CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS PART 2 ITALY

Thanks to so many good friends so for sharing their Christmas traditions with me. I will begin to share them over the next few posts and I hope they bring you as much joy and happiness as they have brought me.

It would seem that the launch of the Christmas season for many is all about setting up the Nativity scene in their homes. 

My good friend Ermes Lena has shared a few pictures of his nonagenarian father setting up his extensive stable tableau at his home in Toronto. Seeing the joy on his dad's face makes me realize that we are all children when it comes to Christmas. As well, the Nativity scene helps us to bring into focus the true meaning of this blessed event.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, let me share 4,000 words with you that will touch your heart.

Ermes writes, "Even at 94, there is energy to make the Nativity scene."

He continues, "As a child growing up in Italy, I remember the focal point of the season was our Nativity scene. My dad would create the creche with old figurines, mismatched statuettes and any materials he deemed useable. What made it idyllic was his use of dried moss for grass which he picked in the forest, little stones to create the pathways. Every year, there was some new addition. It just seemed to grow bigger and bigger. I recall vividly when he used tin foil for a river bed and used a pump to make the water run, a real stream. In fact, for years, he used his talent and passion to help create the Nativity scene at our local parish.

Christmas was celebrated as a religious event and was followed by the Epiphany. La Befana, a elderly lady dressed in rags, was said to bring small gifts to the children (left in their stockings or shoes) on the morning of January 6. My mom often said she would be so happy to get a tangerine or some other little treat.

When my dad was a young boy in the impoverished 1930's, he recalls that there were no Christmas trees and no Nativity scenes in homes, only at the church. The Christmas tree tradition is not Italian but was adopted later from western countries like Canada."