Christmas Traditions in Venezuela

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Christmas is a special occasion for a lot of people in the entire world. Christmas is celebrated with great festive fervor and gusto through out the world. Many individuals get an opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family. Family reunions, parties and feast are part of Christmas celebrations. Music and dance are integral parts of Christmas celebration. The homes are cleaned and decorated with flowers, lights and wreaths to welcome Christmas. The Christmas tree is brought home and decorated with topper and ornaments. Christmas is celebrated with a lot of traditions across the globe. Happiness, hope and mirth that the festival comes with remains same worldwide.

In Venezuela, Christmas is celebrated with great joy. The Christmas celebrations begin on December 16 and end on Christmas Eve. Families come together to welcome the festival. The air is filled with excitement. The people in Venezuela attend the church service and carols at the church. Every person has to at least attend one of the nine carols session organized in the church. The Christmas mornings begin with hearing of bells and holy hymns from the churches. On Christmas Eve, all the people attend the midnight Christmas mass and then move to homes to have a traditional Christmas dinner.

The dinner has tamales and special dish named hallaca prepared from chicken and flour. Long bread is baked with filling of ham and raisins during this dinner. A desert made from green papaya and brown sugar is served during dinner. The homes are decorated with festive lights during Christmas in Venezuela. Every house has a manger that depicts the nativity scene. A farm or field is created that has figurines of Mother Mary with infant Jesus and animals like sheep and cows. The Christmas tree is decorated. On Christmas day, children get gifts in form of toys, books and sweets. The gifts are placed below the Christmas tree.

The Christmas holiday season is incomplete without music. People sing traditional folk songs accompanied with traditional Musical instruments. These songs are passed from one generation to other. These traditional songs are called as aguinaldos and the singers are referred as aguinalderos. These singers used to visit homes in villages but today the tradition is stopped. January 6 is the feast of Epiphany. The children gets gifts and great feast is organized for the family. The kids in Venezuela place straw near the bedside at night. The straw is replaced by gifts the next morning.

The people in Venezuela celebrate Christmas with traditional rituals and enjoy the festival with family. The food, attending Church mass and nativity scene are important parts of Christmas in Venezuela.