By: Kayla Good, Senior
Courtesy of Christmastreeassociation.org
In my Hispanic family, the entire month of December is dedicated to buying gifts for loved ones, preparing for the traditional Christmas day meal, and planning where the day of celebration takes place. Three Kings Day is one of the most important parts of the holidays on the Puerto Rican calendar. It’s not only a part of our decorations, but it is an important aspect to our holiday calendar. Traditionally, December 24th and January 6th are marked for the day of exchanging gifts. In order to prepare for Christmas Day’s meal, we go to the Spanish meat market, Carneceria, to buy the best priced pork shoulder, also known as pernil, and plantains for the pasteles, which are similar to tamales.
Food is an extremely time-consuming yet important aspect of the Puerto Rican Christmas celebration. One of the main foods served on Christmas Day is pasteles, which is made to be sold, given to family and friends, and eaten together. Another main dish is pernil, or pork shoulder, which requires a lot of preparation. Two days before Christmas, my family starts seasoning the pork to marinate and soak for Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, the pork goes into the oven at five a.m. on low heat and cooks for several hours. Some of our favorite desserts are flan, also known as caramel custard, tembleque, which is a coconut dessert pudding, and arroz con dulce, which is a Puerto Rican rice pudding that requires days-in-advance preparation. Another important food aspect is coquito, which is our Spanish eggnog. This drink is made a month in advance to be given as gifts to family and friends.
Another Puerto Rican tradition is a parranda, which is a Puerto Rican music tradition that takes place during the Christmas season. This is a social event that includes music, food, and drinks to show Puerto Rican pride. These events typically occur at night, even into the hours of the morning, and involve Christmas caroling, but the songs are secular rather than religious. Some instruments that are played by family and friends include guitarras (guitar), tamboriles (tambourine), güiro maracas, and palitos (sticks).
On Christmas Day, the television is not on at all, and the music starts playing from the morning when we start cooking food until the end of the night. Christmas is a time of enjoying our time with family and friends by eating, talking, the adults drinking coquito, and playing dominoes together. Regardless of the house size, multiple families and friends gather with the kids and sleep over wherever there was space: the floor, the couch, etc. We also stay up late together and do not open gifts until 12:01 a.m. because we believe that Papa Noel, also known as Santa Claus, needs time to arrive and bring the gifts. My Puerto Rican family’s Christmas Celebration lasts throughout the entire month of December and is centered on the importance of quality family time, holiday traditions, and making priceless memories together.
Comments