Before the onset of the new 2018, nothing was left. Already in full swing is preparing for the most celebrated and favorite holiday of the year. Festive Christmas trees have been standing on the streets for a long time, Santas and Snow Maidens are walking, and children are waiting for gifts. However, before the New Year, the Catholic Church is preparing to celebrate Christmas - one of the most revered holidays in the church calendar.
For Italians, the New Year is not such an important celebration as Christmas, which comes on December 25th. In no country is this holiday celebrated as in this believing country. Moreover, it is worth considering that the Pope first of all addresses the inhabitants of Italy, and only then to the rest of the world.
The day before Christmas
At a festive Christmas table, Italians sit on the evening of December 24 - on the eve of the holiday. Believers Italians consider it their duty to defend the Christmas service, which begins at exactly midnight and lasts about two hours. Residents of Rome and the Vatican rush to St. Peter's Square, where the pope holds the mass.
By Christmas, every temple in Italy must certainly be decorated with figures of angels, as well as a small manger with a figure of the baby Jesus Christ.
Family dinner
The Italians have this saying: “Celebrate Christmas with your family, and New Year with anyone you want” (Natale con tuoi, Capodanno con chi vuoi). Therefore, by December 25, Italians come to their parents in order to get together for one big family dinner.
Residents of Italy will never sit at the festive table without being sure that the whole house sparkles with cleanliness. At the end of December, they carry out general cleaning, brushing every speck of dust on tables and dressers.
They don’t eat meat at Christmas in Italy, so most dishes are fish. This trend is especially observed in the southern regions of the country. At the festive table you can find dishes such as fried cod, eel or perch, pasta with seafood. In Rome, one of the most popular dishes is capitole, a fried or baked eel with caviar.
However, on December 25, when it is already possible to eat meat, fried sausages, baked lamb, lasagna, artichokes and other dishes appear on the Christmas table. It is noteworthy that the Italians have their own beliefs about food at a festive dinner on Christmas. So, the inhabitants of a sunny country are sure that lentils should certainly be on the Christmas table. According to signs, the more lentils you eat on this day, the richer you will become next year. One of the most popular dishes for Christmas is turkey, which is baked with nuts, potatoes, apples and chestnuts.
As for the festive dessert, usually this is the so-called Panettone cake, decorated with fruits, chocolate and other sweets. Legend has it that a young man, Tony, fell in love with the beautiful daughter of a baker, to whom he got a job as an apprentice, to be closer to his lover. Later, the guy, inspired by love and inspiration, baked a pie in the form of a dome. Tony's cake (pane di Toni) was very popular among the townspeople. And to this day, he is invariably present at a gala dinner with almost every family.
Christmas gifts to Italian children are distributed by the local Santa Claus - Babbo Natale. Usually, children receive toys, books as a gift, and adults, as a rule, useful things for the home.
