Christmas celebration in Italy
Celebrations of Christmas in Italy start from December 6 to December 25. Italian Christmas celebration is mainly religious, which lasts for nearly three weeks. A religious ceremony, novena is associated with the celebrations, which continues for nine days. Novena starts on the Christmas Eve and ends on January 6 with the festival of Epiphany. According to Novena traditions, children visit neighboring households and recite Christmas poems to get coins as reward. They buy
Christmas traditions in Italy
1.Children write short letters to their parents for wishing them a merry Christmas. They also promise their parents that they will be good during the celebrations and for the rest for the year.
2.On the Christmas Eve, all the family members lit lights and candles in their houses. They share stories of Christmas. After lighting the candles, the family members narrate the story of the birth of holy Bambino.
3.Offering prayer is another tradition, which Italian families do religiously during Christmas. According to the popular belief, they sit around the holy Presepio and pray.
4.Every household, shop, and street is decorated with lights and colors. You can notice fruit shaped decoration in plenty in Italy during Christmas.
5.Gift exchanging is a vital part of Christmas celebration in Italy. The Italians exchange gifts after midnight in the night of Christmas.
6.Children keep their stocking at the head of their beds in the belief that an old woman will come and leave a coal or sweet in the stocking. Coal is supposed to be given to a bad child while sweet is given to a good child.
Christmas food in Italy
A tradition dinner is served on Christmas Eve. Italians do not eat for the previous 24 hours of the Christmas Eve. The Christmas Eve dinner is called Cennone, which consists of fish, vegetables, fruits, cakes, pasta, and desserts. They abstinence from any kind of meat during the Italian Christmas Eve dinner. Some popular Christmas dishes in the country are capitone and cardoni. Capitone is made of fried eels while cardoni is made of eggs and Jerusalem artichokes. A number of desserts are served on the dinner table such as torrone, cannoli, nougat candy, and pastries.
Christmas in different parts in Italy
1.Rome is one of the most popular places to see in Italy during Christmas. Be it the giant Christmas trees, the Christmas markets, or the nativity exhibition, Christmas is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm in the ancient city.
2.Naples is a place in Italy, where Christmas is celebrated in a different way. Seven fish dishes are served for the Christmas dinner. People celebrate the festival with colorful dresses, sheepskin vests, dark colored clock, and white stockings.
3.If you want to witness best lighting decoration during Christmas in Italy, you must visit Torino. Every single street and lane is decorated with the best light from November to January.
4.A Gospel Festival is celebrated in Lago Trasimeno, which continues from December 8 to January 6.
Last updated on 13/07/2011
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