The Christmas season is upon us and if you are living or planning to live in Portugal you might as well start getting acquainted with all the traditions. All around the world this is a time for family gatherings, love and obviously a lot of food and the Portuguese are no exception.
Even though there are hundreds of different celebrations, spanning from the North to the South of Portugal, there are a few key points that never change throughout the country and most of them have a Catholic background.
Christmas time and traditions
The Christmas tree is a must and so is the Nativity scene. Once December rolls around, Portuguese people start to decorate their houses with trees, ornaments, holy, religious figurines that tell the birth of Christ and Santa Claus. Yes, Santa Claus, because in Portugal he is the one in charge of bringing presents to all the well-behaved children. “Pai Natal” will leave your gift under the tree or, if you really want to follow the tradition, inside your stocking or shoe hanging on the fireplace.
The presents are usually opened on Christmas Day when you wake up, but in recent years people started doing it on Christmas Eve, after dinner, so they can exchange the presents with their families and see everyone’s reaction.
After dinner, at 12 pm, you can go to “Missa do Galo”, a special mass celebrated in most churches to commemorate the birth of Christ.
The Christmas table
Gifts aside, in Portugal, Christmas is all about the food. On the 24th, the table is set up with an amazing amount of delicious sweets and will stay like that for several days… just in case some one wants to grab a bite while passing by.
Arroz doce (rice pudding), rabanadas (French toast), sonhos, filhoses, broas doces, coscorões, tronco de Natal (yule log), leite creme (custard), cakes, chocolates and dried fruits are just some of the delicacies you will be able to try.
When it comes to dinner, it varies depending on the region you live in. In the North of country some eat octopus, whereas in the Azores, for example, it is very common to eat roasted chicken and some families might even eat roasted lamb or turkey, but the absolute star of the “Consoada” dinner is codfish.
The famous Portuguese "bacalao" can be prepared in many ways (given there are so many recipes) to adapt to everyone’s taste but traditionally it should be served boiled, with boiled potatoes, cabbage, carrots, boiled eggs and plenty of extra virgin olive oil. For dessert, aside from the number of sweets we have already mentioned, you must try Bolo Rei, a sweet round bread, with a hole in the middle, filled and covered with caramelised fruit and powdered sugar.
New Year’s Eve
The end of a year and the start of a new one is seen as a reason to party in Portugal. People go to restaurants, to their relatives’ houses or prepare a gathering among friends and the most important thing is to be with the ones you love.
There should be plenty of food (ranging from meats to seafood, food to nibble on and sweets) and lots of alcohol, especially champagne.
Once midnight arrives there are a few traditions and superstitions you must follow to have a good year.
At the stroke of midnight, you must eat 12 raisins and make the correspondent 12 wishes, climb on to a chair and keep a bill in your pocket, or even better in your shoe, for good luck. There is also the superstition that you must wear blue underwear to attract good luck, toast with champagne and kiss the ones you love. Once all of this is done, you can walk on to the streets, banging on any pots or pans you can find, so that the noise can push away all the evil from the old year. The same goes for the fireworks that start at midnight, which are supposed to be a repellent for bad spirits.
Portugal is very big on firework shows and, on New Year’s they are everywhere. In 2006, Madeira even broke the Guinness World Record for the biggest show of all time.
After the traditions and fireworks, all that is left to do is go out and dance the night away or, if you prefer a more chilled plan, stay in playing games and watching movies with your family.
In many areas of the country, on the very first of January, lots of very brave men and women, take a dive in the cold sea. Apparently, it is a way to attract even more good luck for the new year.
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