A Rare Christmas

Portuguese Christmas happens above all on the night of 24 December, the consoada. The family gathers around the table for boiled salt cod with cabbage, potatoes and egg, dressed with olive oil, and in many homes in the north there is octopus too.

After dinner come the sweets: rabanadas, filhós, sonhos, rice pudding and bolo-rei, the king cake. In many families presents are opened at midnight, and some go to the Midnight Mass, the Missa do Galo.

In Portugal the nativity scene is older than the tree. Clay figures from Barcelos and Estremoz have filled nativity scenes for generations, and in Madeira the Missas do Parto mark the nine days before Christmas.

The season runs until Epiphany on 6 January, with bolo-rei and the janeiras, carols sung door to door. That is why, in a Portuguese home, the best present is often something for the table or something that stays from one year to the next.