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Read & Practice Your Pronunciation

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1. Le castagne, le caldarroste = Chestnuts, roasted chestnuts (also called ‘castagne arrostite’).
2. Il panettone = Typical Christmas cake from Milan.
3. Le lenticchie = Lentils.
4. Il cenone = Big dinner, from the word cena (dinner) plus the suffix -one, indicating ‘large’.
5. Il Vischio = mistletoe.
6. L’albero di natale = Christmas tree.
7. Gli addobbi = Decorations.
8. Le luci = Lights.
9. Le palline = Ornaments (literally, little balls).
10. Babbo Natale = Santa Claus or Father Christmas; babbo = dad or daddy, Natale = Christmas.
11. I regali = Presents.
12. Gesù Bambino = Baby Jesus.
13. Il Presepe, il presepio = Manger, nativity scene.
14. La vigilia di Natale = Christmas Eve.
15. Chiesa = Church.
16. Santa messa = Holy mass.
17. Buon Natale! = The greeting/wish equivalent to Merry Christmas!
18. Buone Feste! = The greeting/wish equivalent to Happy Holidays!  
19. Auguri di stagione! = The greeting/wish equivalent to Seasons Greetings!
20. Capo d’Anno = New Year’s Eve, literally the ‘head of the year’.
21. Prospero e felice anno nuovo! = A prosperous and Happy New Year!
22. L’Epifania = Epiphany, Jan 6^th.
23. I Tre magi = The three wise men.
24. La Befana = Gift-bringing witch (on Epiphany).
25. La Calza = Stocking.

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Le castagne. In Italy chestnuts are a symbol of winter. They are used in breads and cakes and roasted and eaten plain. There’s nothing better than buying castange arrostite (roasted chestnuts) from a street vendor in a paper cone and eating them while strolling through the centro storico (downtown) of Milano, or any Italian city (more on the holiday period in Milano here).

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Il panettone. Large golden-colored dome-shaped Christmas cake made from flour, butter, eggs and sugar, with candied citron and sultanas (small seedless raisins). Light and fluffy, NOT heavy like a fruit cake; panettone originated in Milano and is now eaten all over Italy. No Christmas table in Italy is complete without it. I love the smell of this special cake. Luckily it is widely available in specialty food shops in the U.S., including Trader Joes and Cost Plus World Markets.

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Le lenticchie, Capo d’anno. Lentils are little round flat legumes, often used in soup or stew. Popular Italian tradition has it that since the lentil shape resembles a coin, eating it on New Year’s Eve or Day guarantees good health and prosperity all year long. It is common in Italy to eat dishes containing lenticchie on Capo d’anno (New Year’s Eve). Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I promise I’ll post my recipe for Italian Lentil Stew

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Il Vischio. During the Holiday Season it is an old tradition to give vischio, or mistletoe, especially on the last day of the year. It is often dipped in gold or silver paint, and it is given as a symbol of good wishes, or ‘auguri’. One of my friends in Milan reported that, “a large bank in the downtown has hung a huge ‘vischio’ outside the bank and they invite whoever wants to stand under it, and have their picture taken while kissing under the mistletoe.” Now that’s a fun publicity stunt!

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Il cenone. In Italy, celebrating Christmas in family is very important and consists most importantly of eating, eating, and eating! As one friend said, the eating/celebrating starts the 24^th and continues on thru the 26^th/27^th, only to start up again on Capo d’Anno (New Year’s Eve). The most common day of the big family dinner depends on location: in Rome and further south it’s a huge dinner on the evening of Christmas Eve, based on fish, especially eel. In northern Italy, families tend to celebrate on Christmas day with a midday dinner based on some type of roast meat. While many claim that southerners are bigger ‘mangioni’ than northerners, it seems to me like both do some pretty serious face-stuffing (abbuffare)!

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L’albero di natale, gli Addobbi, le luci, e le palline, il presepe. As a rule, people in Italy do not go overboard decorating their homes for the holidays. Many will have a nativity scene, and perhaps a Christmas tree, but it will usually be small-ish, possibly a live tree still in the pot, and not super-loaded with ornaments. And some of the tree decorations might consist of chocolates, candies, and small fruits (that after the holidays, the kids get to eat!). In the downtown areas of cities and towns there will be lights and other decorations along the street. Larger cities will be especially lit up, and some have begun using LED lights because they are energy-saving and less polluting.

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Babbo Natale, i regali, Gesù Bambino, e la Vigilia di Natale.  In most households it is Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) who brings the regali (presents) and leaves them under the albero di natale (Christmas tree). In some more religious families it is Gesù Bambino who brings the regali and leaves them near the presepe (manger), though this version is diminishing, especially as kids become ever more clever! In both cases, the presents are delivered the on night of la Vigila di Natale (Christmas Eve) and the bambini run to check for the regali on the morning of Natale.

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Chiesa, Santa messa. In smaller towns and the in the south, more people go to chiesa (church) for the santa messa di Natale (holy Chrismas mass) than in bigger cities. Though like in the US, those who don’t go to church every Sunday will often go on the occasion of Christmas. The most popular service is midnight mass on Christmas Eve, but many also go Christmas morning.

