A bunch of Christmas wishes! Customs and Traditions from Portugal
eTwinning Project 2016
CHRISTMAS IN PORTUGAL Although Portugal has already a participation in this bunchof Christmas wishes (slides 12 and 13) allow me, another participant in this group to compliment all the partners and to add one or two more ideas about this festivity in Potugal. Actually, Christmas is an important religious holiday in Portugal, and many Portuguese families display Nativity scenes at home, called “presépio”, sometimes placed near the Christmas tree, in the living (or dining) room. In Portugal, especially in the small villages we also have a Yule, or Christmas log “o Cepo de Natal”, usually lighted near the church at the Christmas Eve (when we go tothe midnight Mass -“Missa do Galo”) - and, in some places, it is burning till the 1st January.
Portuguese Traditions The food is also diferent depending on the region...
Other Portuguese traditions Madeira Island traditions‌ In Madeira the party starts early, right from the day December 16, with the masses of childbirth, or novenas of o, celebrated all night until the morning of the 23 day mass, or Mass of the chicken. It's a tradition that comes from far away, and not the cold or the rain of winter mornings demovem the faithful of novenas. On the way to the Church drink hot coffee with a taste of grog or a drink of brandy with honey, to ward off the cold and sleep. Some add a few drops of orange juice to make the voice more crystalline, joining the songs that enliven the celebrations. After the church, joins the people in the churchyard in inconsequential, eating scones with honey at the ball, before another day of work. In Câmara de Lobos and Camacha, the Philharmonic bands roam the streets with the castanets, the drum, the wee bitches or accordions, who wake up the sleepers.
Madeira traditions The entire month of December is dedicated to Christmas preparations: adorns the pine tree, the decorations with flowers typical of the time-Yes, enciĂľes, Holly. and assemble the tortoise scales, or Nativity scenes. Once more, the popular imagination gives rise to a variety of frames, with pastors House and figures, which also represent scenes from the life of Madeira. The church still represent the record Christmas and the pilgrimages of the shepherds. When the mass is over, each gathering to your House to the comforting warmth of chicken soup. Christmas day lunch, you eat the meat came from traditional garlic, roast suckling pig and Turkey. But there is no party without the most coveted Christmas specialty, honey cake, whose origins date back to the 17th century, made with sugar syrup and spiced with spices.
Madeira Christmas food
Rosa Gaspar