Caught between commercialism and empty Christmas cheer, many Americans long for a more meaningful way to celebrate the holiday season. A solution for some is to return to the customs and traditions of their homelands. Even second-generation Americans often find their elders' old-fashioned traditions more meaningful and ultimately more satisfying than today's frantic quest for the fanciest gifts and greeting cards.
Here is a look at how American immigrants from three very different nationalities continue to celebrate traditional Christmases in their adopted country. If any of these practices happen to strike your fancy, please don't hesitate to add them to your own holiday activity list. The mediums may seem a bit strange at first, to be sure, but the universal messages of peaces and goodwill cannot be denied.
In Catholic Colombia, people get into the spirit of Christmas early in the season. From the onset of Novena (from nuevo, meaning "new") on December 16, homes are made festive and are opened to constant streams of guests. The first thing visitors see when they enter is an elaborately decorated, homemade model of the nativity scene, often complete with electric moving parts and lights. Occupying a place of honor in every living room or parlor, the fancy crèche takes the place of our Christmas tree. And though crèches in Colombian-American homes tend to be smaller and are often store-bought, they still serve as the focal point of the season's festivities.
Aleyda Romanoff, who owns restaurant in North Palm Beach, Florida, and her brother (who lives in nearby Wellington) continue to celebrate the nine days of Novena in much the same way as they remember it from their hometown of Cali, Colombia, which they left eighteen years ago. (Aleyda recently paid a return holiday visit and reports happily that "nothing's changed.") In Florida, families of Colombian descent visit one another's homes, children in tow, on each of the nine nights of Novena; they are royally received with special holiday food. And like Floridian contests for the best-decorated home or boat, Colombian-American judges visit their neighbors' mangers, awarding prizes for the fanciest nativity exhibit.
After admiring each other's nativity scenes, the gatherings of families and close friends spend about an hour singing villancicos--special religious songs that yearn for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Children may make their own music Colombian-style by shaking panderetas, which are homemade instruments composed of strung-together bottle caps. "And then everyone starts to dance the popular, happy dances of the day," says Aleyda, "adults with each other, papa with daughter, grandma with grandchild." Dress is casual, and the atmosphere is always playful and relaxed.
After-dance refreshments feature the four traditional snacks--bunuelos, natilla, manjar blanco, and ojaldras--many of which have been contributed by visitors and neighbors who proudly send over large helpings of their favorite dish.
Christmas Eve culminates the Novena season with the biggest party of all. At the stroke of midnight, a baby doll is put into the crèche display, and Christ is "born." Then, in a most touching ceremony, the children kneel before their parents to receive their elders' heartfelt blessings. In Colombian homes, it is Nino Dios, Baby Jesus, rather than Santa Claus, who is said
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