In your Christmas deportations are you a traditionalist or are you a nonconformist?
In Italy December the 8th, day where the immaculate conception of Mary is celebrated is traditionally identified as the day for putting up the Christmas tree, laying out the nativity scene and hanging up the decorations. And traditionally all is removed after the Epiphany,(or on the actual day). Around here the saying goes “L’Epifania, tutte le feste se le porta via” “Epiphany , calls all the holidays away”
Are you rigorously bound to tradition or do you prefer doing it in another moment, maybe earlier? And in your decorations do you choose the classical Christmas colours, like gold, red and green? For example there are some people who like to keep up to date and change their tree every year, according to the trend of the moment. Or there are those who try to match the decorations for all over the house.
In my mothers home there are Christmas balls from nearly 40 years ago,
which my mum keeps jealously, even though they are now ruined and discoloured. They are the oldest she has and she loves them dearly because prior to them she had had none. She always tells me about when she was small and lived in the countryside in a place similar to Fattoria del Colle and her family could not afford real decorations, and so during the year she put aside all her sweet and chocolate wrappings. Then she would wrap them around some stones, or juniper berries, or anything else she could find, and then she would tie them with a piece of cotton to the tree.
It would actually be quite nice to go back to the old ways of decorating the home, with few things, but which have a deep value for us don’t you think? This is also tradition. To each their own.
Bonella