Original text by Chiara Lanari, updated and completed by our editors.
Portuguese Christmas, as in all Latin countries, is deeply felt and full of traditions. Streets begin to be decorated at the end of November and homes light up with lights and coloured trees. Above all it is a family celebration: many Portuguese living abroad come home for it.
Cities in festive mood
In Lisbon a huge Christmas tree is put up every year, usually in Praça do Comércio, and the streets of the centre, from the Baixa to the Chiado, light up, drawing people to do their Christmas shopping, including in craft shops and markets. Porto, with Avenida dos Aliados, and Madeira, where lights and nativity scenes transform Funchal throughout December, are also very atmospheric at this time. Óbidos holds its Óbidos Vila Natal Christmas village every year.
Christmas Eve and the consoada
Religious celebrations are also very important, and anyone in Portugal at this time is struck by the participation and intensity of the services. The key moment is Christmas Eve, 24 December, when the family gathers for the consoada, the traditional supper. The signature dish is bacalhau cozido com todos, boiled salt cod with potatoes, cabbage, hard-boiled eggs and sometimes chickpeas, dressed with plenty of olive oil and garlic; in the north octopus is also eaten. According to an old custom, especially in the north, the table is left laid with sweets and delicacies all night after supper, because the souls of the family's departed are said to visit the house.
In many inland villages, especially in the Beira, the madeiro is lit in the church square, a huge bonfire of logs gathered by the village youth, which burns throughout the holidays and around which the community gathers; the fire symbolises the warmth offered to the Christ Child and keeps evil spirits away. At midnight many go to church for the Missa do Galo, the "rooster's Mass", so called because legend says a rooster crowed when Jesus was born.
Sweets, port and presents
After Mass families turn to sweets: nuts, dried fruit, filhós and sonhos, sugared fritters, rabanadas, fried bread slices with sugar and cinnamon, azevias filled with chickpea or sweet potato cream, pão de ló, arroz doce and above all bolo rei, the crown-shaped cake filled with candied and dried fruit that takes pride of place on the table. It used to contain a broad bean and a small surprise: whoever found the bean had to buy the bolo the following year. There is also bolo rainha, without candied fruit. A glass of port is a must, and in some areas roast chestnuts are eaten.
Portugal has Father Christmas too, called Pai Natal, but by tradition it is the Menino Jesus, the Christ Child, who brings children their presents. Gifts are left under the tree or by the nativity scene, or in shoes by the fireplace, and in many families they are opened at midnight, after the consoada.
Christmas Day
On 25 December families gather again for a long lunch that starts at noon and lasts into the afternoon. Roast turkey or kid is served, and often roupa velha, "old clothes", the leftover cod from the night before sautéed with olive oil and garlic. In Madeira broas de mel and bolo de mel are typical. In Portugal 26 December is not a public holiday.
Nativity scenes
The nativity scene is an unmistakable symbol of Portuguese Christmas. It spread mainly from the eighteenth century, when real craft schools emerged. The finest are the Baroque nativity scenes by the sculptor Joaquim Machado de Castro and his workshop: the one in Lisbon's Basílica da Estrela, with more than 500 small figures of cork and terracotta, and the one in Lisbon Cathedral, both on display all year. Living nativity scenes and home-made ones, unveiled before Christmas Eve supper, are also very common.
After Christmas the festivities continue until New Year, a truly unique occasion to party in Portugal, and until Epiphany, Dia de Reis, when janeiras are sung in the streets.