The major absentee” “

Expectations are rising and joy growing as Christmas approaches: that’s the spirit in which Advent is experienced by European Catholic youth in whom there seems to be strong attachment to their Christmas traditions, including games, dinners and festivities but also symbolic gestures and elements of folklore linked to ancient village life. The Christmas that emerges from the following testimonies is a variegated and in some sense also a picturesque one; a mosaic composed of various colours, though all of them derived from a single source. Each country of the European Union represents a piece of the mosaic. Common denominators are the Christmas tree and the midnight mass. The major absentee would seem to be the crib. SANTA CLAUS. “As in other Christian countries, in SlovaKia too Advent is a time of joy and preparation for Christmas with the wreath with the four candles of which one is lit each Sunday”, says Peter. On the evening of 24 December “the whole family is gathered round the festively decorated table” “next to the Christmas tree decorated with glass balls, candles and silver streamers”, and “before the dinner we pray and drink a special drink made of water, pepper and honey”. After the opening of the presents, “we go to midnight mass”. Lydia (GERMANY) recounts that “there’s an Advent wreath in every home” and “each child has his calendar with the little windows that begin to be opened on 1st December”. The eager anticipation of Christmas “is sweetened by the visit of St Nicholas – or Santa Claus – who visits our homes on the night between 5 and 6 December and fills with sweets and nuts the shoes which our children have polished and placed outside the door”. Yet “it is the Child Jesus” who brings us presents on the evening of 24 December”. LUCA’S CHAIR. In HUNGARY “beginning on 13 December we begin to construct the traditional chair of Luca (which means Lucy in Hungarian, in honour of the saint); a three-legged chair made of thirteen pieces of different types of wood; one piece is added each day, and the chair is completed on 26 December, feast of St Stephen”, recounts Diana. The chair is then taken to church, and, according to tradition “by climbing on top of it one can discern whether any witch is present”. Another Magyar tradition is “the game of Bethlehem”. A few days before Christmas, explains Diana, “children dress up, and, with musical instruments in their hand, tour the village passing from house to house to sing the story of the birth of Jesus. People reciprocate by giving them flour or milk with which their mothers make cakes”. On Christmas Eve Diana goes with her friends to the local hospital to visit the sick and the elderly: “We take our instruments with us, distribute gifts and play music in each room: in this way we can bring a little joy into the life of these people and prepare ourselves for Christmas”. THE ANIMALS SPEAK. “A time of calm and reflection during which people fast each Friday, go to church, confess and clean their home from top to bottom”. That’s how Advent is lived in LitHuania, according to Raimunda. On the evening of 24 December, she recounts, “the whole family gathers together for dinner which is preceded by prayer. Traditionally no meat, milk or eggs are eaten, but twelve different dishes representing the twelve months of the year are served. An extra place is always set at the table, for dead members of the family, and after dinner the table is not cleared, for the tradition is that the spirits will come to dine during the night”. “All together the family goes to midnight mass”, while, according to tradition, the animals begin speaking in the stables and byres, but human beings are not permitted to listen to what they are saying”. THE DEAD. “In my country, POLAND, a special wafer-like bread, which we call ‘opatki’, is broken in each family as a sign of reconciliation and joy on Christmas Eve”, recounts Anna; “our thoughts then turn to the dead, for whom an extra place is symbolically set at table, and to all those who are homeless”. “Christmas dinner is a time of great festivity after we have fasted all day – explains Anna – and a little hay is placed below the tablecloth in memory of the manger in which Jesus was placed”. During the midnight mass “people sing so lustily as almost to bring down the walls of the church”. In the CZECH REPUBLIC, explains Hana, the Advent wreaths, often made at home, “are distributed even in schools and offices”. “In the last two weeks of Advent – Hana continues – families begin to bake the typical Christmas biscuits and cakes, the ‘stollen'”, while “in the parishes rehearsals continue for the mystery play on the birth of Jesus that the children will perform in church on Christmas Day”.