The traditional Christmas season in Italy begins on December 8, the day of the Immaculate Conception, though in recent years the decorations have been coming up earlier and earlier, making the season feel exhaustively long. Because while Americans call it quits after Christmas Day (Boxing Day max!), we don’t stop until January 6, when the old witch known as Befana comes to visit, along with the three Wise Men.
December 8 is also the day when we put up the Christmas decorations. That means the Christmas tree, of course, although it’s a relatively recent addition to Italian Christmas lore. When my mother was a child the traditional Italian ritual totem was the Nativity scene. Assembling it is akin to a dynamic game of Lego: the little pond that you make out of aluminum foil, with the wooden ducks drinking from it and the weary traveler resting with his camel, the stable where Mary gave birth to Baby Jesus, who you must place in his manger at Christmas, and the three Magi bearing gifts, whom we move closer and closer to the stable until their arrival on the Epiphany. Public Nativity scenes, especially in the south of Italy, can get very elaborate, and it’s a popular activity for a family around Christmas to go around viewing these life-sized sets.
And then there are the celebrations, the main one being on Christmas Eve, la vigilia, a busy day as everyone dashes about picking up the last few presents. Meat is forbidden on this day, meaning that the meal is usually fish-based. Cod with potatoes and spaghetti with clams are staples, but really anything that isn’t meat goes. There’s lots of wine and panettone, or pandoro if your family, like mine, can’t stand candied fruit. After dinner, we gather around the Christmas tree to exchange presents and, if your family observes the religious tradition, it’s time for Mass.
On Christmas Day morning, as kids, we were always allowed to sleep in. In the age before Netflix, we used to receive DVDs for Christmas, and so it was time for the whole family to gather around the television and browse the latest offerings. While DVDs have gone the way of the dodo, we still do gather to watch at least two movies all together. Lunch is usually halfway to dinner, when we are finally allowed meat, usually in the form of tortellini, whether in brodo or, my personal favorite, inside a timballo, a slightly sweet pastry pie. In the evening, freed from family obligations, we usually bring leftovers to a friend’s house for another feast.
Boxing Day, or Santo Stefano, is the time for the extended family and it’s essentially Christmas all over again, but in a more formal setting. With New Year’s Eve looming and another Bank Holiday on January 6 (the aforementioned Befana, who brings children a stocking filled with sweets) the whole of Italy exists in a limbo between festivo and feriale until January 7.
