This is why Christmas in Italy starts as early as 8 December
Italy is also getting ready for Christmas again. Christmas lights are being hung everywhere, Christmas markets are being built, and Christmas groceries (and zampone, the fatty sausage that everyone eats on New Year’s Eve) are already widely available in supermarkets. But what did our colleagues at Italiamo tell us? In Italy, the Christmas season hasn’t really begun until 8 December has passed. Huh?
Italian holiday on 8 December
8 December is not just any day. It is the day of l’Immacolata Concezione, the Immaculate Conception. For a country like Italy, where faith and traditions are deeply rooted in the culture, this is the moment when Christmas officially begins. And they almost all mark it by taking part in the same activity. On this day, every Italian, from Palermo to the Dolomites, takes part in the same activity: bringing home and decorating the Christmas tree. Not before, not after—no, only on 8 December.
Italy is not a country of doubters. In a country where coffee cups are stronger than your morning newspaper, and where every step on the street feels like a catwalk, there is no room for half measures. When you snooze you lose. So if you don’t do it on that day, you miss the boat, you’re out, and you’re not allowed to celebrate Christmas. Just kidding, it’s not that serious, but it is still a little strange that there is only one day when everyone does it.
It’s not just about putting up the Christmas tree
There’s something else you need to know: the Christmas tree isn’t simply put up and left at that. No, people generally make a real effort with the decorations. Think tinsel, colourful strings of lights, handmade angels—none of those themed baubles. And above all, don’t forget the presepio either, filled with miniature figures: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the ox, the donkey, the shepherds, the Three Kings—no one is absent.
You might think: why can’t I just put up my tree on 1 December? Why 8 December? Well, as Italians say, piano piano, take it easy, patience is a virtue. Just as you shouldn’t bake panettone too early, you shouldn’t put up the Christmas tree before 8 December either. Celebrating birthdays before your birthday brings bad luck, as does saying that something is bound to work out; this probably falls into the same category. The reason is partly superstition, partly religious, but also cultural.
8 December marks the beginning of Advent—the start of the preparations for the arrival of Babbo Natale and a season in which family, food and drink take an even more central place in Italian households than they already do.
Also read:
- Italian dishes you will never, ever get in Italy
- This is the absolute, absolute, absolute filthiest pizza on the menu in Italy
- 10 things you shouldn’t do when you’re in Italy—and probably do anyway
Source: Italiamo
