Christmas in Italy

Christmas in Italy

In the United States, we celebrate Christmas with trees, lights, ornaments, a star for the top of the tree, etc. We also celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. So how do Italians celebrate Christmas? Let's find out. Italians will start celebrating Christmas on December 8th and they will stop celebrating Christmas on January 6th, I know crazy right? They will then continue to celebrate Christmas until December 25th and they will also continue to eat leftover sweets and dinner.

After Italians celebrate Christmas, they will go to mass with their family, neighbors, and friends. They will open and give their gifts on December 12th. They will spend a couple of weeks getting everything they need for this feast. Nine days before Christmas they will call this “The Novena” to mark the Wise Men's journey to baby Jesus.

‘I presepi’ or nativity, the Italians take very seriously. Many churches and houses will display them inside or outside. The witch Befana would leave candy in stockings for the children that were nice and coal for the naughty kids, and they would do this on January 5th. This is what the “Befana witch” looks like:

Tiramisu is a famous dessert in Italy. It kind of looks like a sponge cake, scroll down to see what it looks like.

This is what a presepi is and looks like (Scroll down to see the picture). Italians will also hand-make these figures of baby Jesus, Christ and Marry.

Sources:

• https://romancandletours.com/blog/2017/12/14/italian-christmas-traditions/