The Foods of Christmas

are just as important as the holiday itself. Without the special traditional dishes, lovingly prepared, Navidad just would not be the same.

Asopao and Sancocho

is always one of the holiday favorites. They are easy to prepare and easy to serve. Since there are always guests in the house or people visiting one can always find some soup/ asopao or sancocho (recipe for sancocho) cooking and ready for serving during the entire holiday season.

Nochebuena/ Christmas Eve

is a big celebration and a very large and substantial dinner is served with food, food and more food. Food and family. Food and friends. Food and neighbors. Usually, there is lots of drinking as well. Everyone is stuffed to the brim and still desires more. Christmas Day is for left overs and recuperation.

Traditional foods

prepared painstakingly by the ladies, sometimes men help a little, are so incredible. The aromas, along with the ambiance, throughout the house are wondrous.

The Roast Pork/ Puerco Asado

and Roast Chicken/ Pollo Asado is very important. The Pork is my favorite. I love the crispy skin.

Potato Salad or Russian Salad/ Ensalada Rusa

is splendid. It has cooked potatoes, peas, carrots, egg and a little mayonnaise. This recipe is usually a family secret.

Green Salad/ Ensalada Verde

which always seemed more of a red to me because of all the tomatoes.

Pasteles en hojas

are everyone’s all-time favorites. Not easy to make but worth the time and effort (My Dominican family, as do many other families, cheats and buys them pre made). Closely resembling a tamale they are wrapped in a banana leaf and tied with string to make a nice little torpedo shaped package. Inside this green wrapping is a yellow roll filled with res/ beef, cerdo/ pork, pollo/ chicken, pescado/ fish, bacalao/ cod fish, queso/ cheeze, vegetales/ vegatables or a mixture of a few of these. Served steaming hot one could add a little kechu/ ketchup, salsa picante/ hot sauce, mayonnaise/ mayonesa or eaten plain. Any filling or any condiment topping them for me is wonderful. They originated in San Cristóbal when doña Isabel Coiscou created the recipe and started distributing the tasty food throughout the island.

Pan Telera

is a Long, Crusty bread. This bread is what we wait for. It has such a great flavor we always buy more than we need. It also makes a great crust for pizza toppings.

Sweets, Cookies and Cake/ Dulces, Galletitas y Biscochos.

These are a given as gifts and served to guests as well. There are so many varieties to chose from, including the Christmas Pudding/ Pudim Navideno.

Fruits and nuts

are abundant before and after dinner for munching. In the past Apples/ Manzanas, Grapes/ uvas, Pears/ peras were considered very special as they were not readily available like they are today. My friend told me that when she was young and received an apple it was a very special treat usually reserved for the Christmas season. Some of the nuts that are Christmas traditions are Hazelnuts/ coquitos, Pan de Fruta (served nice and hot), Almonds/ almendras and Walnuts/ nueces. These are many times brought from the USA as a present/ regala from visiting family. We always tell family and friends coming for holiday to make sure they bring us nuts.

Traditional drinks

, of course, include red wine with dinner and rum. There is also Eggnog/ Ponche de huevos, sometimes with some rum added for good measure. The after dinner drink, Anis del Mono/ Monkey Anise, is one of my most favorite. It is an anise drink that that many people make in the home for the best flavor. The Aunts/ Tias of a friend of mine makes the best I ever tasted.

Jengibre

is a drink made with ginger root. It is non-alcoholic and ordinarily only drunk during the colder months in Dominican Republic. It is a very warming beverage and is many times drunk for the flu as well. It is made by boiling ginger root and cinnamon. To this is added heaps of sugar to make a tea. It is quite delicious.(recipe for té de jengibre)

After dinner

when everyone has stuffed themselves to the brim it is time to relax. We pull up the chairs and sit on the porch. Talking to the people in the street passing by. Everyone is so festive.

The ladies go to the neighbors that can’t get out or cook for themselves and take plates of food. We drink some rum or some beer and enjoy. It’s fun to make the rounds and stop and visit some close friends. But always end up back home to hang out with the family. Even for me, I have no blood family in the Dominican Republic, my adopted Dominican family has made me feel like one of them. I am right at home and they accept me during all holidays and special occasions.

