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Christmas in Rome
By CruiseDirector | November 29, 2009
In the 18th century travellers very often chose to come to Rome at xmas. Their stay sometimes lasted for several weeks and while its first part coincided with a few of the most sumptuous religious rites, its final one was dedicated to more lay matters as the year end festivities were followed by the then celebrated Roman Carnival.
Every year a particularly tall xmas tree is erected in Piazza S. Pietro : it is located near the obelisk and each year it is donated by a different country. A different tree is erected in Piazza Venezia, which is generally considered thevery middle of Rome ; trees appear in several of the other historical squares. The dark green of the trees vainly fights to bring a sense of cold winters and snowy landscapes. Marbles, travertine, palms, pines and a bright sunshine all invoke up a warmer Mediterranean atmosphere. One then understands why these trees don’t belong to the Italian traditional way of celebrating xmas.
The first crib ( It. Presepio ) is assumed to have been prepared by St. Francis in the 1223 Christmas’ night in the priory of Greccio, a miniscule city in Central Italy. The re-enactment of episodes of Jesus’ life wasn’t new as scenes of Christ’s passion were already part of the ceremonies of the Holy Week. Cribs became extremely popular and in the next centuries the producing of the statues and of the countryside elements became a type of small art. Most of the churches of Rome have really intricate cribs which are displayed in the weeks previous to xmas. To keep living the practice in less formal strategies in some churches scouts are invited to create and show their individual crib.
during the past, Italian children were given sweets and toys for the Epiphany in a re-enactment of the gifts brought to Jesus by the Magi : according to a popular practice Befana, an old elf having the aspect of a hag, fills the socks that children left near the fireplace with toys and sweets. Today in nearly all families gifts including those to youngsters are exchanged at xmas, but still a sock of candies is usually given at the Epiphany. Bad boys may find pieces of black coal as a substitute, but they soon find out they’re made of sugar.
till the 1950s a puppet theatre with the normal characters of the Italian comedy was a toy really treasured by most girls and boys. Nowadays the bulk of the puppets essentially sold represent TV and film icons.
At xmas the sun doesn’t get high enough to permit taking photos in the small streets of central Rome, but some photographs in the archaeological areas get an additional attention from the extended shadows projected by the monuments. You can spot the shadow of Colonna Traiana projected on the buildings behind it. Maybe you can see it from the Appartments Rom.
In the early hours in the sunrise it may be critical to dress in a hat and a headband, but during the day, the sunshine may raise the temperature to 15C/60F and it is warm enough for some spontaneous foliage to put down roots next to the travertine plants of Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. Start you Rome tour from an Appartment Rom which you can reserve at Oh-Holidays.
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