italian Style, you must forgo any diets and be ‘goloso’.

On Christmas night, families across the country play Tombola - a board game similar to Bingo. Players purchase cards (low coin or symbolic amounts) and the prizes divided into lots - Ambo - 2 numbers on a single horizontal row, Terno - 3 numbers on a single horizontal row, Quaterna - 4 numbers on a single horizontal row, Cinquina - 5 numbers on a single horizontal row and Tombola - the whole card has been filled. The players call out their win (Terno! Quaterna! Tombola!) and take the prize designated for their win.

The Christmas season ends on Jan 6th with the Feast of the Epiphany which commemorates the arrival of the three wise men and the presentation of infant Jesus. Christmas trees come down and festivities turn towards La Befana. Children in Italy not only receive gifts on Christmas day from Babbo Natale (Santa) but also from La Befana, an fabled kindly old witch on a broomstick who flys in to deliver candies and small toys in stockings for good children and lumps of coal to naughty children.

While many of the above traditions are not far from our own, we delight in living these Italian traditions. Christmas is far less commercial and a nice change of pace. So while we are in California this year, we will do what we can to celebrate Italian Style and bring a little of the Bel Paese to our family. Perhaps a rousing game of Tombola will be had and even a La Befana sighting across the starry skies. For certain, there will be family and feasting - insieme -together.