Columbian Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a festival full of celebration and festivity. People come together and enjoy the festival with friends and family members. One cannot think about Christmas without music, lights and decoration. Families get buy in preparations of Christmas. Homes are cleaned and decorated with evergreen twigs and wreaths. Buying a Christmas tree and decorating it with tinsel, ornaments and paper flowers, once it is brought home is a special activity for many families. Parties, feasts and family get together are integral parts of Christmas celebration. The festival of Christmas has universal appeal. It is celebrated all over the world. The Christmas traditions differ from one country to other.

The Christmas traditions in Columbia are an amalgamation of old customs and modern thought. Christmas is a religious celebration in Columbia. The Christmas preparations in Columbia start as early as November but the celebrations starts on December 7. December 7 is termed as Day of Candles. The streets, sideways, porches, balconies are decorated with paper lanterns and candles. This helps in illuminating all towns and cities of the Columbia. This is done to honor the Day of Immaculate Conception, which falls on December 8. During this period of Christmas festivities, events like music concerts, fireworks are organized in various cities.

Competitions are held to choose the best light decoration in towns and cities across Columbia. Fireworks are an integral part of Christmas celebration in Columbia. From December 16 to Christmas Eve, people attend special prayer in the church. This is called as Christmas Novena. The church service spreads the true meaning of Christmas among people. All Columbians attend the masses held at night and dawn in the churches during the Christmas season. Every home in Columbia has a manger scene. People sing carols accompanied with music played from bells, tambourines and other musical instruments. People read verses from Bible and play Christmas games at homes.

On Christmas Eve, people go for midnight mass. After the mass, people go home, open their gifts and have traditional Christmas dinner. The entire night is spent partying with great food, drinks and music. The parties end at wee hours. The Christmas day starts late. People visit each other and exchange greetings of Merry Christmas. The traditional Christmas dinner has pork, ham, chicken soup and other roasted meats especially of pig. The deserts are served after dinner with drinks like rum, beer and champagne. A special fruit punch is prepared for Christmas. The deserts are gelatin desert, pastries, cakes and Natilla is a sweet made out of sugar, milk, corn starch, cloves and cinnamon.

The baby Jesus visits homes and places the gifts near bed of children on Christmas Eve in Columbia. Wealthy people give charity, sweets and gifts to poor children during Christmas. Fireworks, light and music are inseparable parts of Columbian Christma celebration.