Christmas in Italy

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Christmas in Italy
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In Italy, the Christmas season is from December
17 -January 6th, but decorations start going up
as early as December 8th.
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Eight days before Christmas the children dress
up as shepherds and go from house to house
singing Christmas songs and reciting poetry. Here
they receive money to buy Christmas presents.
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On Christmas Eve they follow a strict 24 hour
fast where they do not eat meat. Children also
write letters to their parents explaining how
much they love them (instead of writing letters
to Santa) and are read on Christmas Eve.
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Lunch on Christmas is Tortellini in Brodo which
is filled pasta parcels in broth. They also eat
cappone (boiled chicken) or roasts.
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For dinner, the first course is normally lasagna,
which is followed by a mixed roast or a roasted
beef for the second course.
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The cake that is eaten is called panettone (on
the left) which contains raisins and candied
fruit. The other cake they eat is called pandoro
(on the right).
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On Christmas Babbo Natale (Father Christmas)
gives everyone a present, but this is not the
main day for gift giving.
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Children normally do not receive presents until
January 6th. On this day an ugly and kind witch
named Befana puts presents in childrens
stockings.