Comenius 2008

Christmas 2008

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