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When you hear the word Christmas it associates with joy, fun and … responsibilities. We are talking about a responsibility which has a certain smell and that is the preparation of food. It is done differently all over the world and in families. But in particular today we would see the Lithuanians and Italian ones! What makes it so special are the traditions carried out year after year.
This is what some girls from Lithuania tell us:
there’s a certain magic that comes with the first snow. And when you see the very first snow on Christmas, you know that something wonderful is bound to happen. Our Christmas mood starts early. As early as Christmas Eve with special 12 dishes. Some of those dishes may be transferred onto Christmas Day itself. On the white tablecloths, we have a huge variety of dishes, like two kinds of herring, beans with red beetroot salad, nuts, wheat, raisins and honey salad. When our family gets up on Christmas morning, everyone starts preparing a turkey stuffed with buckwheat and fried apples. Later, everyone joins in a common activity to make a white salad. In order to have this dish well made, we have to chop the vegetables - cucumbers, steamed potatoes and carrots, apples, onions - into very small cubes and, after leaving some in the fridge, we mix it all up and top it with mayonnaise. Once it is served on the table, all the relatives can enjoy one of their favourite Christmas dishes. But what's Christmas without sweet pastries and the aroma of cinnamon and cloves? On the occasion even before Christmas Day, when families and relatives get together, we usually begin to bake sweets. Our favourite tradition is to start off with a gingerbread recipe. After making different variations of cookie shapes out of the dough, we bake them and all at once enjoy decorating pastries with colourful icing. The contrasting shades of the gingerbread add a playful touch to the Christmas table and allow us to share the delicacies with family and friends afterwards, thus celebrating a beautiful tradition every year.
Now let’s read what the girls who came from Italy have to tell us:
Our Christmas day usually starts when we enter our grandparents' houses and smell what they’re cooking for the day. A good grandson would enter the kitchen and steal some appetizers, made of typical products from the region you’re in. They are made by the children of the family. After the appetizers are eaten, sit at the table and prepare yourself, because when you finish, you’ll be so full that even walking would seem impossible. On Christmas day, we don’t eat the same things as on Christmas Eve; in fact, the 24th is all for fish dishes whereas on the 25th we eat meat. The main course is made of pasta and some condiments but it really varies depending on the region - some eat lasagna, some cannelloni, others a noodle soup with cardone and meatballs. However, the second course is always made of meat with vegetables on the side. When it comes to dessert, I really don’t think anyone can prepare better than us. There are a lot of typical dishes like pandoro and panettone cake, which are basically the same but in the panettone you can find candied fruit, homemade struffoli, mostaccioli and gingerbread cookies. And afterwards, everybody must eat a tangerine and keep the peel so that it can be used to play our favorite family game to conclude the day, tombola.
But despite of the different traditions we have seen there is something that unites them all: food preparation during Christmas time is what brings the family together. All children and adults can be involved with their given tasks. It is the perfect activity to catch up, have a laugh together and smell a heady mix of aromas.
Every country has its different scent during this time, so what does your Christmas smell like?
Written by The Big Bangs Typewriters
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