Christmas in Brazil

Same as for Americans, Christmas for Brazilians is a time for family gatherings, religious reflection, and indulgence in delicious holiday foods.

However, the Brazilian climate has influenced the holiday activities, and instead of ice skating or building snowmen, locals prefer to spend Christmas on the beach.

Many Brazilian Christmas traditions are borrowed from French and Italian and adapted to local cultural peculiarities, but some are genuinely one-of-a-kind.

Christmas Dinner in Brazil

Christmas celebrations in Brazil begin at midnight on December 24. When everyone arrives home from the Midnight Mass, people gather around the table to have a good time with delicious food, drinks, dancing, and laughter.

Brazilian Christmas food is always abundant and very different from American. The main meal is a glazed pork shoulder with pineapples and juniper berries, known as Pernil Assado.

Rice with cloves, cranberries, bananas, and Brazil nuts makes a perfect side dish to the savory pork. However, some families prefer to serve turkey stuffed with seasoned fruits instead.

Christmas ham is also on the menu, glazed in honey, mustard, white wine, and cloves. Brazilians often add pineapples and cherries to the recipe for a tropical touch.

If that’s not enough for the main entrée, Brazilians also eat chicken salad, potato salad, and farofa, a mix of cassava flour, spices, vegetables, and, often, bacon.

Like Americans, Brazilians eat fruitcakes for Christmas. Brazilian Christmas dessert is called panettone. It originated in Italy and is taller and softer than American Christmas pudding.

Rabanadas, the Brazilian equivalent of French toast, is a simple yet mouthwatering dessert and an integral element of the Christmas dinner.

Bread is soaked in milk, dipped in condensed milk and eggs, and fried. Then, it’s coated in nutmeg and sugar.

Brazilians have a sweet tooth, so two desserts aren’t enough. Pave resembles tiramisu but is savorer, featuring ladyfinger biscuits, cream, and chocolate.

However, creative Brazilians often replace chocolate with peanut butter, pineapples, or coconut cream.

Mulled wine and eggnog aren’t the best options for a summer celebration, so Brazilians drink Espanhola, a cold red wine cocktail with condensed cream and fruit. Batilda de coco, a non-alcoholic coconut drink, and caju amigo, a cashew-apple beverage, are also common.

Christmas Decorations

December is a warm month in Brazil, so reindeer and snowmen may look odd among palm trees, but Brazilians decorate Christmas trees regardless. However, Christmas trees are typically plastic because firs and spruces aren’t native to the region.

Christmas trees are embellished with tinsel, baubles, and fairy lights, and doorways are often adorned with garlands. Brazilians lay the tables with patterned tablecloths and ornate the house exterior with lights.

Despite the warm climate, many Brazilians fancy the idea of a white Christmas and use artificial snow in house decorations. Major landmarks and public places, such as shopping malls and streets, often boast ornate holiday scenes.

The Paulista Ave in San Paulo gets completely lit up every year around Christmas, and at the end of the avenue stands a Santa Claus House.

Rio de Janeiro looks equally merry at Christmas time, sparkling in a myriad of lights. A floating Christmas tree shines in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. It’s the largest Christmas tree in Brazil, featuring thousands of LED lamps.

Papa Noel

Papa Noel, or Father Christmas, is the traditional gift-giver in Brazil. Initially, Papa Noel was different from Santa Claus and originated in France. Brazilians were under a major French influence in the 19th century and adopted the tradition.

However, over time, the differences between Papa Noel and Santa Claus have faded. Like American Santa, Brazilian Papa Noel wears a red suit with a buckled belt with white fur trims and has a long white beard.

Brazilian children believe that Papa Noel comes all the way from the North Pole to bring them gifts. Some Brazilians insist that he changes his suit for a silk robe to survive in the Brazilian climate.

Papa Noel doesn’t bother slipping down chimneys, which aren’t common in Brazil anyway, and instead leaves gifts in socks hung on windows. Some children leave traditional Christmas foods for Papa Noel to thank him for the long trip.

