{"id":409,"date":"2017-11-27T00:42:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T23:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=409"},"modified":"2023-12-18T01:12:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T00:12:43","slug":"christmas-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/christmas-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, it\u2019s that time of year again, and I figured some seasonally relevant information would be appropriate, reexamining a few Italian and Italian-American holiday traditions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My team of crack researchers has been on the case for weeks now, working to come up with the very best content for this particular post. (OK, the truth is that I don\u2019t really have a \u201ccrack\u201d team. Or any team at all, for that matter. It\u2019s just me, Google, and a bottle of grappa. You\u2019ll have to forgive me if I wander off topic now and then.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UPDATE: I recently recorded a podcast episode about Italian Christmas traditions on my Eat Like an Italian website. <\/p>\nPandoro, Panettone, and Other Italian Christmas Traditions<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One thing you notice in Italy is that the holiday season arrives later and with much less intensity than it does in the US<\/strong>. While not completely immune to commercialism, Italians are less enslaved by it than we Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than commencing with the onslaught of annoying Christmas carols the day after Halloween, Italians ease into the season<\/strong> on December 8 with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Indeed, it\u2019s worth mentioning that Christmas in Italy still very much revolves around religious traditions rather than unbridled consumerism, talking snowmen, mutant reindeer, and a creepy little elf on every shelf. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"il<\/a>
Il Museo del Presepio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Christmas decorations, lights, and trees are becoming more popular in Italy, and the center of Rome is lit up beautifully this time of year. But the main focus of decorations continues to be the Nativity scenes, or presepi<\/i>. Almost every church has a presepio,<\/i> and they are also found in the piazzas and public areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to really enjoy this holiday tradition, go check out the Museo del Presepio<\/a><\/i>, which is located near Via Cavour and Via dei Fori Imperiali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Museo del Presepio\u2014<\/b>Via Tor D\u00e8 Conti, 31\/A<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating with the Fishes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Then there is the so-called \u201cFeast of the Seven Fishes<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d which is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner in many Italian-American households. However, it is not<\/i> really a known tradition in most parts of Italy<\/strong>, despite the claims that it began in the Southern regions of the Old Country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, one theory suggests that the Feast started with the first Southern-Italian immigrants to America. The original Italian tradition of observing a meatless Christmas Eve dinner was expanded upon by these immigrants who wanted to celebrate the prosperity they had found in the New World<\/strong> with a more elaborate meal, indulging in the seafood bounty that they could now afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The significance of the number seven is said to be derived from the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. There is also a certain numerical perfection associated with the number seven and it happens to be the number most often cited in the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others think it could come from \u201cthe seven days to create the world,\u201d \u201cthe seven hills of Rome,\u201d or \u201cSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.\u201d (This last one is my own contribution to the historical debate. It seems that the grappa is starting to kick in already<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Risotto<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In any case, the number can vary according to regions and even from family to family. Some families celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 seafood dishes, denoting other numbers of biblical significance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally I think most nonne<\/i> (grandmas) just prepare the meal as they like, count the dishes when they\u2019re finished, and then invent some cockamamie story to go along with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, I was in Sicily for the holidays. For Christmas Eve, we celebrated the \u201cFeast of Twelve Alien Sea Creatures Scraped Off the Ocean Floor.<\/strong>\u201d In other words, there was no set menu; it was made up from whatever was alive and squirming at the local fish market that particular day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these dishes looked like they came from a lost episode of Jacques Cousteau<\/strong>. I actually teach Marine Biology, and I swear that one or two of the species that I ate for Christmas Eve dinner that year have not yet found their way into the textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But once again I\u2019m getting off topic and once again I blame the grappa. The fact is that there was so much food, you couldn’t even count the number of dishes (I mean fishes)\u2014much less eat them all. So the number is beside the point. The point is that\u2026wait, what exactly is<\/i> the point? Never mind, let\u2019s move on\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas in Italy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here is the Italian calendar for the Holiday Season that I found on about.com<\/a> (my \u201cresearch team\u201d is lazy, not to mention half-drunk by now):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 8: L’Immacolata Concezione \u2013 celebration of the Immaculate Conception<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 13: La Festa di Santa Lucia \u2013 St. Lucy’s Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 24: La Vigilia di Natale \u2013 Christmas Eve<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 25: Natale \u2013 Christmas Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 26: La Festa di Santo Stefano \u2013 St. Stephen’s Day marks the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 31: La Festa di San Silvestro \u2013 New Year’s Eve<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 1: Il Capodanno \u2013 New Year’s Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 6: La Festa dell’Epifania \u2013 The Epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware of Witches bearing Gifts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Babbo Natale <\/i>(Santa Claus) and exchanging presents on Christmas Day in now common in Italy, the traditional day for gift giving is the Epiphany, which is the 12th day of Christmas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It represents the day when the three Wise Men gave Baby Jesus their gifts. (Of course, historians have now confirmed that Mary returned all their bizarre gifts at the mall the next day in exchange for more practical items<\/strong>. Let\u2019s be honest, gold makes a nice present, but what the hell do you do with Myrrh?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead of Jolly Ole\u2019 Saint Nick, in Italy, the gifts are brought by La Befana, <\/i>the old witch. She arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5th<\/sup> <\/strong>and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good little bambini<\/i>\u2014and lumps of coal for the bad ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the rest of the story, mostly “borrowed” from other websites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger, they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along, but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join them after all. She brought with her toys and gifts that had once belonged to her own child, who had died. But sadly, she got lost and never found the manger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now La Befana<\/i> flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night, bringing her gifts to all the children in hopes that she might eventually find the Baby Jesus. Sad but sweet, no?<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"labefana\"<\/a>
La befana<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The origins of La Befana<\/i> actually go back farther, to the Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia<\/i>, a celebration of the winter solstice. At the end of Saturnalia<\/i>, Romans would go to the Temple of Juno on the Capitoline Hill to have their augers read by an old crone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many pagan traditions were incorporated into Christmas celebrations<\/strong> when Christianity became mainstream and La Befana<\/i> was a clever substitute for the old woman who read the augers. Saying \u201cauguri<\/i>\u201d to your friends and family originated from this practice, as it was polite to wish your fellow Romans \u201cgood augers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Befana<\/i> is celebrated throughout Italy, but some towns really go all out. One of the biggest celebrations is in the town of Urbania in Le Marche region, which holds a 4-day festival for La Befana<\/i> from January 2-6. Children can meet La Befana<\/i> in La Casa della Befana<\/i>. There are also boat races, Regata delle Bafane<\/i>, that are held in Venice on January 6. Men dressed up as La Befana<\/i> race their boats along the Grand Canal.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Christmas<\/a>
Buone Feste!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So as you can see, there are some Christmas traditions that are common to both the US and Italy, while there are many more that make absolutely no sense at all. But who cares? It\u2019s the holidays, which is the time of year when we\u00a0should enthusiastically embrace\u00a0any excuse to celebrate and wear ugly sweaters (well, in America). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s forget our differences and just enjoy each other\u2019s company. Peace, love, and fruitcake! Gifts of Myrrh for all my friends!<\/strong> (OK, it\u2019s\u00a0now\u00a0obvious that \u00a0the grappa is in complete control. Time to go to bed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale<\/i>, and Tanti Auguri<\/i> to everyone–and thank you all for reading my blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it\u2019s that time of year again, and I figured some seasonally relevant information would be appropriate, reexamining a few Italian and Italian-American holiday traditions. My team of crack researchers has been on the case for weeks now, working to come up with the very best content for this particular post. (OK, the truth is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,5],"tags":[49,67,253,52,61,314,28,15,340,504],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12478,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/12478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}