Christmas in Italy is a millenarian tradition
where we celebrate an important day, the birth of Jesus Christ.
initially the tradition was that in Natale (NATUS form Latinum, be born in English)

Story
It is uncertaint about the 25th of December being the birthday of Christ.
This day initially was a pagan party, the Winter solstice added by the emperor Aureliano in 275, to greet and celebrate the sun. He put the festival 4 days after the solstice. This was also celebrated in orient too. Christian in the fist ages of is birth must be Clandestine. And He decided to use the pagan festival to celebrate with all other types of people.

In the ages between 325 and 354 A.D. Rome declared this day specifically to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Like all birthdays, a celebration is important, as it commemorates the true meaning of the holiday.

In Italy
There are some little differences between the "Natale" in the north, south, and other places in Italy.
The sweets are similar, however.
for example in Milan in 1500 "Panettone" (pane meaning bread, so pannettone is like saying "large bread")

the first recipes for pannettone was a big bread with sugar and grapes
Now its a very nice recipe that we enjoy the smell of on "Natale".

In all the north between Immacolata day (9th of December) and Epifania (6th of January) in the principal PIAZZE we drink "VIN BRULE" is red wine with sugar, skin of orange, lemon and cinnamon.

In the south of Italy, in the day of Santo Stefano (26 december), the farmers make pork, ham, salami (or salame singolar) and other recipes typical for this area like MUSTACCIOLI, PIGNA, PAN FORTE, PANDORO, and many other more.

Gifts and other traditions
There are three people that bring gifts traditionally in Italy

Santa Lucia
San Nicola di Bari
Befana

Santa Lucia
She is famous in the south, she is from Sicily, and
on the 13th of December she bring gifts to children.
On this day we have a festival to celebrate the two traditions of Christmas day and Santa Lucia day, there aren't links.



San Nicola
Around 1000 A.D. San Nicola di Bari (born on 270 B.C.), a very kindhearted person, started to give gifts to poor people. Nicola became Bishop in Puglia, and he died on the 6th of January, approximately between the ages of 345 and 352. In Puglia to remember this Saint, people started to give to poor people some gifts on January 6th, the tradition was called The Gifts of San Nicola. Only at the start of modern century did the idea of San Nicola in the North Pole, red clothes, a sled, reindeer and elf come to be. Damn Coca Cola!
In Italy he is called the father of Christmas (Babbo Natale)



Befana
Befana is an old women that flys on a broom, she comes on the 6th of January, the Befana day (EPIFANIA from Epiphania and old roman fest where greet the sun day) she bring sweets to children if they are a good child, and coal and garlic if the child is bad.
The gift is put in a sock that every boy must put near the door, and Befana fills the socks.

The day of Epifania is the last day of the tradition of Natale, and there is a saying that "Epifania tutte le feste se le porta via" (Epifania all the fest she take off)



Christmas Tree
the old Roman On first day of year decorates his home with a Fir tree for the "DIO GIANO"
this is common, and then in 1500 in the North of france (Alsace), on Christmas day they put some apple and hosts on the tree.

Presepe
Presepio, Crib.
We can locate the birth of crib on 1223 when San Francesco da Assisi must evocate the birth of Christ. He calls all his faithful on church of a village call Greccio, and this begins the history of the Christ's Birthday, the day after he organize a Life Evocate ,
from this day forth, in Italy every city evocate in different way the day of Birth of Jesus.



In Naples, people start to make little statues and made little presepes to put in the church around 1700.



Foods
In southern Italy, normally the dinner after is very important. The evening of 24th of December is
a big Dinner with many types of recipes of fish.
(On some days Christians don't eat meat, and the 24th is one of these days)
In the north we prefer to make a great lunch on 25th of December.

Typical Christmas recipes are:
- Gorgonzola con Mascarpone e noci (Gorgonzola cheese with mascarpone and walnut)
- Toretellini in brodo (tortellini with broth)
- Lasagne spinaci besciamella etc (there are hundred recipes for lasagne, with spinach, besciamella, eggs, ham, Pesto Genovese and many many many many others, every place has different recipes)
- Baccalà fritto o in umido (codfish fried or in humid)
- Nervetti (nerves)
- Salumi (cold cut)
- polipo patate e olive (octopus with potato and olive)
- Ciccioli (The best way to descrive it is the fat of pork roast and let it freeze, it became very crusty and light)
- Lupini (typical in the center of Italy)

And there many many others.