Nativity Scenes

Christmas decorations in Brazil may be impressive, but good old nativity scenes remain the key adornment of any Brazilian home, church, school, shopping mall, restaurant, or street. In Brazil, nativity scenes are called Presepio, referring to Jesus’ crib.

Nativity scenes display infant Jesus in his crib surrounded by Joseph, Mary, and shepherds. Brazilian nativity scenes are often handmade, and those set up in public places can be life-sized.

The tradition of setting up nativity scenes originated in Italy in the 13th century but only arrived in Brazil in the 17th century, thanks to a Portuguese Gaspar de Santa Agostinho.

Brazilians set up nativity scenes in the early December, usually on the first of Advent, and take them down on New Year’s Eve. However, some Brazilians will leave the decoration until Epiphany.

Gift-Giving

Like in the U.S., gift-giving is integral to Brazilian Christmas celebrations. Children hang stockings on the window to receive gifts from Papa Noel, and adults exchange gifts among friends and family.

Brazilians often say kind words or tell stories while exchanging gifts because the tradition is all about bonding and lifting each other’s spirits.

Interestingly, Brazilians usually give gifts to the entire family, including aunts, uncles, and second cousins, rather than only immediate family members like Americans.

Perhaps, that’s one of the reasons most Brazilians receive the thirteenth salary in December.

João Goulart, Brazil’s former president, introduced the thirteenth salary scheme in the 1960s to boost the economy, but the practice stuck to this day.

Brazilians also observe the Secret Santa or Amigo Secreto tradition popular in the U.S. and Europe. It requires gathering a group of at least three people. Everyone should write their names on a piece of paper and place them in a stocking or hat.

Then, people pull out one piece of paper each and must buy a gift for the designated recipient. On Christmas Eve, participants exchange gifts and try to guess who their Amigo Secreto was.

The custom is prevalent in workplaces and schools but is also common among friends and family.

The Little Christmas Box

Brazilians believe that Christmas is all about caring about others, and not just friends and family but also strangers. One of the most heartwarming Brazilian Christmas traditions is the “little Christmas box” or Caixinha.

The little Christmas box is a gift box decorated with patterned wrapping paper, tinsel, bows, and other ornaments displayed in hotel reception rooms, shops, restaurants, and other public places.

Customers put coins, small gifts, and kind notes in the box for the employees to boost their holiday spirit and express gratitude for their hard work.

A Warm Christmas

December is a summer month in Brazil, so ice skating and skiing aren’t on the Brazilian Christmas to-do list. The temperature often exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and what could be a better place to spend such a hot time than a beach?

While Americans dream of a white Christmas, Brazilians prefer to surf the waves and sunbathe on the ocean coast.

Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro is beloved by locals and tourists, offering an array of fun activities for any preference.

Aproador beach in Rio is a lesser popular yet equally scenic location situated on a peninsula in the southern part of the town. Many beaches feature holiday decorations, be it a gigantic Santa sand figure or fairy lights on palm trees.

Occasionally, someone will dress up as Papa Noel and walk around, sharing festive spirit, or head surfing right in the red hat with a pompom. Tourists love to take pictures or ride donkeys in Santa hats who bear the warm climate better than reindeer.

Church Services

Like Americans and Europeans, many Brazilians attend church services on Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Christ. The Midnight Mass begins at midnight or slightly earlier, marking the beginning of the new day, and is known as Missa do Galo.

The practice of attending church on Christmas Eve night is one of the oldest Christmas traditions, dating back to the fourth century. A Galician woman Eugeria, who went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, observed the custom and brought it to Europe.

However, Brazilians only began celebrating Christmas in the 17th century, and the first Midnight Mass in Brazil took place at around the same time. Brazilians light a small candle at home before heading out to the church.

San Francisco Church in Salvador is among the oldest and most ornate churches in Brazil, attended by myriads of people every Christmas Eve.

Many people in Rio de Janeiro attend the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, inspired by Mayan pyramids and built relatively recently in 1979. It can host over 20,000 people at once.