Ciao! Welcome To Italy!
Buon Natale! Our friend from Italy is Gianna! She will be coming to visit our classroom. Please explore the links and find out all you can on holiday traditions in Italy! Remember to record your findings in your traveler’s log! Happy Travels!
Traditions and Food:
La Letterina Di Natale:
(the children’s Christmas letter)
Italian children, like American youngsters, write special letters at Christmas time. However, rather than simply requesting presents, they describe how good they’ve been at home and in school so Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) can evaluate whether they deserve the toys they want.
A few weeks before Natale, with the help of their teachers (le maestre), children write their thoughts and express their love and appreciation for their parents on special paper (carta) decorated with gold and silver glitter and marvelous figures. The children hide the letters in a tovagliolo (napkin) or under their father’s plate before the Christmas meal.
Every year the father pretends to be amazed to find the letter with the children’s self-evaluation and thanks for i sacrifici (the sacrifices) their parents have made on their behalf. In some families the father reads the letter aloud; in others the children do so.
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