What do I prefer?
Panettone with mascarpone :-)


ciao a tutti
Fulvio sito di news sportive

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Fulvio
from the sunny Italy

http://www.lepedanevibranti.it

Grazie Fulvio,

If we had a post of the month competition this would get my vote.

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per me è un piacere parlare della mia italia e della nostra millenaria cultura

for me is a pleasure speak about my Italy and our millenarian culture

ciao
Fulvio
forum sportivo

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Fulvio
from the sunny Italy

http://www.lepedanevibranti.it

Amazing! Really great post, I learned alot!

P.S. - Your English is quite good!

Molto Grazie, Fulvio, for sharing your beautiful traditions. Your pictures and illustrations are very beautiful and fun as well.

Thanks to you all for the beautiful posts and for thanks
ps Dan you lie ... My english isn't good
thanks anyway

Fulvio
il papà del forum sportivo

__________________
Fulvio
from the sunny Italy

http://www.lepedanevibranti.it

Grazie, Fulvio, for such a detailed post! The pictures are quite awesome. Like others, I am learning so much here.

To add to the discussion, a Christian/Pagan take on Befana:
"The Befana comes by night
With her shoes all broken
With a dress in Roman style
Up, up with the Befana !!

She brings ashes and coal
To bad nasty children
To the nice good child
She brings candies and many gifts !

The name Befana appeared historically for the first time in writing in
a poem by Agnolo Firenzuola in 1549. She is portrayed like an old ugly
woman, dressed in dark rags who during the night between 5th and 6th
January flies over the houses riding her broom and entering through
the chimneys (in modern apartments through a keyhole). Into the socks
that children left hanging near the fireplace she leaves candies and
gifts for good children, black coal (actually black sugar today),
garlic and onions to the bad ones. Parents of course would always
include some coal over the gifts, to cheat their children. And the
night before the family leaves some wine and cakes for the old lady.

The Christian Tradition
The name "Befana" is a popular version of the Greeek term "Epiphany"
which was the festivity following Christmas, commemorating the visit
of the Magi to the Baby Jesus on 6th January. According to the legend
the three wise men on their journey were stopped by an old woman with
a broom who asked them where they were going. They told her that they
were following a star that would lead them to a newborn baby, and
invited her to come along. But she replied that she was busy sweeping
and cleaning and did not go. When she realized that the baby was the
Redeemer that all the world had been waiting for her regret was so
great that she continues to wander about Italy and at the Epiphany
(January 6, when the Wise Men finally found the Child Jesus), begins
rewarding good children and disappointing those who were bad.

This was the feast that the children used to wait for throughout the
year, in the times when Babbo Natale (created in Coca Cola colors, the
fat and joyous symbol of wealth imported from America, where he was
derived from the figure of St Nicholas, who in Southern Italy used to
bring gifts to children in past centuries) was unknown in Italy. The
bony, ragged old lady was much nearer in spirit to the poverty of
Jesus, and was the only gift-giver for children. The gifts she
delivered were reminders of the gifts that on that same night the Magi
following the star had offered to the Divine Child, born in a poor
manger in Bethlehem.

Pagan origins
The feast of these fabulous old lady, so much beloved and feared by
Italian children, takes origin from the "old lady" which was burned in
the squares to celebrate the end of the year, a symbol of time cycles
always ending and beginning again. The Befana is also related to the
mysterious rites of the Celtic peoples once inhabiting the whole
Pianura Padana and part of the Alps, when wicker puppets were set on
fire in honor of ancient gods.

In the pre-Christian calendar solstice rites used to celebrate the
cycle of the sun, and were slowly merged with the cycle of the life of
man and the generations, following one another. This eternal cycle was
represented by symbols to exorcise anxiety. In many cultures the
relations between grown-ups and children is based on the observance of
rules achieved through the fear of punishments and expectations of reward.