Continue…Christms Town Traditions.

Christmas in Dominican Republic / Navidad en República Dominicana

Christmas Dominican style is a fabulous time. The food, the music, the parties, the beaches, the lights and the unique traditions and best of all, it is not cold!

The annual Christmas Tree at Plaza España, Ciudad Colonial

Since Christmas is such a grand and important holiday here in the Dominican Republic it deserves a page all its own. It is such a large celebration that it starts in October and ends in January. With its exhilarating parties, spectacular fireworks, relaxing family time and fantastic food, there is just too much good information for a small section.

Christmas in Dominican Republic lasts for about 3 months, more or less. It is a time to get together with friends and family and enjoy. Although here everyone seems to have a great time always, Christmas is even more of a delight. The airlines are booked solid with people returning to their roots to celebrate in the place they call home. There is such an excitement felt in the streets throughout the country. The passion culminates with the fireworks that seem to happen more often the closer the holiday gets.

Trying to do business during this time is not easy, peoples minds are not on accomplishing anything. All that seems to be on the mind is having fun and relishing the company of others.

Indulging ones self with all the traditional foods that one does not get throughout the year is much anticipated. The aromas of food whiffs out into the streets from kitchens where people are preparing their specialties. There are parties, both private and community gatherings everywhere. The festive spirit is in abundance. On the faces of people, the lights and decorations, the festive feelings, the fireworks and the food.

Christmas Traditions

Fuegos Artificiales

Christmas Eve Fireworks over the Colonial Zone.

Fuegos artificiales/ Fireworks are a momentous tradition here in Dominican Republic. Children and adults love shooting off cohetes y petardos/ rockets and firecrackers of all types. Hospitals are especially busy mending burnt and mangled fingers of people that get a bit carried away with the fireworks. There are stands all over the country selling these festive and dangerous toys to light the sky or to make a big bang. In this way the season is celebrated with a bang!

Most businesses will close around 6 PM on Christmas Eve and some will not open at all on this day. This gives families time to get together for the big celebration of food and drink. In most tourist areas businesses are open, but I wouldn’t count on it. It’s best to have what you need before this day just to be on the safe side.

Noche Buena

The main celebration happens on Noche Buena/ Christmas Eve (December 24th). This is when the big family dinners are held. People really do some substantial celebrating. Most people return to their home towns in order to enjoy the holiday with family and friends. Not to mention, most Dominicans love their mothers or aunts cooking so the must return home to enjoy the feast that is prepared. This family gathering is the center of the holiday festivity. December 25th, Christmas Day, is the day to recuperate.

Double Sueldo

As a traditional token of Christmas cheer, most employees receive an extra months pay in December, and so have a little extra cash on hand. This is called Double Sueldo, a Christmas bonus Dominican style. It is about the same as a months pay and helps to make Christmas holidays a more lighthearted time.

La Misa del Gall

Christmas / Navidad decorations at the Catedral Santo Domingo.

Religious people usually go to church for the Christmas Eve service. This service called La Misa del Gall. It is a Midnight Mass traditional type service. There is also a mass on Christmas Day usually held at 12 noon for those who didn’t make it to the Midnight mass or for those that like to go to both. This way one can get a little rest in between.

If you are in Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic during the holidays try and make it to the service in the First Church in the Americas, Cathedral de Santa Maria in Colonial Zone. This is service is one of the largest and most elaborate in the whole country. Make sure to get there very early or you will be observing from the outside, which is fine also.

Gifts

A tradition for gift exchange is called Un Angelito/ A Little Angel. All the social classes practice this. All the names of the participants are placed in a sack. Then a name is selected from the bunch. The person whose name you chose is your Angelito. Every week during the Christmas holiday you are to give that person, whose name you chose, a gift. The identity of your Angelito is to be kept secret until the last day of the gift exchange where you must divulge yourself.

Continue Christmas Songs Dominican Style…

Guide to the Colonial Zone and Dominican Republic

Tag Archives: noche buena

Christmas Food