Comenius Meeting DROPS of Skills

Vienna, Austria 1–5 December 2014

When talking about Christmas traditions in Portugal we can mention:

Family

Religion

Decorations

Gastronomy

…

Traditions

Christmas is the time of the year for families to gather. People

travel from everywhere to be with their relatives.

They sit around the table for Christmas supper and Christmas lunch sharing experiences and enjoying each other’s company.

Family

Gifts are under the tree and children are always anxious to

open them. A friend or a member of the family dresses up like Santa Claus and distributes the gifts. It’s the most important

Christmas moment for children.

At midnight many attend the traditional Midnight Mass or “Mass of the Rooster” where Christmas chants are sang and

the priest holds baby Jesus to be kissed.

Others attend the Christmas Mass on the 25th usually in the morning.

Religion

To decorate the house, we use lights outside and

a big tree and a crib inside. Holly can be seen planted in some gardens and it is a very common decoration.

We also use candles and Christmas figures like Santa Claus, angels or baby Jesus.

Decorations

In old times in our region, families used to decorate the tree with cotton and painted acorns, oak-galls and pines cones. Now they decorate it mainly with balls, ribbons and lights,

and a star is usually on top of the tree.

Christmas Tree

The crib is a very important part of decorations. It can be seen in most churches and houses. It is made of moss, which in old times was collected by children, and other nature elements like holly,

wood, rocks, sticks, etc.

Crib

Christmas Eve is the most important moment for the families,

everyone gathers around the table and there’s always lots of traditional food and drink.

Gastronomy

The main dishes are:

Boiled codfish with potatoes and vegetables and boiled octopus with potatoes

Typical Christmas supper in ourregion

Bolo Rei, King Cake, (the most important)

Sweet rice

“Filhoses”

“Aletria”

“Rabanadas”

The main desserts are:

The students:

André FreitasBeatriz OliveiraDaniel SalvadorMaria Inês VazPedro Fernandes

Agrupamento de Escolas Miguel Torga Bragança Portugal

We wish you all a Merry Christmas anda Happy New Year