Italian Christmas Tradition |
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Italian Christmas tradition has an ancient history dating back to many years when during the reign of Roman Empire, the winter solstice celebration happened to coincide with the Christmas celebrations of the Advent. In Italy Christmas is known as "Natale," literally meaning "birthday” or celebration of the birth of Christ and "Unconquered Sun”. In Italy, the Christmas season is anticipated as a religious celebration beginning in early December, continuing throughout the month and ending with Epiphany on 6th of January. |
Traditional Italian Christmas begins with the creation of Cribs, a type of clay figurines displaying nativity scenes of infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Also the tradition of burning Yule log is a common practice in Italy because its believed that with the burning of log, the evils of old year are destroyed. While on the day of the Christmas Eve, Christmas tapers or long slender candles are lighted in every household and special prayers are offered. Different traditional Christmas decorations like the ‘Italian Ceppo’, a pyramid shaped structure made of wood often called the tree of light, decorated beautifully with fruit, nuts and presents. Major attraction of the traditional Italian Christmas celebrations is the coming of ‘La Befana’, one of Italy's oldest and most celebrated legends, in fact a mythical figure like Santa Claus. It falls generally on the last day of Christmas better known as the day of Epiphany.
Traditional Christmas in Italy is celebrated by singing carols, different festivities are marked in the cities of Abbadia di San Salvatore, Abruzzo, Rome, Cortina d'Ampezzo and Bologna. Traditional Italian Christmas foods plays an integral part of Christmas celebrations in Italy, dishes such as ‘tortellini’, ‘vermicelli’, ‘panforte’, ‘pandolce’ and especially Christmas Eve fish dinner containing various types of sumptuous fish dishes. Thus, Italian Christmas tradition presents a lovely over view of the rich Italian culture.
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