Italian Christmas

Buon Natale! Christmas is a major holiday in Italy, but an Italian’s traditions may depend on where they’re from since northern Italy and southern Italy have differing cultural values. Nonetheless, Christmas is an exciting season of the year throughout Italy. One might think about all the homemade pasta, bread, and tiramisu and think that Christmas would be splendid for the food alone. Although food is a big part of Italian culture and their Christmas festivities, it is not the only aspect of the Italian Christmas because religiosity and family also play major roles (but don’t fret, we’ll talk about the food too). 

The main religion of Italy is Roman Catholicism with 88% of Italians belonging to the church, so many Italians consider themselves religious and devout Catholics (Just Landed). This greatly affects their holiday traditions because many people celebrate the birth of Jesus through Mary’s immaculate conception. The official start of the Christmas celebrations is December 8th, appropriately titled the Day of the Immaculate Conception. Much like how Thanksgiving signals the start of Christmas in America, the Day of the Immaculate Conception signals the start of Christmas in Italy (Walks of Italy). 

So, decorations are put up and Christmas markets begin to open. One will see nativity scenes, or presepi, all over the place along with trees, lights, wreaths, and garlands. The nine days leading up to Christmas are called Novena and are for celebrating the journey of the shepherds to baby Jesus (The Local).Another common tradition is to attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve after a big family dinner. Christmas Day is spent eating all that good Italian food with friends and family, and December 26th is its own holiday called Santo Stefano during which families gather again to eat Christmas leftovers. And as far as Christmas presents, the exchange depends on where one lives in Italy. But most people exchange gifts on Christmas Day after lunch. Instead of Santa delivering the gifts, some people say the job belongs to Father Christmas, Jesus, or La Befana. La Befana is a good witch who supposedly followed the wise men but got lost along the way to baby Jesus (Walks of Italy). 

As promised, let’s now talk about Italian Christmas food! You’ll find lots of traditional lasagnas, pastas, roasts, and breads on the dinner table come Christmas Day; but some people refrain from eating meat on Christmas Eve, so they have the Feast of Seven Fishes to eat seafood instead (The Local). Something unique to the Italian Christmas is special sweet bread, primarily panettone and pandoro. Panettone is a big, eggy sweet bread baked into a large dome and filled with candied or dried fruits. Since this bread takes so long to rise however, people don’t cook it themselves but rather purchase it in bakeries. It’s bought in a colorful package with  Christmas ribbon and is usually given as a gift to a dinner host or hostess. Pandoro also begins with a sweet, eggy dough, but it is baked into an eight-pointed star shape to resemble the mountains where it originated. Then it is dusted with powdered sugar “snow” (Eataly). 

Check out this meticulous recipe for homemade Italian panettone! And may I suggest listening to this while you read?

http://tavolamediterranea.com/2014/10/13/christmas-panettone-traditional-italian-fruit-bread/