Dear everybody, we want to show you our work about Christmas. The classes working on this project belong to the 1st year of the secondary school (11 years old). In this project there are 13 sheets about our Christmas tradition. They are: 1) Natale 2) The Christmas Tree 3) The Crib 4) Caltagirone 5) The Cona 6) Novena 7) The Calendar 8) Christmas Eve 9) Children And Gifts 10) Christmas Traditional Food 11) The 26th of December 12) New Year 13) Epiphany Follow this scheme to build a Christmas tree with the 13 sheets
II
Natale is the Italian word for Christmas.
Christmas is a Christian festival to celebrate the birth
of Jesus Christ, and it is the most important festival of
the year.
Traditionally at this time of the year, houses are brightly
decorated with wreaths made from ivy, holly and mistletoe,
lights, coloured ribbons, Christmas trees and cribs.
III
The tradition of the Christmas tree comes from the Northern
countries and it began in Germany in the Middle ages.
An evergreen tree was used as a symbol of everlasting life. People
often decorate their trees with stars and angels as reminders of
the Christmas story.
The usage of the
Christmas tree in
Sicily was
introduced only
after the 2nd
world war by the
Americans, who
arrived to free
our country.
Today in every
house there is a
Christmas tree
and it has become
the symbol of the
family, gathered together for this celebration.
IV
The Crib is a typical Italian tradition, introduced by Saint Francesco in the XIV century.
It represents the Nativity scene: Christians believe that Jesus was born in a stable more than 2000 years ago, in the town of Bethlehem.
An Angel visited shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem to tell them about Jesus' birth and the shepherds went to visit him.
In a lot of small towns in Sicily, we have living nativity scenes where the people, dressed up with ancient costumes, play the role of the different characters of the Nativity. It is very suggestive and characteristic because the whole village becomes a sort of stage where the people perform the play.
V
In Sicily there are many towns famous for their hand made
cribs.
One of these towns is Caltagirone in the centre of
Sicily.
It attracts a lot of tourists every year for its
beautiful ceramics and for its fantastic
cribs, rich in small details, sometimes with a
moving mechanism, too.
VI
One of the oldest Christmas usage in Sicily was the so called “cona”. It is a Sicilian word which comes from the Italian “icona" (icon). In the past when life was simpler and poorer than nowadays, people were not used to prepare neither the Christmas tree nor the crib.
The only way to decorate their homes and even the streets was the "cona".
It was a picture of the holy family, surrounded by thorn-bush in which they stuck oranges, mandarins and cotton-wool, as if it was the snow. At Christmas time the family used to pray or sing in front of it.
VII
Another typical Sicilian tradition is
the ''NOVENAn, which is
unfortunately
still alive only in few small villages,
and no longer in the big towns.
This word comes from the number “NOVE” (nine) because nine days before
the 25 December, some old men with
bag-pipes go playing Christmas music
along the streets. They are often
invited to come in and play
in front of the crib, every night, with
the whole family gathered
together to listen to the typical sound of this instrument. At the end
of the nine nights, the musicians receive a free offer of money and some
traditional food from the hosting family.
VIII
Another popular belief is that the twelve days, from Saint
Lucia, 13 December, to Christmas eve, are the weather
forecast for the new year.
For example, if the 15 December is a
sunny day, March (the 3rd month),
will be sunny as well.
This was an ancient way to predict the
weather, useful for farmers.
IX
An old Italian tradition is to stay up after midnight on
Christmas Eve.
Some families open
their gifts under the
Christmas tree around
that time, while other
families go to the
church for the Midnight
Mass. Many Italian
churches hold special
Christmas services to
celebrate the birth of
Jesus Christ. Part of these services can be a Nativity play, in
which children act out the different parts of the Nativity.
When the families return home, many of them start to play
traditional Christmas Eve games such as "Bingo" (which in
Italian is called "Tombola") or cards, while others go straight to
sleep!
X
Christmas is above all a moment of joy for children. People
give each other presents for Christmas to remind them of
the gifts that the shepherds and the Wise Men took to the
stable for Jesus.
Children believe that Father Christmas brings them
presents if they
behave well and they
write him letters to
ask him fulfil their
wishes.
They believe that
Father Christmas
visits their homes
during the nights
before Christmas to
deliver presents.
When they find the beautiful gifts can hardly wait to open
them until the night of Christmas Eve.
XI
Salted Food - "Lenticchie e cotechino" = sliced pork meat with lentils - “Scacciata” = pizza with another crust on top filled with
broccoli, cheese (tuma), olives, tomatoes, onions - ”Tortellini” = a home made pasta filled with meat or ham - “Baccalà” = stockfish
Sweet Food - “Panettone” = a typical Italian cake with candied
fruit and currants - Citrus fruits: mandarines, lemons, oranges… - Dried fruits: figs, nuts, almonds... - "Torrone” = or nougat: a hard roll filled with almonds, nuts,
pistachios and honey - "Crispelle di riso" = long fried sweets of rice, dipped in
honey - "Ravioli" = fried sweets filled with ricotta cheese and
covered with sugar
XII
Christmas in Sicily is often sunny which is not very nice
because there's
not the right
atmosphere.
However we try
to take the
positive aspect
of it: on the 26
December,
thanks to the
fine weather,
families or
groups of
friends traditionally go for a trip, a picnic in the open
air, or a walk in the wood on the m o u n t E t n a .
XIII
On the night of 31 December we celebrate the coming of the new year, in Italian “Capodanno”. Generally we have parties with friends and relatives at home or at the restaurant, we use to wear smart clothes, have a big meal, toast with champagne at midnight, have fireworks and stay awake till the dawn, dancing or playing games. Sometimes people prefer to go to the city centre, where they can enjoy live music, street theatre, parades and fireworks. There are many things we use to do on this night because they are said to bring luck: kissing each other under the mistletoe; wearing something red under the clothes; eating as many lentils as possible because the more you eat them, the richer you'll become; throwing useless things away, which means to give up bad habits and welcome the New year as the start of a better life.
XIV
The 6 January is the Epiphany day, which according to the Bible is the date when the 3 Wise Men arrived to the stable to bring Jesus their gifts: gold, incense and myrrh. It is the last day of a long period of holiday and a last moment of happiness for children. In Italy we call it tugly woman with a handkerchief on hehead, riding a broom, like a witchSometimes she canbe bad with naughtychildren. On the night of 5 January c
he “Befana’s day”: she is a legendary old
r
.
hildren e
hung socks near thfireplaces becausethey believe the “Befana “ goes downfrom the chimney to fill their socks either with candies or sweets for good children, or with croak for the naughtyones. Children use to leave her something to eat for breakfast on the kitchen table, such as a cup of milk with some biscuits. Next morning they will find only the empty cup and some crumbs as a proof of her passage.
XV