Christmas in Brazil

This was my third Christmas south of the equator, but it still doesn’t quite seem right that it is warm!  My First Christmas in Brazil saw me going for a walk in Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo on Christmas Eve, where I got sunburn.  My second was a year later, in Pato Branco and the third seven years after that, also in Pato Branco. 

It’s a strange experience wearing shorts and t-shirt to do your Christmas shopping (if you grew up in Scotland at least,) and the only people dressed in what I consider to be a seasonal level of clothing are the long suffering Santa Clauses, dressed in the traditional gear in 30 degree heat.  The material doesn’t look quite as heavy as a Santa in Europe, but it’s enough.  I’ve heard stories of Santas passing out in the heat, so maybe it’s time to update his clothes south of the equator.  Maybe he’d be happier in the surfing garb in which I saw him dressed on a poster at a water park!

In recent years, Pato Branco has become quite famous in the local area for its “Opening of Christmas” at the end of November.  They have a brightly lit parade through the town with singing, a light show projected onto the church and a fireworks display.  We arrived too late for the main event, though we saw the “Minidesfile” (mini parade) on 13^th December. 

My wife’s family has a tradition of doing a Secret Santa (or Amigo Segredo (secret friend) in Portuguese.)  For anyone not familiar with this, everyone draws a name from a hat and that is the person you need to buy a present for, usually in a fixed price range.  As an added twist, the family also does Inimigo Segredo, or secret enemy, where a joke present is given first, before revealing the actual present.  This year, we went hi-tec (sort of…) and found an app that would send the details via e-mail allowing people not present at the drawing to be given a name and ensuring that no one picks their own name.

I must say I like this system – there’s nothing worse than going through the list trying to think of an original present for everyone then falling back on that old faithful standard of socks, this way you put your effort into that one present (and a bit of effort into the Inimigo Segredo too!)  It also levels the playing field a bit so no one feels that they have to compete to buy the most expensive present.

In Brazil, the main event is on Christmas Eve, the day that Brits are finally saying goodbye to work.  Everyone goes round to one house, exchanges gifts and waits until midnight to eat a Christmas dinner.  Theoretically…  Sometimes it’s easier to have that dinner at 9 or 10pm, and who wants to be going to bed full?  This year, to save anyone from cooking, dinner was ordered from a restaurant that closed its doors for normal service, to concentrate on catering for Christmas meals.  The order was placed a few days in advance, and we collected it at 8:30 on Christmas Eve.  It was an excellent meal of roast turkey, roast leg of pork, rice, maionaise (Brazilian potato salad), farofa (crunchy goodness that I will explain elsewhere) and salad.  Dessert was panettone, a sweet Italian loaf, popular in parts of Brazil that saw a high level of immigration from Italy. 

Despite being a religious, Catholic area, there does not appear to be a tradition of midnight mass, as can be found in Britain.  Instead, everyone gathers round, joins hands and recites the Lord’s Prayer (and some others that I didn’t recognise.) 

Christmas Day itself is still a holiday in Brazil, but the traditions are a bit more relaxed than Christmas Eve.  The family gathers for a barbecue at lunch time – a proper southern Brazilian barbecue that is.  Large cuts of meat and all the usual trimmings – we’re not talking hamburgers and hotdogs!  The rest of the day is spent gradually winding down and then thoughts begin to turn to New Year.