Christmas Traditions
When do you open the gifts? What's with the trees?
We had our last Portuguese class before the holiday break on Wednesday of last week. Instead of tackling the next chapter in our textbook, we discussed holiday traditions. And my most vexing holiday questions were answered…
Ah, To Be Young Again
We all grow up thinking every family celebrates the holidays like we did. Marriage changes all that. When one decorates and takes down the Christmas tree is debated. The Christmas menu must be discussed. Even when one opens their gifts may be called into question.
Denise’s family was originally from Bohemia. The live, cut Christmas tree was purchased and decorated in the middle of December. Her family owned a restaurant. Early on they stayed open for part of Christmas Eve so everyone gathered at her aunt’s house where a gut-busting dinner of sauerbraten, dumplings, strudel, and a bunch of other stuff was served. On Christmas mornings gifts were opened. Christmas day the extended family gathered at her parent’s home for a feast of turkey (with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and wild rice)1, duck, chicken paprika with dumplings, and Brussels sprouts (for color). For dessert, there would be strudel and assorted pies. Christmas decorations and tree were removed on January 4th, 5th or 6th.
My father sold Christmas trees since not a lot of people buy lawnmowers in Philadelphia in December. He always picked the best tree for our home before offering the others for sale. As such the tree was always perfect and if it wasn’t a drill and a few spare boughs could make it so. On Christmas Eve my maternal grandparents would come for a visit. We would be put to bed and “Santa” would decorate the tree and place the presents under the tree.2 We opened our presents early on Christmas morning. Christmas dinner was turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and the ever-popular green bean casserole. Pumpkin pie was the holiday stable. All holiday decorations were removed on New Year’s Day.3
Portuguese Christmas Traditions
We learned all about “Tradiçǎo de Natal” during last week’s class. We learned that the Pinheiro de Natal (Christmas Tree) is decorated on 8 December which is a recognized Portuguese holiday called The Feast of the Immaculate Conception.4 It is removed on 6 January, the Dia do Reis (Day of the Kings, i.e. when Jesus was visited by the three Wise Men.) Most homes have a presépio (nativity scene). If you missed last year’s post on the largest presépio, which happens to be in VRSA, please click here.
A huge feast is prepared for the family who gather on Christmas Eve for a “consoada” (Christmas meal). The meal starts with appetizers: cheese, bread, olives, shrimp, etc. The main dishes include bacalhǎo (cod), polvo (octopus), peru (turkey), potatoes, rice, salad, and perhaps a few boiled vegetables. Of course, there are desserts including a fried item that reminds you of an empanada filled with sweet potato or pumpkin, filloas (crepes) and fruit tarts.
Finally, we got to the two questions I wanted answers to:
When do we open the gifts?: The answer was at midnight after the before-mentioned feast. When I said you shouldn’t open your gifts till Christmas morning, I was told that was the way “it used to be” in Portugal. And;
Why aren’t there any “real” trees in Portugal?: It is possible to “rent” a live tree (i.e. one with roots attached) but it will likely look like a Charlie Brown tree. And typically the company you get it from will retrieve it after the holiday, replanting it for next year. However, you cannot sell or purchase a cut Douglas fir, Norway Spruce, Scotch Pine, etc. It is against the law in Portugal because of environmental impacts and what is viewed as a wasteful practice. While I applaud the sentiment, I do miss the smell of a freshly cut tree and wish there were nicer-looking artificial trees available.
Holiday Traditions
We have a woman from Nepal, who is a Hindu in our class. She found this whole discussion confusing. The Thais in our class, who I assume are Buddhist said they had a Christmas Tree…commercialism at its best. A woman from Moldova and another from Ukraine explained Orthodox traditions to the class. I found the entire discussion fascinating. So tell me, what are your holiday traditions? Which have you kept and which have been discarded or modified with time?
Por favor, diga…boas festas
Nanc
She must have been in training for her life in Portugal where potatoes and rice are often served together as side dishes.
As my parents worked outside the home I was at home after school without adult supervision. I don’t know if they ever figured out that I had found all the gifts and unwrapped and rewrapped any that I could not identify several weeks earlier.
We were a big football family. I looked it up and the NFL started broadcasting games in 1960. Not sure if there was one on New Year’s Day. If there was we were watching it!
Please note the Catholic Church is not suggesting that Jesus was very premature but rather this holiday is nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September.
As always, great post! We have been fascinated by our classmates in Portuguese class, and not just about their holiday traditions! They are mostly quite young and from all over the world. Madeira is home to many young digital nomads. As for our traditions, when our daughter got married, we all lived the Pacific Northwest. both husbands are fabulous cooks, but not huge fans of the traditional turkey and stuffing. So, since 2011, our traditional meals have been spicy chicken burritos on Christmas eve and Salmon on Christmas day. We're no longer in the PNW, so getting that fabulous salmon is a bit of the challenge, but we still do it. Happy Holidays!! Thanks for posting.
Growing up in the Lutheran Church in western Pennsylvania my Christmas traditions centered around Advent, Christmas Eve, a Christmas tree full of lights and decorations, and a big ham or turkey dinner that included John Copes dried corn casserole.
When I married my second husband I searched for a way for us to celebrate the winter holiday season together that was not rooted in traditional Christian customs. After hours of Google searching I came across a small book titled “The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice” by Carolyn McVickar Edwards (available from Amazon). Each tale has a main character and centers on the Light. Over the years we have acquired an “ornament” that represents the main character of each story. Some of our ornaments are beautiful blown glass critters. Every evening starting on the Winter Solstice and for the next 12 nights Scott reads a story from “The Return of the Light.” It’s become a wonderful tradition for us that we look forward to every year. We’ve shared our “Solstice Celebration” with many friends who have incorporated it into their own celebration of the season. We were especially pleased this year to learn that our “Solstice Critters” safely made the move to Portugal!
Happy Solstice everyone!