The Christmas Tradition in Emilia

Here's a blog entry from my new friend, Alessandro Cagossi, who gives us some insight into Christmas northern Italian-style.

By Alessandro Cagossi

The essence of Christmas Day for all Italians is family and food, “la famiglia e il cibo”. However, in Italy there are twenty regions with twenty different traditions to celebrate Christmas, sometimes similar, sometimes very different. I come from Emilia, a region in northern Italy that is known as “the food valley”. The food tradition includes lasagne, tagliatelle, tortelli, ravioli, prosciutto, parmigiano-reggiano, mortadella and many more.

The holiday tradition starts December 8, with the day dedicated to the devotion of Mary. Many people visit cemeteries praying for lovely ones that passed the way.

December 13th is St. Lucy's Day (“La Festa di Santa Lucia”), with traditional exchange of gifts. In my region, Saint Lucy is the main occasion that makes kids happy, much more than the Epiphany, when a witch named Befana pleases kids with gifts, closing the whole festivity period.

So Christmas is an occasion to reunite the family under huge manger scenes. December 24, Christmas Eve (“La Vigilia di Natale”) is a day of abstinence from meat, so as a first dish we have dumplings with pumpkins (“tortelli di zucca”, I am sure Americans would appreciate them). The second dish consists largely of fish with "Anguilla" a big female eel, roasted, baked or fried and baccalà. These dishes are served with mostarda emiliana, a sort of spicy fruit jelly. We finish with fruit, as a sign of good fortune. After dinner, some attend midnight mass.

December 25, lunch on Christmas Day is a long affair. Delicacies such as cappelletti (a sort of small tortellini) in capon broth, boiled capon, zampone, a pig's foot filled with spiced meat, or cotechino, a sausage made from pig's intestines, are particularly popular in Emilia. Vegetables are dipped with balsamic vinegar. Finally, in my region the Christmas sweets are the "panettone" (cake filled with candied fruit), "torrone" (nougat) and "spongata" a sort of panforte made with hazelnuts, honey and almonds, signs of good fortune.

December 26, Saint Stephen's Day, can be another occasion to share a lunch with family.

During the celebration of the New Year's Day, another tradition is the burning of the Yule log. This is an example of pagan and Christian blending.

Finally, January 6 is the Epiphany (“La Festa dell'Epifania”) the holiday that closes the festivity period. This is the last occasion to have another lunch together.

The Cagossi’s family reunited for a Christmas lunch.

Comments

[Paul Zuros]

Ciao Mr. Tinnell and Alessandro!
Love this entry! I am very happy Alessandro, that you were able to give your insight into your Christmas traditions! I love the picture! I hope to see more! Mr. Tinnell, It was very nice meeting you at our event on the 7th! Can't wait till the new book comes out and more so the movie! I hope you both have a very nice Christmas and a great new year!

[Robert Tinnell]

Thanks, Paul. It's 11:52 a.m. EST and I've just started mixing up the stuffing for the calamari. Lots of work ahead!
bob

[Bridgette]

This was a wonderful story. my daughter commented on the 7 fishes, and other traditions we have in a podcast that we recently created. Thanks for sharing your Christmas Traditions in the Generations podcast “Three generations of Christian women share their thoughts about different issues and aspects of life.” We have some traditional ones like the Christmas pj,’s that are opened on Christmas eve, and Jesus’ birthday cake, retelling of the Christmas story. But there are some unusual ones like, Misfit Christmas, and upside down Christmas tree, a pickle in your tree, and some wonderful traditions to share with the kids. We also included some recipes. Thanks so much for sharing yours if you want to listen to ours here is the link to the podcast. http://godswordcollectibles.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-podcast-inspirations0016-christmas.html

Blessings this Christmas and a wonderful New Year

[Claudine Gandolfi]

Had to comment and say... yay! My family is from Borgo Val di Taro and Castello in the mountains half way between Parma and La Spezia, and we don't do 7 fishes at all. We actually make homemade spinach/cheese/porcini meatsauce ravioli on Christmas Eve. I always get scolded by my Italian friends here in NY for not having Seven Fishes. There are no fishes where my family is from, unless you want to fish one out of the Taro. LOL Have a great holiday and thanks for sharing.

[Dominic]

Santa Lucia on December 13th is a special holiday in Sicily because she was born there, and is the patron saint of Siracusa. We celebrate the day by fasting, only eating a dish called Cuccia, which consists of boiled whole wheat kernels. I used to mix in some honey, but others, like mom, preferred it more savory and would season it with a little olive oil. At the end of the day we would break the fast and enjoy a regular meal.

It's interesting that this Sicilian saint is venerated in Sweden and Norway. They celebrate her differently, with young girls wearing lit candle crowns on their heads and singing the famous song. "Lucia" means light, so I guess that has special meaning for those living through the long, dark Northern winter months.

Your friend Allesandro wrote a wonderfully enlightening piece about his region's Christmas traditions! It made me hunger for some of their dishes, especially the anguila and cotechino - haven't eaten those delicacies in years!

[Alessandro Cagossi]

Thanks to you all for your comments !!! I think soon I will propose the recipe of dumplings with pumpkins (“tortelli di zucca”). I am sure Americans and Italo-Americans would appreciate them ! For next Christmas, let's develop some other interesting story. Have a great 2009 ! Alessandro