How to celebrate a Brazilian style Christmas
Christmas in Brazil is a mixture of traditions from many parts of the world because Brazilians themselves are a mix of several races.
Christmas falls in Brazil in the middle of summer but that does not in any way affect its position as the number one festival of the Country. The Brazilians improvise and sometimes symbolize falling snow with little pieces of white cotton on their Christmas tree. Because of the hot weather, in Brazil, Santa comes dressed in a red silk suit with boots and his bag full of presents. According to old Brazilian legend during Christmas even animals talk and tell the story of Christ’s birth. Here’s how to celebrate Christmas the Brazilian way.
A few suggestions:
- Decorate your Christmas tree with fresh flowers, electric lights and different kinds of tree ornaments.
- Put up a nativity scene called Presepio. The word has its origin in the Hebrew word ‘presepium’ which means the bed of straw upon which Jesus first slept in Bethlehem. Leave this on till January the 6th.
- Go with your friends and family to enjoy an adaptation of the folk play Los Pastores or ‘The Shepherds’, which represents the Nativity.
- Let the children leave a sock (stocking) near a window, if Santa Claus (or Papai Noel as he is called in Brazil) finds your sock, he will exchange it for a present!
- Your Christmas Eve dinner must consist of chicken, turkey, ham, rice, salad, pork and fresh and dried fruits and you must invite all your friends, family and loved ones to partake of it.
- If you are devout catholic then be sure to attend the Midnight Mass or Missa do Galo. The mass has this name because the rooster (galo) announces the coming, Christmas day. Masses are mostly late afternoon because people enjoy sleeping late after the Christmas Eve dinner or going to the beach where there are fireworks and a big churrasco (BBQ).
Do’s
- Continue dancing and singing and celebrating till January 6th which the Brazilians refer to as ‘Three Kings Day.’
Don’ts
- Do not go overboard; do only as much as you can possibly pull off without straining yourself.
Thanks a lot, these are some great ideas! One more thing to add is Bossa Nova music. There is an excellent cd compilation called “Brasilian Christmas” but it may be out of print. Guitarist Charlie Byrd has a good Christmas album, and saxophonist Montgomery Bruce has a really nice album called “Bossa Noel” with Christmas songs played with a traditional bossa nova feel. Hope this helps!
Dave
November 12th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
thanks for this information about the brazilian christmas..
November 13th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Thank you…I will check out those albums. Speaking of some great Brazilian Christmas Music,
I wanted to let you know that there is a fantastic new CD out
called “Christmas in Rhythm & Bossa” - Franco and Guests.
It is available on all the digital stores like iTunes, eMusic, Napster, Yahoo Music, Amazon mp3 etc.
The artist is Franco Sattamini, and he features many amazing special guests from the US and from Brazil. Greats such as 5-time Grammy winner Phil Woods, co-inventor of the Bossa Nova Roberto Menescal, Claudio Nucci, Torcuato Mariano, Latin Grammy winner Danilo Caymmi, Luiz Avellar, Mariana de Moraes, Romero Lubambo, and many others.
My Family and I love this CD and I hope more people find out about this one…it is becoming part of a tradition for us…Enjoy!
November 18th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Hi all,
Franco’s ‘Christmas In Rhythm & Bossa’ CD is available exclusively at my website, which also features our 24/7 webcast, ‘A Brazilian Christmas’ - nearly 15 hours of sounds for the season - through New Years Day.
Scott
Connectbrazil.com
November 27th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
This website is AMAZING! it gave me so many ideas to celebrate for christmas! i will share this with all my family and friends. eat texas toast.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:48 am
why don’t you say how to make some ornaments or some crafts like come on just one or 2 brazilian christmas crafts
December 19th, 2007 at 9:12 am
i have a question what kind of ornaments do u have in brazil that reperesent brazil and what is the food u eat that day?
December 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am
this is an awesome site it really made my christmas spirt.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hello I just attended school again and i had to do a paper on brazilian christmas thanks very much for the information.
-Singer Chris brown
December 9th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
So happy to read this website. My new son-in-law is Brazilian and this was very helpful. I especially appreciated the information about the CD and the traditional foods.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:08 am
thank for the info
April 21st, 2009 at 7:38 am
This website is aaaahhhhhmazing:) my daoughter used this for her social studies and got an A+ on it!!!:D:D:D:D
December 4th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Man i never knew none of this and this is very interesting to learn about something new. I’m happy i came to this site!!!!!
December 15th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I found this to be interesting. We have lived in Brazil for 5 years now and would like to add a few things we noticed. The pork tender loin that they prepare for the Christmas Dinner is out of this world!!! They eat Christmas around 11pm on Christmas Eve. Then right at Midnight is when everyone exchange gifts. They only give one gift away to every person. Usually it is not that big of a gift. As you are opening gifts at midnight you can hear fireworks going off all over the neighborhood as they bring Christmas Day in. They invite everyone they know over not just family. For us this is nice because all of our family is back in the USA. There is not any crafts that they make for Christmas that we have seen. Hope this helps even more!!!
December 30th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Excellent information and suggestions about Christmas done Brazilian-Style. Thank you!
November 1st, 2010 at 1:50 pm
thanks for the info wont help me at all but learned some info about brazil
December 18th, 2010 at 9:20 am
i love this website it will help me on a report an Brazil in social studies A+!!!
January 16th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
i love this website i feel a A+!!!! p.s.i feel an a+ coming
January 16th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
this website is very useful!!!i had to do a page about christmas in brazil and this website really helped me.x
July 29th, 2011 at 8:30 am