New Year Traditions

The winter is the period of holidays everywhere in the world: Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, to name only someone. Every culture celebrates in a different manner, but most often, when people meet to live it up, they meet to eat.

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For the majority of the Christian world, Christmas dinner is the peak of the period of holidays. It is the instant when families meet and share a big meal during the Christmas Christmas Eve dinner, in general after the Mass of Midnight. In France, this dinner is called ” the Christmas Eve dinner “. According to the culinary habits of every region, the menu is composed of a goose, a cake of Saracen with some cream, a turkey in horse chestnuts or, for the Parisians, of oysters and foie gras. A cake called The yule log, having the form of a wooden log, is also savoured during the Christmas Eve dinner. Some champagne, the effervescent drink of holidays produced in the region of Champagne region, will be appreciated as well during Christmas celebration as that of the New Year.

Big Belly is the name given for the day before Christmas in Germany because they say that those who do not eat in their hunger that evening will be haunted by the demons during night. Also, the Germans love with numerous dishes such as of the sucking pig, the salad of macaronis, the white pudding and other regional specialities. Some marzipan, some bread of spices and a heavy and thick bread filled with fruits are served for the dessert.

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In Italy, numerous families suffer eel and other kinds of fish, pork sausage in lenses or some turkey stuffed in horse chestnuts during Christmas meal. Sweets such as the panettone (cake in fruits confits), the torrone (nougat) and the panforte (a rich cake in the ginger) are also part of Christmas. The rule wants desserts to be made based on walnut and almonds. Italian folklore says that walnuts return the fecund earth and return herds and prosperous families.

At the Russians, Christmas am also celebrated around a meal of holiday. There is not in general meat but understands a very particular gruel called Kutya. This unique dish is prepared with germs of wheat and other grain representing hope and long life, as well as of honey and kernels of poppies assuring happiness, success and securing peace. The celebration of the New Year will consist of a toast in champagne and of festivities with the family and the friends.

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In the Hispanic world, the period of Christmas is also celebrated with the food. In Spain, Christmas meal is never served before midnight. A holiday of family consists of Pavo Trufado de Navidad (Christmas turkey in truffles: the truffle is a rare mushroom which they think buried in the soil). For the dessert, the Spanish love the turron, a sugar refinery was made based on almonds gilded in the caramel. In Mexico, numerous are the persons who go to the church the day before Christmas then turn tea at the home for a meal constituted by turkey, chicken, tamales, in fruits and many sweets. The children try to break the piniata to pick up bonbons, fruits and toys which are indoors.

On the contrary, in Brazil, dinner is served before the mass of midnight so that, as wants it the legend, the Holy Family can have it a bit when everybody left. For the Brazilians, a meal of popular Christmas is constituted of turkey, fish and champagne. Because of the clean multicultural population in Brazil and his European influence, it is very common of credit of the Italian panettone or a German stollen during meal, as well as put others from the whole world.

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