Unlike the traditional Westernized Christmas celebration, things are done quite differently across the pond in Italy. Mind you, I have never been to Italy during the holiday season, so I only know what I read. Throughout the Italian holiday season (December and January) there are nine individual days of celebration, where Christmas falls smack dead in the center.
- December 6th: La Festa di San Nicola - Festival in honor of St Nichola, where giant couldrons are lit to cook fava beans
- December 8th: L'Immacolata Concezione - Celebration of the Immaculate Conception
- December 13th: La Festa di Santa Lucia - St. Lucy's Day
- December 24th: La Vigilia di Natale - Christmas Eve
- December 25th: Christmas Day
- December 26th: La Festa di Santo Stefano - St. Stephen's Day marks the announcement of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men
- December 31st: La Festa di San Silvestro - New Year's Eve
- January 1st: Il Capodanno - New Year's Day
- January 6th: La Festa dell'Epifania - The Epiphany
Man! That sounds like a lot of work. Other than Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Eve, the only one of those holidays I remeber celebrating as a child was La Festa di San Nicola. However, we called it St. Nicholas day and instead of eating Fava beans we left our boots outside over night and in the morning they would be filled with candy.
-Mario
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