{"id":2920,"date":"2015-12-11T11:39:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T11:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/?p=2920"},"modified":"2015-12-11T12:34:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T12:34:27","slug":"portuguese-christmas-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php","title":{"rendered":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lisbon,Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about it!<\/p>\n

As it happens in so many other countries around the world, Portugal becomes magical at this time of the year. All the cities are full of lights, people are all excited (despite the relative cold weather) and you can listen to Christmas songs everywhere! If you want to visit Portugal during Christmas time, here are some tips of the best places to go:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lisbon<\/a> and Porto<\/a> never disappoint and are always a great option at any time of year, so imagine these two cities with Christmas decorations! If you go to Lisbon, do not leave the city before going to Chiado to see the streets full of Christmas lights whilst a trip to Terreiro do Pa\u00e7o will let you see the giant Christmas tree! If you are visiting Porto, do not forget going to Avenida dos Aliados. It is definitely worth seeing the Christmas decorations in one of the most famous areas of the city.<\/p>\n

If you are more like me and prefer smaller cities full of character, what about going to \u00d3bidos or Santa Maria da Feira? \u00d3bidos is a wonderful village near Leiria and hosts the \u201cVila Natal\u201d, a magic world, for children and adults, where you can visit the Santa\u2019s house and the Nativity or go ice-skating, amongst other things! However, if you want to visit the biggest theme park in the north of the country, go to Santa Maria da Feira and buy your ticket for the \u201cPerlim \u2013 Uma quinta de sonhos\u201d. Trust me, you will not regret it!<\/p>\n

Christmas Traditions in Portugal…<\/p>\n

Now you know where to go I want to give a little inside information on what happens around Christmas time in Portugal. Although the most important days are 24th and 25th December, the preparation starts long before! A few years ago 1st December was a holiday, so we would put up the Christmas tree on that day. But since we do not have that holiday anymore\u2026 We do it during the first weekend of the month instead! Besides the Christmas tree, and since Portugal is a religious country, Nativity scenes are very popular throughout the country. A proper Nativity should have some moss at the base which you should collect in a nearby forest. Et voil\u00e0! Now you just need to wait for the presents to start showing up under the Christmas tree \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"Christmas

Portuguese Christmas nativity scene<\/p><\/div>\n

A couple of weeks later it’s finally Christmas time! On 24th December, we wake up early in order to prepare the food for dinner, which we call \u201cConsoada\u201d. The Portuguese tradition on Christmas Eve is to eat boiled codfish with potatoes and cabbage, octopus rice and sweets, a lot of sweets! I could give you an endless list of traditional Christmas sweets, but here are a few of my favourites: bolo-rei, rabanadas, broas de Natal, arroz doce, bilharacos e sonhos! They are irresistible… and responsible for all those extra kilos gained during Christmas time. After dinner, families generally watch Christmas movies and chat until midnight. And why is midnight so important? It is when we open the presents!! In my family the youngest member gives out the presents, but it depends on the families\u2019 own traditions. There are some families where one of the people dress up as Santa Claus and others that really appreciate a trip to midnight Mass and open the presents on their return.<\/p>\n

Since the night before was long, on Christmas Day we do not wake up very early! When we do it’s back to preparing the meal. Food and family time are incredible important in Portugal! On Christmas day we do not eat codfish, but stuffed turkey and all the sweets I told you about before!<\/p>\n

Another Portuguese tradition is the \u201cJaneiras\u201d. This is a tradition that takes place on 6th January and consists of groups singing songs on the streets announcing the birth of Jesus and wishing everyone a happy new year. Some time ago these groups would have people of all ages, but now most of them are children that do it as a school\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n

Do you really still need more reasons to visit this wonderful country in Christmas time? Let us know if there is anything else you think I have missed!<\/p>\n

Rita<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about it! As it happens in so many other countries around the world, Portugal becomes magical at this time of the year. All the cities are full of lights, people are all excited (despite the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[109,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas-courses","category-portugal"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPortuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Portuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Apple Languages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/applelanguages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Apple Languages\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Apple Languages\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Apple Languages\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee\"},\"headline\":\"Portuguese Christmas Traditions\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\"},\"wordCount\":743,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Christmas Courses\",\"Portugal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\",\"name\":\"Portuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee\"},\"description\":\"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":188,\"caption\":\"Lisbon, Christmas\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\\\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Locations\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Portugal\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/locations\\\/portugal\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Portuguese Christmas Traditions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Apple Languages\",\"description\":\"learn a language abroad!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee\",\"name\":\"Apple Languages\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Apple Languages\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.applelanguages.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/apple-languages\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages","description":"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages","og_description":"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php","og_site_name":"Apple Languages","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/applelanguages\/","article_published_time":"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Apple Languages","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Apple Languages","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php"},"author":{"name":"Apple Languages","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee"},"headline":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions","datePublished":"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php"},"wordCount":743,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg","articleSection":["Christmas Courses","Portugal"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php","url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php","name":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions - Apple Languages","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-11T11:39:52+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-11T12:34:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee"},"description":"Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, so you can imagine how much I have to say about our Portugese christmas traditions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/lisbon-Christmas.jpg","width":250,"height":188,"caption":"Lisbon, Christmas"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal\/portuguese-christmas-traditions.php#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Locations","item":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Portugal","item":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/locations\/portugal"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Portuguese Christmas Traditions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/","name":"Apple Languages","description":"learn a language abroad!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61a2d228e65991ef547b7b46437aa9ee","name":"Apple Languages","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/351cfde2847348ecf07f467de8b5a7de66c0c7fde3ebedb051c0229aef2204e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Apple Languages"},"url":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/author\/apple-languages"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4dS4m-L6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2920"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2931,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2920\/revisions\/2931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.applelanguages.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}