Christmas Traditions in Italy

2E Class

Advent is the season that marks the beginning of the Christian church year. It starts on Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day (November 30th), and it continues until Christmas Eve (December 24th). The term comes from the Latin word “adventus”, which means coming or arrival. The season is thus one of preparation for the celebration of the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day.

The advent

During Advent, some people make or buy Advent calendars as a way of counting the days to Christmas. Usually these calendars have twenty-four ‘windows’. Traditional calendar windows open up to show a picture of something linked with this time of year. One may show an angel or one of the shepherds who visited baby Jesus. The last window to be opened usually shows Jesus himself lying in a manger.

The Christmas crib The first crib was made by St. Francis of Assisi, who, visiting Betlehem

on Christmas of 1222, was very impressed by the spirit of simplicity, so far from the luxury of occidental Christmas. He asked the pope for permission to celebrate the following Christmas in a similar way. As it was prohibited by the Church to represent drama with religious contents, the pope gave permission only for celebrating the mass in a cavern instead of a church. So St. Francis prepared a cave with straw, put a crib and live animals there and celebrated the mass for the people arrived from the neighbourhood. The first real crib, as we mean it today, was made by Arnolfo di Cambio of marble in 1283 and is exposed in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. This example was followed by many churches, giving way to a competition.In the baroque age making cribs became a fashion, not only in churches, but in houses as well, loosing much of the religious content. New, secondary figures were added, their clothes represented the actual fashion, their actions were connected to everyday's life, etc. The original figures sometimes were quite hidden by the big number of richly decorated, very life-like secondary figures. Making cribs became a well-paid profession, appreciated particularly in the centres of crib-making: Genova, Naples and Sicily. The rich and the clerical people competed to make the more expensive crib, often forgotting about good taste. These cribs were made sometimes of gold and precious stones. In the popolar versions less expensive materials were used: wood in Genova, terracotta in Naples, terracotta, plaster, wax in Sicily. Some works are real pieces of art.

The presepio (manger or crib) represents in miniature the Holy Family in the stable and is the centre of Christmas for families. Guests kneel before it and musicians sing before it .

The presepio figures are usually hand-carved and very detailed in features and dress.

The scene is often set out in the shape of a triangle. This is a wooden frame arranged to make a pyramid several feet high. Several tiers of thin shelves are supported by this frame. It is entirely decorated with colored paper, gilt pine cones, and miniature colored pennants. Small candles are fastened to the tapering sides. A star or small doll is hung at the apex of the triangular sides. The shelves above the manger scene have small gifts of fruit,candy, and presents.

Presepio vivente The living Nativity

I re magi The three wise men

Feast of Epiphany

Children in Italy hang up their stockings on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. They celebrate the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem. Instead of Santa Claus, children are expecting Befana.

She is a witch-like character who rides around on a broom.

The legend is that the Three Wise Men, I re magi, stopped at Befana's hut to ask directions on their way to Bethlehem and asked her to join them. She said no, she was too busy. Later a shepherd asked her to join him in paying respect to the Baby Jesus. Again, Befana said no. Later when it was dark and she saw a great light in the skies, she thought perhaps she should have gone with the Wise Men. So, she gathered some toys that had belonged to her own baby, who had died, and ran to find the kings and the shepherd. But Befana could not find them or the stable.

Now, each year she looks for the Christ Child. And each year since she can not find him, she leaves the gifts for the good children of Italy and pieces of charcoal for the bad ones..

Christmas tree in Pesaro

Shop windows at Christmas time in Pesaro

Italian Christmas cakesPanettone

A high round cake, with raisin and pieces

of candied fruit. The story tells that it was invented in the court of Ludovico il Moro, by a servant, named Toni, who improvising himself as a cook, made this cake as a fruit of his fantasy. The cake had a big success, the guests were cheering Toni's cake. It's name comes from pane di Toni - bread of Toni.

Pandoro

A high cone-like cake, whose base is a star. It comes from Verona and gets its name (pandoro = golden bread) from the vivid yellow color. Others think that was named so because in Venice in the houses of the rich people it was decorated with leaves of real gold.

Panforte

A large, low cake, very spicy (that's why it is called forte = strong). Was made the first time in the monasteries of Siena in the 12th century.

Torrone

A long and low, brick-like sweet: almonds imbedded in sugar mass. There are more variants, hard or soft ones; covered with chocolate or very thin wafer; other type is haselnuts imbedded in chocolate. The legend says that is was made the first time by the confectioners of Cremona as a wedding present for Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza (1441). The name comes from the tower of the city called Torrazzo.

A traditional dish from Italy "STRUFFOLI“ (Honey Balls)

2 cups water 1 cup margarine4 cups sifted flour ¼ tsp. salt10 large eggs 16 oz. honey½ cup pine nuts, toasted 1/3 cup candied orange peels½ cup (multicolored) cake-decorating sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two baking sheets lightly. Have eggs at room temperature.

Place water, margarine, and salt in a saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from range and cool for 3 minutes. Stir in flour and mix well. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture forms a ball and leaves sides of pan--about 1 minute. Remove from range and cool for 5 minutes. Add eggs to mixture, one at a time, beating hard for approximately 1 minute after each addition. Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe small rounds (the size of marbles) 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. (Or you can drop by half teaspoons onto baking sheets.) Bake until lightly browned--about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

In a saucepan, heat honey until it comes to rolling boil. Boil for 5 minutes, being careful not to let it boil over. Dip puffs, approximately 12 at a time, into honey and roll around to coat evenly. Remove with slotted spoon onto a plate. Continue until all puffs are dipped. Wet hands with cold water and stick puffs together forming wreath rings, pyramids, or dome shapes. Decorate with toasted pine nuts, candied orange peel, and cake-decorating sprinkles.

Our Christmas at school

From the first days of December till the last day before the Christmas holidays, the students of all the classes of our school and of the primary and infant schools were busy in didactical activities referred to Christmas. In the various classrooms, they put up trees, set up cribs, decorated windows, made Christmas cards and little gifts with their own hands for their parents, sang Christmas carols, searched information … everything to live all together, in the most conscious and heartfelt way, this particular time of the year.

Our Christmas at school

Our Christmas at school

Our Christmas at school

Our Christmas at school

Our Christmas at school