First in Venezuela, Christmas is a family centered holiday. On Christmas Eve they have a huge meal, typically rather late in the evening. For some they would have it after Mass (even though Eduardo and his family were Catholic (before joining the LDS church) they didn't attend Mass). Some traditional foods that they would have are:
Hallacas: typically involves a mixture of pork, beef, chicken, capers, raisins, olives and onions wrapped in maize (cornmeal dough), bound with string within a plantain leaves, and boiled or steamed afterwards. (Thanks Wikipedia for the description)
Pan de jamon: Which is a bread with ham, cheese, green olives and raisins. It's a savory bread.
And Flan which I made for tonight's activity.
Some traditional Christmas activities include putting up a Nativity but unlike our Nativity sets they make a good portion of it themselves. Eduardo has memories of making the scenery for the nativity with his mother. It could end up being rather large with hills, town buildings and palm trees. The nativity people naturally are the traditional Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus but occasionally a dinosaur or transformer would find itself in the mix. Typically there would be a road that leads to the stable. Every day they would move the three wise men a little closer to baby Jesus.
Santa Claus doesn't visit the children in Venezuela but rather Baby Jesus. They would get some gifts on Christmas and more on Three King's Day which is January 6th.
In some areas in Venezuela, on Christmas Eve the children would have activities and such in the town's plaza. Often that would include roller skating and riding bikes. These events would be hosted by a local church. Eduardo never did this, but recalls his dad doing this as a child.
Every year we plan on talking about how a different country celebrates Christmas. Naturally I hope that my girls will find some joy in their heritage and look forward to celebrating Christmas both as an American and also as a Venezuelan.
No comments:
Post a Comment