Ten words you need to know for an Italian Christmas

Starting on December 8th and not finishing until January 6th, Christmas is a big deal in Italy, and there's a whole festive lexicon that goes with it.

Here are some words you'll want to learn in order to celebrate Christmas (and New Year's) like an Italian.

Natale

Let’s start with the obvious – you can’t have an Italian Christmas without knowing the word for Christmas itself: Natale. It comes, as you might guess, from the Latin word for ‘born’, in reference to the birth of Jesus.

With Natale come a number of related words you should know. There’s Babbo Natale, Father Christmas; l’albero di Natale, a Christmas tree; cena di Natale, Christmas dinner; biglietti di Natale, Christmas cards; luci di Natale, Christmas lights; and la messa di Natale, Christmas mass.

When used as an adjective, natale becomes natalizio/ia/i/ie; so addobbi natalizi are Christmas ornaments.

A Christmas tree with baubles in Verona. Photo: AFP

READ ALSO: Six quirky Italian Christmas traditions you should know about

Neve

If you’re in northern Italy this Christmas (or even some more mountainous parts of the centre-south), you may be lucky enough to experience neve, or snow.

Like ‘snow’, neve is an uncountable noun, meaning it doesn’t have a singular form in its own right. A fiocco di neve is a snowflake, and a pupazzo di neve is a snowman (literally, a snow doll).

To snow is nevicare, and if you're dreaming of a white Christmas, that's a direct translation into Italian: it's a bianco Natale (or Natale bianco) you're hoping for.

Slitta

Babbo Natale could never make it through all that neve without suitable transport options – he’ll need his trusty sleigh, or slitta.

And if your dream of waking up to a Natale bianco comes true and you want to imitate Santa on your own toboggan or sledge, you’ll be climbing into a slittino.

Santa couldn't get anywhere without his slitta. Photo by Norman Tsui on Unsplash

As you might be able to infer from these nouns, the verb slittare means to slide or slip. While this is very much a physical action engaged in by tobogganers, it can also be used figuratively – you’ll often see it crop up in Italian news headlines, referencing things like parliamentary deadlines being pushed (‘sliding’) back.

Presepio

A presepio or presepe (two variations on the original Latin that mean the same thing) is a nativity scene – and few countries put as much effort into their presepi as Italy does.

Whether they’re floating on water, formed of 15,000 lights sprawling across a hillside, or being performed by live actors (a presepe vivente), come advent you’ll find a nativity scene to impress in almost every Italian town and city.

READ ALSO: Ten Christmas nativity scenes you’ll only see in Italy

Pope Francis in front of a classic nativity scene in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican in 2013. Photo: Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP

Avanzi

Most households that celebrate Christmas around the world can expect to have substantial leftovers come Boxing Day from their Christmas cenone (‘big dinner’), and Italians are no exception.

Leftovers in Italian are avanzi. Your avanzi di Natale may well include lasagne, tortellini, and meats ranging from ox to veal to (possibly, but with no guarantees) roast turkey or chicken.

With any luck, you’ll also find some dolci di Natale ­– Christmas sweets or desserts, which typically include panettone or pandoro brioche-based cakes – in the pile of leftovers.

READ ALSO: The food and drink you need for an Italian Christmas feast

You can expect to see a panettone grace most tables in Italy on Christmas. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Vigilia

A vigilia is the day or night before any given day of the year, so the Vigilia di Natale is of course the night before Christmas, i.e. Christmas Eve.

In many parts of the country, it’s traditional to celebrate the Vigilia di Natale with the Festa dei sette pesci, or ‘Feast of the seven fishes’.

At least seven courses of seafood are typically served, with clams and oysters often making an appearance, as they're seen as luxury items.

Oysters are sometimes served on Christmas Eve. Photo: Liza Pooor on Unsplash

San Silvestro

In most other countries, New Year's Eve is just New Year's Eve, but in Italy it's yet another saint's day: that of San Silvestro, a pope about whom little is known beyond that fact that he died on December 31st.

Italians celebrate San Silvestro in much the same way as everyone else around the world: with New Year's Eve parties (veglioni di Capodanno), fireworks (fuochi d'artificio), counting down to midnight (fare il conto alla rovescia) and toasts (brindisi) when it arrives.

More local traditions include eating lentils, playing tombola (a kind of bingo), giving and wearing red underwear for luck, and chucking your junk out the window in preparation for new beginnings.

READ ALSO: Here’s why Italians eat lentils on New Year’s Eve

Capodanno

After dancing the night away for San Silvestro, it's time to get your resolutions in order as you wake up to capodanno - literally, the 'head of the year'.

As in most countries, In Italy this is a public holiday, giving those suffering from the previous night's festivities a chance to recuperate.

For the hardier amongst us, it's an opportunity to participate in local new year customs like jumping in the River Tiber, an annual Roman tradition that dates back to 1946.

READ ALSO: Italian word of the day: ‘Capodanno’

Epifania

If Christmas in Italy starts several weeks earlier than it does anywhere else (on December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception), it also finishes later: specifically on January 6th, with Epifania, or Epiphany.

That’s when the three wise men finally complete their journey and make it to the stable to find baby Jesus in his crib.

It used to be the day on which Italian children would receive their Christmas presents; these days that tends to happen on December 24th or 25th, as in the US and UK.

Nonetheless, it’s a public holiday, so children and parents alike still receive the gift of closed school and a day off work.

Befana

In many parts of the world Babbo Natale gets all the glory, but not in Italy.

Here the Christmas witch La Befana hops on her broomstick to distribute presents to boys and girls on the vigilia dell'Epifania, or the eve of Epiphany.

Legend holds that the Three Wise Men came to her house and invited her to join their search for Christ. She was too busy with housework so declined, but later changed her mind, and to this day is still searching for the child, leaving presents for any good children she comes across.

Three women dress up as La Befana. Photo: Eleonora Gianinetto/Wiki Commons.