Christmas In Italy

The countdown is on…only 5 days until Christmas! If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping yet you better get to it. For much of the Christian world that means joining the hordes of last minute shoppers as they brace to face long lineups at their local shopping mall.

Oh, the hustle, the bustle, the canned Christmas music; the panic when you realize you’re not even halfway through your gift list! I remember it all well. For me, it was never anything a mug size cup of hot chocolate with extra whip and a giant gingerbread cookie couldn’t fix.

These are somewhat bittersweet memories now as we prepare to celebrate our first Christmas here in Italy on our own. That’s right – we are not going home for Christmas this year. Only the second time in our 15 years together we aren’t getting on a plane and the first time we will wake up on Christmas morning with just the two of us.

As the weeks and now days before Christmas pass by, I’m increasingly aware of the differences between how Italy and my home country, Canada celebrate the festive season.

Christmas in a medieval village

Our 14^th century medieval village of Paciano takes Christmas seriously. I’m part of a group of Italians and stranieri (foreigners) who get together in mid November to start planning and working on homemade decorations to decorate our tiny town.

The star attraction is the ghirlande or wreaths that we form out of olive branches, found in abundance in the surrounding groves. We then venture into the hills to gather greens from bay leaf plants, cypress trees, umbrella pines, and fir trees that we stuff into large IKEA bags and sort in the basement of the local Comune.

While the greens are still fresh, we head to the Palazzo attic where we’ve stored all of last years boxes of decorations. In true Italian/foreigner team fashion, we create an assembly line to carry then down the five or so flights of stairs. Now that’s dedication to the Christmas spirit.

Once our wreath-making workshop is set up, we put out the call for volunteer help. Only a few years ago, we were lucky to get a handful of Italians showing up. They seemed a bit wary of this North American holiday tradition. But slowly, the numbers have shifted. So much so that this year, on American Thanksgiving, while the stranieri were at home enjoying their turkey feast and I was overseeing that day’s workshop, I looked up from the table and noted I was the only foreigner.

Ten Italian women were busily tying bunches of greens onto their olive forms and sifting through boxes of pinecones and ribbons to select the finishing touches – all the while oscillating between loud and animated chatter and singing along to English language Christmas carols they didn’t understand.

I was mesmerized. And more than a little proud to see this remarkable group of women embracing our homeland traditions.

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After 6 days in our makeshift Christmas workshop, we counted 94 completed wreaths. It was now time to hang them in the town piazza and on the doors of the main streets of Paciano’s historical center.

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Along with decorating the piazza Christmas trees.

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We had made our deadline – to have the wreaths done and the village decorated in time for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8^th,  the official kick-off to the holiday season in Italy. That night the strings of white and gold lights lining the narrow, medieval streets and the entrance gates to our castle town were turned on.

Paciano was transformed into a magical Christmas wonderland.

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Santa trades his sleigh for a broom

Christmas in Italy unfolds at a much slower pace than in North America. Yes, there are lights on houses and plenty of Christmas trees but the emphasis is on getting together with friends and family. Its about preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Christmas remains for the most part, a religious holiday here. And rather than rush to the mall, Italians head to the wide range of Christmas markets held in many hill towns in Umbria and Tuscany. There you can browse through stalls full of nuts and cheeses, chocolates and homemade trinkets. I’ve yet to hear an Italian talk about Christmas shopping. It’s always about food.

Although Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) is catching on here, you rarely see an image of Jolly Old Saint Nic. Mainly because, since the 8^th century, Italian children grew up believing in an old witch called La Befana.

Legend has it the old lady ran into the Three Wise Men on their way to meet the baby Jesus. They invited her to come along on the journey but she turned them down. Only later to change her mind, grab a sack of gifts for the baby and jump on her broom and try to find them. Apparently she had no such luck.

Nonetheless, she continues to drag out the broom on the Eve of the Epiphany January 6^th and deliver gifts to all the good girls and boys of Italy.

The image of a somewhat scary La Befana contrasts greatly to the traditional gentle and jolly image of Santa Claus. Despite claims to the contrary, Coca Cola was not the creator of the original image of Santa as we now know him. This claim to fame goes to Thomas Nast, a 19^th century American cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly. His first image of Santa Claus was printed in the January 3rd, 1863 edition.

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Nast went on to create the first images of the North Pole and Santa’s workshop. And the rest as they say is history.

Creating Christmas traditions

As I’m writing this post, my husband Peter is upstairs wrapping gifts – for just me. We are exchanging gifts only for each other this year. We are doing our best to create our own Italian Christmas traditions as we contemplate the possibility of spending more future Christmases on our own and not traveling. 

When I was lamenting to a friend that Christmas just ‘won’t be the same’ with just the two of us, she wisely suggested we don’t try to make it the same as anything either of us have done before with our own families.

She went on to say her and her husband had found themselves in the same situation after a few years of marriage and decided to sit down and create a new ‘Christmas Plan’ based on what they each wanted to do. They both contributed to the list and ended up having a wonderfully peaceful and memorable Christmas.

This made a lot of sense to me. Especially since my family is still reeling from the loss of our mother two years ago, right before Christmas. We have tried to replicate her amazing Christmas traditions, including stuffing stockings for all 15 family members. I cooked a full Christmas dinner the past two years for the entire family, acutely aware of the empty seat across the table.

We wanted our Mom back. We wanted our Christmas back. The Christmas that only she could create for us. While talking with my friend I realized that was the problem. Christmas would not and could not ever be the same without her. But it can be what you make it, what you want it to be. It can be something very special, uniquely your own.

So this year, I put the word out to all of our Italian and foreigner friends to gather at our local bar on Christmas Eve or the Vigilia di Natale to share a cup or two of cheer and wish each other well. I got a great response with a few adding they thought it is a wonderful idea. I hope this becomes one of our village traditions.

Christmas morning Peter and I will empty our stockings and then while still in pajamas, devour a plate of Eggs Benedict for brunch, washed down with a nicely chilled prosecco. If the weather is good, we will go for a walk in the Umbrian hills, returning in mid-afternoon to open the presents under the tree.

That evening, we will share a Christmas dinner of pasticcio di ragu (a meat lasagna recipe of Peter’s family from northern Italy) followed by turkey and all the trimmings.

We will share this special meal by candlelight and think of all of dear family and friends across the world and toast to their health and happiness.

And we will have created our own Christmas tradition.

May yours be blessed. A very Merry Christmas to you all. Buone Feste and Buon Natale.

A presto

Anna