December is here! And Christmas is oh so near! Christmas is a big celebration for my family, especially my husband who insisted we put up our tree on November 1st. Yes, we are those people! And why not? It helps bring some colour and excitement into our daily lives given the crappy year and last few months we've had.
Christmas is celebrated in many ways in different cultures and countries but essentially it's bringing the family together to share joy and feast on food.
In Colombia, where my husband is from, the unofficial start to the Christmas season is on December 7th where they celebrate Dia de Las Velitas (Day of Candles). This is a national holiday whereby houses and streets are lined with candles and lanterns in honour of the Virgin Mary and the eve of the Immaculate Conception. Many traditions in Colombia stem from their strong ties to Catholicism.
Then on the 16th of December a tradition called “Novenas" begin. This is where families gather at a different house each night, say prayers and sing songs. Children are encouraged to make noise with instruments or pots and pans to these songs. This is followed by sharing of food and drink, in particular buñelos (baked cheesy bread balls) and natilla (a type of custard/pudding). Things that I'm currently craving but can't seem to find up here in the Hunter
Similarly, in Filipino tradition (where my family is from) from the 16th of December people partake in “simbang gabi" (translated to church at night). Every morning for the 9 days in the lead up to Christmas people attend a dawn mass at 4am finishing up with midnight mass on Christmas eve. People would then visit street vendors to buy common Christmas treats such as bibingka (a coconut rice cake baked in a clay oven with banana leaves) and puto bumbong (purple steamed rice cakes cooked in bamboo tubes – purple coming from ube which is Taro).
Simbang Gabi isn't very common in Australia but I know of some Churches in Sydney that have large Filipino communities that do this. For me personally, midnight mass was something I looked forward to which usually started with singing carols before mass started.
I was lucky enough to celebrate 2 Christmases in the Philippines. One of the best things about Christmas in the Philippines is all the streets and houses decked out in lights. Hubby says he misses the Christmas vibe of Colombia as it's very much the same.
In both our cultures Christmas is usually celebrated on Christmas eve at midnight which we call “Noche Buena" where we have a big family feast. It's been a long time since we celebrated at midnight since many of my family have small children and was hard to keep them up past midnight but many of my Filipino friends in Australia still do this with their large families.
For our little family, my twins were born 2 days before Christmas so we have a few days of celebrating this month. We try to make sure the girls know that the days are separate. Poor December babies often have joint Christmas and Birthday everything haha!
Still a couple weeks to go but really just looking forward to spending time with my family and having some good food!
What’s your family Christmas tradition?