Christmas in Italy
Christmas is an exciting and joyous time of year made special by the wonderful Christmas traditions around the world.
A great project during the holiday season that you and your family can participate in is looking at how people spend their Christmas around the world and the variety of different Christmas traditions around the world.
Whether you are spending your Christmas in North America or Europe many of the Christmas traditions around the world will be similar. For each Christmas around the world there may be just a slight variation on how it is celebrated.
In Italy there are two origins of the Italian Christmas, the first being the Christian traditions celebrated by most people today blended with the pagan traditions of the Roman Empire. The great feast of the Roman Era was the “Saturnalia” which was celebrated between December 17-24 honoring Saturn, the god of the harvest. These dates coincide with the celebration of Advent (pre-Christmas).
The Italian word for Christmas is “Natale” which means birthday honoring both the birth of Jesus and the birth of the “unconquered sun”.
A popular tradition in Italy is the playing of music by the zampognari or bagpipers at all the December festivities. The musicians play at various sites including the christmas market at Piazza Novona and the Spanish Steps in Rome. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day offer large feasts of a variety of foods unique to each region of Italy.
Christmas around the world is celebrated in a variety of different and unique ways. The Christmas traditions that you and your family include in your christmas day celebrations will be a reflection of your own personal family traditions and likes.
