By: Joao De Lucca
It is Christmas time and the year is almost done, soon I will go home and enjoy with my family a Brazilian christmas tradition. At home the Christmas is a little different than the one we see in America.
People down in Brazil are very religious and devote some time to visit churches and cathedrals. Christmas time is more a feast to honor Mother Nature and a means to ask for her blessings and to keep away the bad things.
The weather in Brazil is completely different the one we find in America. When it is winter time here, down in Brazil it is almost 100 degrees, so it is hard to find a Christmas tree, people get a fake one or we set up a “creche” or “presepio” to represent the birth of the “Christ Child” and the adults put the presents by the pre- sepio for the kids. Most of the families celebrate christ- mas as big dinner on Dec. 24 and it is usually a huge fest of chicken, salad, ham rice, turkey, pork and codfish accompanied by beer and fresh fruits. At mid night whenever everyone are full of dinner is time for the children to open the presents one by one. On the next day we still celebrate the christmas but its not as big as it was on the day before. We normally hang out with friends and family and eat what had left over the night before.
Christmas in Brazil is very fun for me because its a good time that I can spend time with my family and thank for all the things that they have done for me.
Photo courtesy of maurilioamorim.com
