The IIC organization currently hosts ten volunteers from five different countries; Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Turkey. So to celebrate our diversity we taught the children at Yane Sandanski elementary school our Christmas traditions. Here are four informative texts about Christmas in different European countries.
Spain
Differently from other Christmas traditions, in Spain the most important festival for children is the Fiesta de los tres Reyes Magos (Festival of the Three Magic Kings) on January 6, also known as Epiphany. The Christmas Day is also celebrated as in the whole Christian world but children receive only a small gift, waiting for the big gift opening on the 6th January.
On that day people celebrate the Three Kings or Wise Men who followed the a star to the birthplace of Jesus Christ and brought gifts to him: gold, incense and myrrh.
On the 5th many parades known as Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos take place throughout Spain which represent the journey made by the Three Kings to reach Baby Jesus: the Kings throw candy from their camels to the crowd and people bring umbrellas and keep them upside down in order to collect sweets during the procession.
During the day, children write a letter to the Wise Men to ask for what they would like to receive and before going to bed they leave shoes on windowsills or under the Christmas tree to be filled with their gifts. Normally they also leave something to eat and drink for the Three Kings and their camels, so that they can rest for a while before continuing their travel.
On the 6th, after the gift opening, traditionally people have breakfast with the Roscón de Reyes, a delicious round cake decorated with candied fruit, a symbol of the gems which adorned the Wise Men clothes.
But careful, the cake contains two plastic wrapped figurines, a small king and a broad bean: if you find the king in your piece of cake you will have good luck for the rest of the year, if you find the bean you have to pay the cake!
Portugal
In Portugal, pine cones are strongly associated with Christmas. They can be used as a natural fire starter, which made them quite useful back when most people used a fireplace for heating. They also bear pine nuts, a kind of fruit. It is tradition to leave the pine cones near the fireplace so the heat can open them up, and get access to the nuts inside. Besides eating the nuts, it is also usual to play a betting game with them, where the children have to try and guess whether the other has an even or odd number of nuts in their hands. The winner takes all the nuts.
While elsewhere children are waiting so they can open their presents, in Portugal some people might be going to church, where there is a special mass held at midnight, on the night of the 24th. Even though the attendance isn’t as high nowadays, it is still very present, especially in smaller villages.
As in other places, Christmas Eve in Portugal is a night of abundance at the table, so there are a lot of leftovers in the following days. This gave origin to a tradition where people went from house to house singing to the gathering families inside. Wherever they stopped, they had a drink and ate a little something before leaving for the next house. The songs they sang would be about fraternity and solidarity, and they were also sometimes customized for a specific family. Unfortunately, this tradition is mostly dead nowadays. It is mostly used for fundraising instead of sharing food and having a good time.
Italy
Christmas Day is December 25th, children find Santa's presents under the tree on the morning of the 25th or the night of the 24. If the children are not good during the year, they can find coal instead of toys. We spend the Christmas day home with the family, usually even the dinner on the 24th is done with family or friends. In some Italian cities living nativity scenes can be seen during the Christmas period. During the holidays, the most widespread game among Italians is bingo.
To celebrate the arrival of the new year, we have toast with champagne and to light the fireworks. The dinner on December 31st is so abundant that it is called "big dinner". In the New Year's Eve, lentils are traditionally eaten, which symbolize money desired for the new year. On New Year's Eve red underpants are worn because they bring good luck in love. An old Neapolitan tradition for the New Year's Eve is to throw old objects from the window, such as pots or dishes, to forget the past year and greet the arrival of the new.
Germany
In Germany we celebrate Christmas on the 25th and 26th of December with our family, but Christmas Eve is even more important for children, because we get our presents. On Christmas Eve we have dinner with our family. Most Germans eat potato salad and sausage for dinner. After dinner we open the presents. In Germany the “Christkind” (“Christchild”) delivers the presents. We also get small presents, like chocolate and nuts, on the 6th of December from the “Nikolaus”. On the Sunday four weeks before Christmas we light a candle on a wreath, called “Adventskranz”. We light a new candle every Sunday following up to Christmas. During Christmas time we bake and eat a lot of cookies.
