The 25th December is the only official public holiday for Christmas and is celebrated with a family meal. A Spanish Christmas delicacy which cannot be forgotten is turrón, which is made of roasted almonds, sugar, honey and eggs.
In Spain, presents are usually given on the 6th of January, the Epiphany but in recent years, children receive little presents on the 24th and 25th of December as well.
In Catalan there is a special custom: from the 8th December (the Immaculate Conception), a small man made of a wooden block with two legs and a red barretina (hat), is put in houses and children must feed him every day. The Tió is covered with a blanket so that he doesn’t get a cold. On Christmas Eve, children find presents underneath the blanket, that Tió has excreted. The more you’ve fed him, the more presents you get. The real gift exchange takes place on the 6th of January like in the rest of Spain.
Similar to France, a specific cake is eaten on the 6th of January, the Roscón de Reyes which has two things inside: a figurine and a bean. Whoever finds the figurine in their piece of cake is King/Queen for the day. Whoever finds the bean has to buy the cake the following year.
The magic of Christmas begins on Christmas Eve in Poland. That’s the time that the whole family comes together. For this special evening, there are 12 dishes on the table. Traditionally, the celebrations begin as soon as the first star in the sky is visible. As a symbol of love and warmth, bread or wafers are shared with each other before dinner begins.
A special custom: a place at the table is left empty. So that those family members who have passed away or are unable to attend are thought of. Additionally, the empty place represents the readiness to take in an unknown guest. As a sign of modesty and sobriety, meadow hay is placed underneath the tablecloth.
Amongst the most popular dishes are red beetroot soup, breaded carp, uszka (specially formed, filled pasta goods with sauerkraut and dried mushrooms), piroggen, herrings in oil, makówki (a sweet poppy dish) and gingerbread.
After dinner, presents are exchanged. Dependent on the region, presents are received from Father Christmas/Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, the Holy Star or the baby Jesus. After that, Christmas songs are sung and around midnight, the whole family goes to church.
The pre-Christmas period begins on the 8th of December in Italy. This day is a bank holiday and marks the point that Christmas decorations should be put up.
For Christmas in Italy, there are two special cakes: panettone and pandoro. The panettone is traditionally a partially baked, sweet dough which contains candied fruit and raisins. Pandoro, in contrast, is a sweet cake made of a dough with eggs, which is very similar to a French brioche. Pandoro is usually baked in a star-shaped cake tin and is sprinkled with icing or vanilla sugar.
When asked about these cakes, Italians fall into two camps: some love their panettone, others swear by their pandoro. Both are not an option.
Presents are first given to Italian children on the 6th of January. The presents are not, however, given by an old, bearded man but instead by an old woman called Befana. She rewards good children with presents and bad children only receive coal.
Even if many of us enjoy celebrating Christmas in the same way every year, maybe you could try out a custom from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Poland or Italy this year.
Merry Christmas!