A presentation about Italian Christmas traditions made by Panella-Vallauri students

2. The most popular Christmas traditions for the celebration of
Christmas is the nativity scene and the Christmas tree. how
and where born?
Christmas tree

3.  The crib, according to tradition, originated in 1223 at Greccio, in
Umbria, by St. Francis who wanted to enrich the Mass of Christmas
with a nativity scene that recalls the Nativity. The first to describe the
Nativity were the evangelists Luke and Matthew proposing the icon of
the manger and the ox and the donkey. This representation favorably
impressed the imagination of the early Christian wall graffiti reported
in many of the Catacombs of Domitilla in the cemetery of St. Agnes.
Luke Matthew

4.  Therefore, the St. Francis, changing this ancient
tradition, he organized the first nativity scene in
which as the centuries have been added to the
allegorical characters that have come down to us.

5. Naples

7.  The Christmas tree probably has its origins in pagan cults instead
related to Northern Europe. It became part of the Italian tradition in
the late nineteenth century when the wife of Umberto I prepared
one in the Quirinale Palace.
 Although many of the Christmas traditions are being lost, the tree
stands, or rather has assumed the role of a true symbol of Christmas.
Often, the fir trees are replaced with plastic, wax candles by electric
lights are more or less intermittent, the original colorful apples or
wafers, from the religious significance, have been replaced by
colored glass ornaments of every shape, but the 'tree continues to be
present in the homes of most of the Italian.