The Christmas party is coming and people from different parts of the world will have their own way of celebrating. The Puerto Rican version of Christmas is known as Navidad. This is Christmas Day, December 25, where Christians celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Santa Claus is believed to bring gifts to children where the custom originated in the United States in the 1940s and has now become Puerto Rico’s Christmas tradition. Christmas is the time of tradition, bonuses, décimas, and of being a Puerto Rican jíbaro, which is the best of Puerto Rican culture.
Puerto Rican food
Puerto Ricans begin their Christmas celebrations in early December and may end in the first week of January. Of course, this is the best time to talk about Puerto Rican food. Puerto Rican cuisine is similar to Spanish, Mexican, and Cuban with a delicious mix of African, Taino, and American influences.
Christmas Eve is a special dinner that takes place on Christmas Eve. Puerto Ricans like chicken so you would always see it as part of the main dish, such as baked chicken or turkey, and roasted pork or ham that is accompanied by Spanish rice with pigeon peas, local vegetables like cooked green plantains, fried plantains or cooked yam.
Some of the appetizers and food during dinner generally include hot appetizers like bacalaitos, crispy cod fritters; surullitos, plump, sweet cornmeal fingers; and empanadillas, crescent-shaped empanadas stuffed with lobster, crab, snail or beef. Soups are also believed to be a popular starter for meals in Puerto Rico as well as other countries. There is a debate as to whether one of the best known soups, frijoles negros (black bean soup), is of Cuban or Puerto Rican origin. However, it is still a tasty, if filling, opening for a meal. For their Christmas desserts, they have “arroz con dulce” (rice cooked with spices, sugar, milk, and coconut milk) and “tembleque” (a custard made with cornstarch, sugar, and coconut milk). They taste best cold or cold, when their consistency becomes more solid. One of the Puerto Rican holiday foods is roast suckling pig, which is usually cooked for a party of 12 or 15 people. It is traditional for picnics and outdoor parties. These are just one of the Puerto Rican foods that are served during the holidays.
The Farewell of the Year is celebrated on December 31 in time to end the year and face a new one. The biggest and most important for all children is what they call, Three Kings Day on January 6. This is the day when the children open their gifts the night before the departure of the Magi.
Their Christmas is different, as they have a special “pava” (traditional straw hat) that is used only for Christmas. They have their own version of Christmas carols which they call Parranda. It is when a small group of people get together to surprise other people and they will bring their musical instruments such as guitars, tambourines, güiro maracas or sticks in which they will play the traditional Aguinaldos.
