While California is my home, Italy will always have a special place in my heart. To an American, Italy carries an air of romance and old-world elegance. There is no time in Italy more magical than the holiday season, especially Christmas, Il Natale, due to the importance of religion in this country. Italy has a number of unique Christmas traditions that I’d love to share with you.
Even more than the Christmas Tree (a northern European, Protestant tradition adopted in Italy at later times) the Nativity Scene (Il Presepio) is the cornerstone of Italian Christmas decoration. Every church has a Presepio and they can be found in squares, shops, and other public areas. Displays often include the manger with the nativity, a representation of the entire village with shepherds, different scenes of village life, and sheep and other animals.
In Bologna, my home town, every year my family would gather to examine all our Presepio statuettes and fix and repaint them. To replace any that were beyond repair, we would go to the Antica Fiera di Santa Lucia (Ancient Fair of Saint Lucia) under the arcades along the Church of Santa Maria dei Servi. It is one of the main fairs of the Emilia Romagna region that traditionally opens during Christmas time. It dates back to the 16th century. We would eat nougat (torrone), admire the innocent expressions of the figurines, and shop for needed statuettes and Christmas tree ornaments. On Christmas Eve, we gathered in front of the Presepio. My sister and I recited Christmas poems, learnt by heart, in front of the family, including my hard-of -hearing grandma. I can still feel the stress now, together with lots of nostalgia.
We would go to sleep and leave butter cookies on a plate next to the Presepio, hoping that Gesu Bambino (Baby Jesus) would bring gifts. My father never failed to eat all the cookies and leave only crumbs. My mother would sprinkle some glitter to testify to the angels’ presence.
In future posts, I’ll be covering other traditional Italian Christmas traditions, including bagpipers, the Feast of the Seven Fishes (Vigilia), La Befana, and the traditional Bolognese Christmas lunch.
