Brazilian Christmas–Part 1

And so this is Christmas, my dear readers?! Christmas Eve, actually. Véspera de Natal, in Portuguese. How are you? Hope fine. I’m fine. It’s always good to have the chance to be with the ones I love, that’s why Christmas means something to me! I’m not Christian or Catholic, I’m not a religious person and think that, nowadays, Christmas has lost its original meaning. I mean, it doesn’t look like a religious celebration anymore, despite some symbols related to Jesus Christ, like the Christmas crib. By the way, I’ve always thought that there’s something special about Jesus Christ’s birth. Isn’t it a magical story? An angel came to his mother, to tell her that she would give birth to a very special person (with a very tough destiny), who would influence humanity. Deeply. This woman, her husband and baby had to escape from the hate of a powerful man, who feared to lose his kingdom and wanted every baby or little boy to be killed. Jesus Christ was born in a crib in the middle of nowhere. A star, star of Bethlehem, announced his birth and three wise men, from different parts of this planet, followed the star to give gifts to that special baby . Each gift had a symbolic, spiritual meaning. This is just amazing! I don’t know if it really happened or not, but it’s a great story!

Many (bitter) people say that Christmas is just another commercial holiday. Is it a news? Capitalists will take each opportunity they have to take money from us and increase their profit. We, the 99%, give meaning to everything, not the great corporations. So, Christmas can be something more than a commercial holiday. Maybe I live in a parallel universe, but my family and friends didn’t talk to me about expensive gifts. We are mostly adults and when you grow up, gifts get rare. Not to me, of course. I like to give and receive gifts, but usually I think about handmade stuff, at least to give. Just to show to my loved ones that I love them, care about them. That’s why I like Christmas cards! Families with kids maybe are more faithful to traditions, so there are many gifts. But I know that many people feel happy enough to be with their loved ones and enjoy some nice dishes. 

Here in Brazil, Christmas is not that different from the North Hemisphere one. And this is bizarre. No, I have nothing against the White Christmas, but if you find a snowflake somewhere in my country right now, I’ll give you an expensive gift! It’s Summer in Brazil . Snowmen would melt and the poor guys who get an extra cash working as Santa Claus, are probably cursing the heat right now! Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the 16th to the 19th century. Many of our traditions came from Europe. And for many years we were deeply influenced by the United States, especially by their entertainment industry. I know it happened to many other countries, but it makes sense to Northern countries to have Santa Claus, reindeers, snowmen, snowflakes, hearty food, etc., as symbols. We, Brazilian people, maybe didn’t have time or conditions to think about our own way to celebrate Christmas. And this is sad! All my childhood memories related to Christmas are about sweating at night, before the dinner, because there was something in the oven. I’ve never believed in Santa Claus. My mother would never let me and my brother believe in Santa Claus. She was a social worker. It means she got in touch with many poor kids who would never receive a visit of an old man full of gifts (maybe the lack of chimneys can explain it …). I’ve always known that mom and dad were responsible for the gifts. And, believe me, I was a very healthy kid! Actually, my friends back then didn’t believe in Santa Claus either. Adults usually don’t believe that kids are smart. Kids see dozens of Santa Claus, in different shapes. Some of them are thin. Some are black, Asian. They feel that there’s something strange. Kids don’t see Santa Claus as a symbol. That’s why they feel uncomfortable with this diversity. And when they see that Santa Claus doesn’t visit poor kids, they feel very very sad! Don’t get me wrong, my dear reader. I don’t want to ruin your Christmas! But … am I lying? I honestly don’t like Santa Claus. Many kids fear him and their parents obligate them to take pictures with him! Adults think that they know what is the best for kids. If only they could hear them, they would get surprised!

I like the idea that Christmas gifts are made by elves, dwarves, what the hell are they? Those tiny creatures with pointed ears … They make traditional, old-fashioned toys and I think this is pretty charming! They don’t make Playstations, they make toy trainsAnyway, some Brazilian kids believe in Santa Claus and even write letters to him. But I think this is an old-fashioned belief.

We usually join our family on Christmas and have a dinner with a lot of food. Really! The main ones are peru (turkey), chester (a “special” type of poultry with an oversized chest). tender (a type of ham), different types of roasted meat, farofa (a typical Brazilian dish, made with corn and/or cassava flour, onion, garlic, veggies and/or meat. I am a “farofa expert” and I’ll do my best to give you more details about this dish tomorrow!), maionese (another Brazilian dish. It’s not only mayonnaise, but mayonnaise with veggies and, sometimes, meat, usually chicken, ham or tuna fish), rice, salty pie. At middle and upper class houses, there’s a big diversity of dishes and desserts. That’s why women usually feel a little guilty after Christmas, here! We also eat nuts, almonds and a very traditional Italian sweet bread called panetone. The traditional one is filled with fruits and raisins, but nowadays there are many varieties of panetone, including salty ones. The ones filled with chocolate are quite popular!

Many families have a dinner on Christmas Eve and a lunch on Christmas. The dinner is much more traditional. We do Christmas decorations and some of them, at places like banks and shopping centers become tour spots, many people visit them to take pictures. Our Christmas decoration is quite similar to the North Hemisphere one: Santa Claus, snowmen, snowflakes, wreaths, Christmas trees, socks. We exchange gifts. At some places, especially companies, we play amigo secreto (literally secret friend, but I think that hidden friend would express better what does it mean). We pick up a name in the middle of many others in a bowl and buy a gift only to this person. But we don’t reveal which is our hidden friend until the day we exchange the gifts. A nice way to save money, I guess. My family doesn’t play amigo secreto.

I hope I could give you some useful information about our Christmas! Now I need to go to kitchen, to help my godmother to cook! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the company of the ones you love! And a little bit of good food too!

FELIZ NATAL! Stay tuned. And have a good time!

Hugs!

Luna