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I Tre magi, l’Epifania, la Befana, and le calze. The Italian holiday season lasts until l’Epifania (Epiphany) on Jan 6^th, when the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem. This is also when la Befana makes her entrance. Befana is a beloved, gift-bearing witch who arrives the night before the 6^th on a broom filling le calze (stockings) of bambini bravi (good kids) with gifts (mostly candy and fruit) or, for i bambini cattivi, (naughty kids) coal! The Befana truly is a legend and merits a whole blog post to herself. Stay tuned!

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Mando a tutti i migliori auguri di buone feste con le vostre famiglie e gli amici!

(I send everyone best wishes for happy holidays with your family and frends!)

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… And if have any questions or favorite Italian Christmas holiday things please share them  in the comments section below! (Under the sign-up form) I love to hear from you!

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[Note: Any passages in Italian are subsequently translated into English.]

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Il 7 dicembre a Milano viene osservato e festeggiato come il giorno di Sant’Ambrogio, il patrono della città. (The 7th of December in Milan is observed and celebrated as Saint Ambrose Day, the patron saint of the city.)

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Hmmm… sounds pretty special, you might be thinking, and in many ways it is. On this occasion, the devout attend special services at la Chiesa di Sant’Ambrogio, the Milanese church dedicated to this saint. For the vast majority though, the most special thing about Saint Ambrose is that it falls the day before la Concezione Immacolata (the Immaculate Conception), the national Italian religious holiday celebrated December 8 – meaning two days off in a row, PLUS the addition of a ‘ponte’ (literally, a bridge) between December 7-8 and the weekend closest to these two days, creating a 4-5-day long weekend, depending which day of the week they fall on. (Just think, if you were living in Milano, right now you’d be just winding down from a mini vacation!)

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This is a picture of the statue of La Madonnina (literally ‘the little Madonna’, or the Virgin Mary, that graces the rooftop of Milan’s majestic Duomo cathedral in the historic city center. La Madonnina (Madunina, in Milanese dialect) is also the nickname in Milano for Immaculate Conception Day. When referring to these days people often say Sant’Ambrogio e la Madoninna.

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So while in namesake the celebration of Sant’Ambrogio (Saint’Ambrös, in Milanese dialect) sounds quite saintly, it plays out as a perfect kickoff to all aspects of the Milanese holiday season–both religious and worldly. E allora come passano i milanesi questi giorni liberi intorno alla festa di Sant’Ambrogio? (So then, how do the Milanese spend these days off for the Sant’Ambrogio holiday?)  What most do NOT do is work.  (The 7^th and 8^th are ‘giorni festivi’, or official holidays).

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The two most popular activities are getting away for a skiing weekend — una gita bianca (a ‘white’/ski trip) — with one of the most popular destinations being the village of Madonna di Campiglio nelle Alpi italiane (in the Italian Alps), and shopping.

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Those who stay in citta` (in town) use this time to fare shopping. (This is a very common phrase in Italian, and differs from fare la spesa, which means to do food/staples shopping – fare shopping is more like when you go from shop to shop, boutique to boutique, looking for treasures, and at this time of year, Christmas gifts, or regali natilizi).

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A very poplar shopping mecca this time of year is the famous outdoor market called ‘la Fiera degli O’bej O’bej’ (O’bej O’bej is a dialectical phrase roughly translating to ‘O Belli, O Belli’, which is what people exclaim when they see all the beautiful things for sale.) The Fiera degli O’bej O’bej (pronounced /o-bay o-bay/) dates back to 1300, lasts 3 days, and is held on the grounds of the Castello Sforzesco (Milan’s historic Castle).

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La fiera degli “Oh Bej Oh Bej” è costituita da centinaia di bancarelle coloriti che vendono profumi, cianfrusaglie, addobbi per l’albero di Natale ed il presepe, oggetti di antiquariato e qualsiasi altra cosa immaginabile a prezzi modici. (The O’Bej O’Bej market is made up of hundreds of colorful stalls selling perfumes, bric-a-brac, decorations for the Christmas tree and nativity scene, antiques, and anything else imaginable at modest prices.)

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This early part of December in Milan is also when the new Opera season kicks off at the famous Teatro alla Scala opera house. This year the season begins December 7 with Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre.

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And even though it is a big and busy city, Milano still puts on a little sparkle for the holidays.  And as in many other places where Christmas is celebrated, much time preceding December 25^th is dedicated to the hustle and bustle of trolling the shops for treasures, meeting friends and exchanging gifts, and strolling the streets enjoying the holiday decorations, lights, and the feeling of excitement in the crisp winter air.

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One of my favorite things and memories about this time of year in Milano is the smell of chestnuts being roasted by street vendors, buying them in the paper cones they are sold in, and eating them while strolling through the city center. Ahhh… felicità. (happiness)

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What do you enjoy about this season?  Love to hear your comments below! (Comment below the sign-up form.)

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