Spending Christmas Eve in Portugal

Like everywhere else, Christmas in Portugal requires lots of festivities and decorations in each and every city of the country. Be prepared to see lots of presépios, which are religious nativity scenes presented on souvenirs or on various other materials, which made them look quite real, especially when there were figures of people. As per tradition, every family should have presépios in their home on Christmas, so that they can cherish this family celebration even more.

Furthermore, at midnight the Portuguese people were going to the nearest church in the city, where they were singing and praying in that sacred night. This celebration is known as Missa do Galo or the Rooster’s Mass. It is believed that the rooster crowed at midnight when Jesus Christ was born and that is why they named it the Rooster’s Mass. After the celebration is over, the families should go back home and exchange the gifts as per the tradition.

Since I was doing my Erasmus in the North of Portugal I had the pleasure to also spend Christmas Eve there. Also, I got an invitation from a friend of mine and his family to spend Christmas with them there. Thus, I accepted, as I was very curious about how they spend these wonderful days and what their traditions were.

Before going to their house near the city of Barcelos, I got another invitation from my classmates to go to Braga and participate in Bananeiro. It was a very nice tradition of the city of Braga, where lots of people were gathering to celebrate before Christmas Eve by eating bananas and drinking wine. However, since there was lots of traffic to and from Braga, I was not able to go there and decided to just skip it, so I can attend Christmas Eve at my friend’s family.

Later in the day, I was already at their house where they were preparing the food for Christmas Eve. As per tradition, they were going to prepare Bacalhãu de Consoada. This was the salty codfish that the Portuguese people were crazy about. They told me that to prepare this fish for Christmas and in general, you have to put it in water for three days, so you can take the salt away and also, make it restore its original size. However, while you keep it in the water, you have to change that water two times every day during those three days. Then, on the third day, which is supposed to be Christmas Eve you have to put it to boil down before you serve it. In addition to it, you have to boil potatoes, carrots and blanch some long cabbage leaves.

After that, they boiled some octopus and big shrimps and served them as appetizers, along with a salad with octopus and onion cut in big pieces. Honestly, it might sound that it was not such a fancy appetizer, but it was quite delicious and fulfilling. After that, they served the Bacalhãu de Consoada, which was still hot, but very tasty. Along with it, we were drinking ginjinha.

Then, we continued with the desserts, which were four in number and were absolutely delicious. The first one was the Rabanadas, which were fried pieces of bread. To prepare Rabanadas you have to put the bread in milk mixed with sugar and egg and then put them to fry. However, they have also put the Rabanadas into some Port wine, as it was considered to be the special way to make them for Christmas. Honestly, they were quite good and very sweet in taste.

The next dessert, was the Bolo do Rei, which was purchased from the bakery in the city, as it was quite hard to make it at home. It was a traditional Portuguese Christmas cake, which was more like a sweet bread with lots of nuts inside and dried caramelized fruits on top. This one was also very tasty, but I also wanted to try the Pão de Ló, which was a soft cake with a slight lemon aroma and was quite huge. To eat it you just have to grab a piece with your hand as per the tradition. Eventually, we finished our cake tasting with a tiramisu that they also prepared, which was simply amazing.

Afterwards, we left everything on the table, as per the tradition and went to play some domino until midnight. As they told me, playing domino was not a tradition, but it was something they did on that day as a family, so it was very funny and I managed to win some games while drinking my Port wine.

Eventually, when midnight approached everybody started unpacking their presents and trying them, which was quite nice and funny to watch. However, after that, all of the family members gathered together to watch Christmas movies.

On the next day, we slept until noon, as we were tired, but after we woke up we had to prepare our lunch after Christmas Eve, which was also special. The food was supposed to stay on the table all night so that God can also eat and what is left had to be cooked together. Thus, we had to remove the bones from the bacalhau or the codfish, cut the potatoes and cabbage and fry them together, so we can make a new dish from the old one. Once we were done, we could put some of it in our plates and have our lunch started. After that, we could have as many desserts as we wanted, but we had to eat that new dish with bacalhau.

Honestly, I enjoyed staying with this amazing Portuguese family and they were more than hospitable. They made me feel like I was at home and not miss anything, so I was very grateful for their invitation.

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