To this family of figures belong the ogre and witch, transformed into
the more positive and pedagogical figures of Santa Claus and the
Befana. As a testimonial of this connection, here is an old Italian
lullaby that goes

"Ninnaò, ninnaò,
who will I give this child to
if I give it to the Befana
she will keep him one whole week
if I give it to the Bogey Man
he will keep him one whole year
but if the child goes to sleep
then his mother will him keep"

In European folklore the twelve days between Christmas and the
Epiphany were the period in the year when the presence of witches was
most felt. Especially on that twelfth night (see Shakespeare), the
night of the Epiphany, which was considered one of the magic nights in
the year. And our Befana with her broken shoes actually flies on a
broom, another important magic symbol in a number of European cultures.

In anthropology the Epiphany, the last festivity of the Christmas
period, is considered a celebration of renewal, announcing the coming
of the new season. In the peasant culture that was the moment when
forecasts and predictions on the future were drawn, and people used to
sit around the fireplace telling fantastic tales. On that magical
night our great-grandparents used to look into the future interpreting
natural phenomena.

In the Romagna region Epiphany was a pagan festival when the Ancestors
(symbols of a worship of the dead connected to agrarian symbols of
fertility) brought a good omen of abundance to the living. From that
take origin the Befanotti (representing the ancestors) going from home
to home singing the "Pasquella", and also the Befana coming down
through the chimneys.

In Abruzzo, as in other Southern regions of Italy, the children's most
beloved festivity was called Pasquetta, possibly to remind of the
arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem to homage the Child Jesus, or for the
songs and music in the streets accompanied by tambourines, cymbals and
flutes, especially before the mansions of the rich, requesting gifts
and food.

Widespread in Abruzzo is the worship of little statues of Child Jesus.
There is a beautiful tradition in Lama dei Peligni on the evening of
the Epiphany. The villagers, especially the children, go to the church
to kiss the statue of Gesù Bambino, kept inside a precious silver urn,
and dressed in apparel and with a head cover of the year 1759.

If an olive tree leaf, thrown into the fire, took long to burn it was
a sign that the wish would be fulfilled, if instead it burned quickly,
the opposite. Girls (see Finamore in "Credenze, usi e costumi
abruzzesi") used to pray before going to bed wishing for their future
bridegroom to come into their dreams. And under their pillow they
placed three broad beans: one full, one without peel, the other
half-peeled. Then in the morning they caught one: the full one meant
the groom would be rich, the unpeeled one he would be poor, the
half-peeled one something in the middle.

On the morning of January 6th sacristans would go from house to house
leaving the "Bboffe water", which was kept for devotion or used to
sprinkle the rooms to keep witches away.

A non-conformist Befana
Alas, this picture of the benevolent old fairy has been fading away,
year after year, obscured by the myth of the fat red-dressed laughing
servant of consumerism, and the children stare at a playstation screen
and not at the sky in search of the Befana.

On the web site redbefana.com there is an amusing, non-conventional
re-evaluation of the Befana:

"The Befana is Alternative because:
1- She is Ecological, since she travels on a broom
2- She is an Animalist, since she does not exploit poor reindeer
3- She is a Proletarian, since she dresses in non-fashionable clothes
4- She is a Justice Bearer, since she rewards only deserving ones
5- She is Tolerant, since her punishments are very mild, just ashes
and coal
6- She is not Exacting, since in exchange for all her work she only
takes some bread soaked in wine or milk."

Unfortunately I do not have the name of the original author.

Fulvio / StephanieAlexis
Non look what you have done ! all together this article is getting better than the articles I have on the Main website
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/culture/christmas.asp
There was also an Interesting post on a Calabrese Christmas - well I now need an editor who can put together all the articles and posts and make a final "Reference article" on Christmas in Italy.
Fulvio + Sardoman Or anybody in Italy this Christmas Can you take pictures ? I should Wiki my main site so we could all collaborate to write the Christmas In Italy super article
Grazie a tutti per questo input !

PS I added the title on StephanieAlexis post for Google: It is difficult for Google to figure out what text is about without a clear title
Paolo

Fulvio - great post, thank you. This is the first Christmas I have ever spent away from my Sons and Mum, Dad and Sister, so it was lovely to read something nice. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and Felice Anno Nuovo

castiglioncello is wonderful my girlfriend is came frome there :-)

thanks to all for the Thanks about this post
ciao

__________________
Fulvio
from the sunny Italy

http://www.lepedanevibranti.it