Skip to main content

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD:BRAZIL!!!

 





  Christmas means cold weather fun for many parts of the world, but in Brazil, Santa turns in his fur-lined coat, hat, and warm boots for warm-weather silks!  That's just the beginning.  Christmas in Brazil is a diverse celebration of many cultures and heritages that mirrors our own in some ways, but is vastly different in others.
   Brazil started out as a colony of the Portuguese, which is the official language of Brazil.  Because of this, the most common Christmas tradition, the presepio, will likely be an enduring one.  Presepio refers to the bed of straw that Jesus was laid upon at birth, and thus, the nativity scene is central to most who celebrate Christmas.
   Catholics attend a Midnight Mass (Missa de Galo) on Christmas Eve night, and then on Christmas Day.  Late afternoon masses are held so that people sleeping late after midnight mass can rest, or go to the beach, as it is summer time during Christmas in Brazil.  Afterward, traditional Christmas dinner is served, consisting of turkey, ham, vegetables, colored rice, and fruit dishes.  It is known as "Cela de Natal", and is held in homes across Brazil, amongst decorations of Christmas trees, fresh flowers, and other decorations.
   Outside, most decorations consist of nativity scenes (presepios) or huge Christmas trees made from strings of electric lights.  Festivities are held to enjoy the decorations, folk dancing, and singing, among other things,  to create the holiday spirit, until January 6th, which is when the Three Wise Men visited baby Jesus to give him their gifts.  It is known as Three Kings Day.


 


  













   Santa Claus is known as Papa Noel, and wears silken clothes to keep cool in the heat.  Children leave their shoes outside, in hopes that Papa Noel will fill them with candy and small treats.  Parents hide presents throughout the house, but children must first make breakfast for their parents and serve it to them in bed before they can be opened.  That sounds like a tradition that we Americans should adopt, it might teach our children a little patience!
   One of the most popular events in Brazil is the Christmas of Light event.  it was started in 1986, by Elezar de Carvalho, who was one of Brazil's greatest conductors.  Through the years, the Christmas of Light event has evolved into a complex,  light-filled show, that involves over 2000 volunteers to prepare.  With a green theme, its popularity only rises.  Decorations are made using recycled soda bottles, collected year round at Gramado schools, and the decorations are reused year after year, causing the event to grow bigger each and every year.  Natal Luz, or Christmas of Light, usually runs from mid-November to mid-January. 



















    Families looking to travel at Christmas time might consider Brazil, a warm alternative to the snowy Chrstimases in the Untied States and similar countries.  For those of us not so fortunate to be able to travel at Christmas, perhaps breakfast in bed!  So as they say in Brazil, "Feliz Natal"! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

VANILLA PEACH COFFEE CAKE!!

Did you know that the fruit this summer is supposed to be the best it has been in years? Apparently, fruit loves hot weather. I personally have eaten more peaches and cherries this summer than I have in about five years just for that reason.  As I have been a little overzealous lately buying peaches and cherries I found myself with a few peaches that were going to be too ripe for me to eat on the same day. That is unless I wanted to have them for every meal plus a few snacks. So I decided to make this recipe for Vanilla Peach Coffee Cake.  Vanilla Peach Coffee Cake Adapted from  Allrecipes.com Batter: 2 eggs 1 C milk 1/2 C oil 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 C  sour cream 3 C flour 1 C sugar 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. baking soda Topping: 5 or 6 large peaches, diced. 3 Tbsp. butter, melted 11/4 C brown sugar 1Tbsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. nutmeg 4 Tbsp. flour Vanilla Icing: 1 Tbsp. butter 1 tsp

PRESENT TOPIARY TO DECORATE YOUR PORCH AND FRONT DOOR!

   This comes from www.thatvillagehouse.blogspot.com .  I made something similar a couple years ago, without the pots.  It was about 6 feet high.  I got the inspiration from a Chirstmas dectoration that we bought at Target. This is a very good idea and make a great enterance to your home.  So here's a little something to thing about for next year.  Before you know it December will be here again.  You could also do something like this for an Easter theme.   Enjoy! A Merry Welcome! So here is my first Christmas project for the year!! I saw something similar at our church's Advent celebration & pretty much straight up copied it. I couldn't help it. It was love at first sight! I plan to make a 2nd stack to go on the other side of my door, so I'm not completely done, but I thought I would share it with you anyway. I started with 3 different sized boxes...9, 12 & 14 inch cubes. I used an ice pick to punch holes in each of them so that I could run

SAPPORO SNOW FESTIVAL FROM JAPAN!!!

     The Sapporo Snow Festival is a famous festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan, over 7 days in February.  Currently, Odori Park, Susukino, and Tsudome are the main sites of the festival.  The 2011 Yuki-matsuri dates are February 7th to the 13th.    The festival is one of Japan's largest and most distinctive winter events.  In 2007, about 2 million people visited Sapporo to see the hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures at the Odori Park and Suskino sites, in central Sapporo, and the Satoland site.  The festival is thought to be an opportunity for promoting international relations. The International Snow Sculpture Contest has been held at the Odori Park sit since 1974, and teams from various regions of the world participate.      The subject of the statues varies and often features as event, famous building or person from the previous yer.  For example, in 2004, there were statues of Hideki Matsui, the famous baseball player who at that time pl