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Festive Facts
• The Germans made the first
artificial Christmas trees out of
dyed goose feathers.
• The traditional three colors of
Christmas are green, red, and gold.
Green has long been a symbol of
life and rebirth; red symbolizes the
blood of Christ, and gold represents
light as well as wealth and royalty.
• In North America, children put
stockings out at Christmas time.
Their Dutch counterparts use
shoes.
• According to data analysed
from Facebook posts, two
weeks before Christmas is
one of the two most popular
times for couples to break up.
However, Christmas Day is the
least favorite day for breakups.
Main-Estadei SettePesci -
Italy
Esta dei Sette Pesci
, or Feast of the Seven
Fishes is about commemorating thewait for the birth of Jesus.
This tradition started in the southern regions of Italy (like Sicily andNaples) but has now
spread to even America, being brought there by the Italian immigrants. Italian Catholics
will fast on Christmas Eve in anticipation of the birth of the baby Jesus on Christmas Day.
And sincemeat is forbidden during fasting, Italians will instead feast on fish. And
what is the symbolismof Seven? The popular answer is that it took God seven days to
create the earth.
Dessert -BratapfelmitWalnusseis -Germany
Roasted or baked apples
stuffedwithwalnuts is a
popular sight and smell
inGerman Christmas
markets which spring
up in theweeks leading
up to Christmas. These
Christmasmarkets signal
the start of Advent (which
is the four Sundays leading
up to Christmas) and is a
centuries-old tradition.
Despite the current belief
that
Christmas commercialism is a new thing, itmay be a surprise to find out that as early
as the 17th century, gift-buyingwas a big activity in these German ChristmasMarkets.
Today, thesemarkets continue to be a very welcome event during the cold-winter
months and the taste of a
Bratapfel mitWalnusseis
helps to keep visitors warm, evenmore
sowhen the apple is baked inwine!
Festivedrink -Coquito -PuertoRico
Eggnog, the popular Yuletide drink, is a great way to round off the feasting. The
Puerto Ricans add coconutmilk to this traditional English concoction of raw
eggs,milk, sugar and lots of alcohol - and call their eggnog
Coquito.
Culinary historians are un-
sure of the origins of eggnog
butmany agree that it was
probably based on amedieval
England drink called posset - a
hot,milky, ale-like drink. The
drink - evolved to includemilk,
eggs and sherry and as these
were foods of thewealthy
English -was used to toast
to one’s prosperity and good
health. Bottoms up!