Christmas in Portugal

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Azevias of grain and almond



Edit: I'll add this.

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In Serbian traditions for Christmas they bake a bread or pie called cesnica and in the cesnica they put one euro or back then in serbia dinar and who finds it has luck, if someone outside the house like a guest finds it he gets money from to leave the euro in the house.

Cool

We had something associated to luck but was prohibited. Inside this cake that is the main cake for Christmas a piece of silverware and a broad been was inserted and people and would represent luck or bad luck

I will talk about this cake in the next post.

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The main Christmas Cake in Portugal is the Bolo-Rei (King-Cake)

The origin of the cake of kings dates back to the time of the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia. These had the habit of electing the "king of the feast" during commemorative banquets, which was done by placing a dry bean (symbol of fertility) in a sweet round pie, which anyone who found it would become the king of the bean or king of the feast. The Catholic Church took advantage of the fact that pagan game was characteristic of the month of December and decided to reconvert it and relate it to the Nativity and to an Epiphany (the first of which became known as the Day of the Kings), that is, with the days December 25th and January 6th. The influence of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages determined that this last date was symbolized by a broad bean introduced in a cake, but whose recipe is currently unknown.

The king's cake in its current format appeared at the court of Louis XIV, in France, for the New Year and Epiphany celebrations. Several writers of the time wrote about this delicacy, even Jean-Baptiste Greuze celebrated it in a famous painting with the name Gâteau des rois. With the French Revolution in 1789 the king's cake was banned, however the confectioners, who did not want to lose the business, instead of eliminating it, decided to continue making it, changing its name during the revolutionary period to Gâteau des Sans-Culottes

According to this French tradition, a dry bean and a porcelain piece, usually a nativity figure in the nativity scene, were included in the cake. Whoever got the bean was considered the king or queen of the party, entitled to wear a crown of circumstance and could make a wish, but also had to pay for the next cake. From 1870 onwards, dried beans were progressively replaced by porcelain beans and later by cats and other objects considered to be "good luck", including more recently some made of plastic.

The king's cake popularized in Portugal in the 19th century follows a recipe originating in the south of Loire, a crown-shaped cake made from yeast dough. As far as is known, the first house where it was sold in Portugal was the Confeitaria Nacional, in Lisbon, around 1869-1870. The person responsible was the famous French confectioner Gregoire (Gregório, as he became known), recruited in Paris, who adapted and used a recipe brought from the French capital. Gradually, other patisseries in the city also started to manufacture the bolo-rei, thus giving rise to several different versions. In Porto, the king cake was introduced in 1890, according to a recipe that the owner had also brought from Paris. The recipes would later cross the Atlantic to reach Brazil, where they similarly became a tradition.

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I was waiting for this video to be uploaded to post it here. This is the main dish. It's [dried] codfish with boiling vegetables - though there are certain places that replace it with octopus or turkey as the main dish.



Eating octopus is not so prevalent but still they are reasonable niches that do.

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Christmas Songs sang by a Choir:

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Christmas Concert of the Six Organs of the Basilica of Mafra

There are 6 pipe organs in the Basilica of the Royal Palace in Mafra. They are unique in that they were built at the same time specifically to be a set, and are therefore the largest number designed to be played simultaneously in any church in the world. Most European churches that have several pipe organ sets are the result of the addition of instruments over a long period of time. In the case of Mafra, the layout of the High Chapel tribunes and transepts indicates the original design intended to place six instruments in the Basilica.



The six organs were built by the two most important Portuguese organ designers of the time - António Xavier Machado e Cerveira and Joaquim António Peres Fontanes. They were completed between 1806 and 1807 with the final two inaugurated on the 4th of October 1807.

Shortly after they were finished the French invasion in the Napoleonic Wars caused the exile of the Portuguese Court to Brazil, leading to a decade of neglect for the organs. Even the King, D. João VI, who was regent to his mad mother at the time the organs were finished in 1807, hardly had the opportunity to enjoy them before the war drummed them into silence. Later, perhaps in expectation of the return of the Royal Family, a major renovation was carried out after the wars ended.

I'm ending so I leave for you to enjoy this Christmas Choir Concert.

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Last but not least I end with this portuguese christmas song compilation. It's really cute!! Hope you enjoy this thread!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!