How do people in Milan celebrate Christmas? Perhaps it would be better to ask for how long, and how many times, and not just because on the shopping streets the Christmas lights are already up by the end of November. The Christmas season in this city starts on December 7th, the day of its patron saint Sant’Ambrogio. Teatro alla Scala kicks off its season with an incredible opening night featuring the appearance of VIPs from all over the world. From the 7th up until Christmas, shops remain open every day including Sundays. In the family, the sight of all the street lights reminds parents that it’s time to dig out the Nativity scene, unwrapping the terra cotta shepherds, sheep and cows that form the classic onlookers, and putting the Infant somewhere safe until the moment arrives on the 25th when He too can take his place in the model crib. Even though Christmas trees are a Protestant tradition of Germanic origin, in more and more Italian households they are as important a part of Christmas decorations as the Nativity scene. Milan’s municipal decorations focus on a very large tree, donated by a north European country, put up in Piazza Duomo. Swarovski decorates another tree, usually 12 meters high, in the centre of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, with 12,000 lights and 8,000 glittering crystals.
Children and adults alike often begin the festive season with a visit to Milan’s most famous street market, O’bej o’bej, running this year from the 5th to the 8th of December with stalls selling all sorts of crafts and gift products along with sweets and culinary delights. Instead of its usual location outside the church of Sant’Ambrogio, this year it will be held in Piazza del Cannone, behind the Castle. With over 200,000 visitors a day, it is a colourful and much-loved event. The 8th of December is another public holiday, l’Immacolata, which this year provides a convenient long weekend.
Let’s omit the next three crazy weeks of work, shopping and mindless rush trying to get everything done, except to recall two characteristic features of Milan’s December. The alluring fragrance of roast chestnuts from street-side stalls complete with charcoal burner and the strange sounds of the zampognari, wandering rural musicians playing a type of bagpipes (zampogna) and another reed instrument called the ciaramella. Anyway, this brings us to Christmas Eve, when families gather for the evening vigil. The Christmas Eve meal was once called the “cena di magro”, lean dinner, virtually a fast, but today this is curiously interpreted as meaning an ideal occasion on which to eat vast quantities of fish. No longer “cena di magro”, but “cenone di Natale”. At about eleven in the evening, many people go to hear a traditional sung Mass to commemorate the birth of Jesus. One very evocative Midnight Mass is held at Chiaravalle Abbey, in the southern suburbs, where monks sing Ambrosian and Gregorian chant; other churches that often provide an appropriate musical accompaniment to Midnight Mass include San Marco and Santa Maria della Passione. When the family goes home, the children find baby Jesus at last in His place in the Nativity scene, and their presents under the Christmas tree. “Babbo Natale” or Father Christmas, another north European/American addition to Italy’s seasonal traditions, offers an excuse to postpone present-giving to Christmas Day. A little-known fact is that Santa Claus was originally dressed in green clothes, commemorating Saint Nicholas. Apparently, in the early 20th century, Coca-Cola popularized his red costume in a marketing operation that necessarily incorporated the colour of the famous brand.
Christmas Day in Milan is a day for family celebration, and possibly a Mass in the morning, such as the “Pontificale” in the Cathedral officiated by the archbishop, with music from the choir. Christmas lunch traditionally comprises an elaborate pasta dish such as lasagne, followed by roast turkey or capon. The desserts typically include the Milanese classic panettone, accompanied by sweet sparkling wine. Panettone and spumante form the traditional gift from companies to employees, supermarkets are packed with panettoni, and an estimated 70 million are eaten in the last week of December alone.
After Christmas Day, many people go into the mountains to ski. Virtually everything in Milan is shut on the 25th and on 26th, Santo Stefano. Shopkeepers draw breath and look ahead to the January sales (which up until last year began after 6th of January but which will begin on the 5th in 2009). The few events organized by the municipality include a Snow Park with an ice-skating rink and an outdoor skiing area.
The holiday season continues on New Year’s Eve when the younger Italians often play with small bangers, while the older Italians ignite an extraordinary number of very large fireworks. Fireworks are common at this time all over the world, but it is fascinating to watch the scene in Milan from a lofty viewpoint because there are pyrotechnics on just about every balcony.
Not long after, Italy’s children have yet another chance of presents, on January 6th, Epiphany, when an elderly and ugly woman, La Befana, arrives flying a broom, descends the chimney, and leaves gifts – or a lump of coal if the children have been bad – in a sock over the fireplace. This tradition, originating from central Italy, has become a national holiday, and so it provides an occasion on which to take a look at the various Nativity scenes in the city. One of the best places for this is in Piazza Duomo, where the charity organization “La Tazzinetta Benefica” presents 50 scenes from all over Italy, including antique sets as well as the latest automated and computerized versions. Open until the 8th of January, admission is €4 for adults, €2 for children.
La Befana is also traditionally the time at which all those Christmas decorations have to be put back into the attic. “L’Epifania tutte le feste porta via”. And there’s also the question of what to do with those excess panettoni that every family seems to accumulate, because of course you can’t possibly give them to someone else after the 6th. But luckily, even if they’ve gone a little stale, they’re great toasted, with zabaglione or ice cream! And so, to all our readers, Happy Christmas, or rather, Happy Sant’Ambrogio, Immacolata, Natale, Capodanno, and Befana. Unless I’ve missed something out!
by Irene, Nicole and Henry