Christmas Around the World: Peru

Thinking about Christmas in Peru brings me wonderful memories of my childhood.

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Preparation begins weeks before, by assembling the Nativity. The Nativity is often done with a special thick, green paper, from which you can also make small hills or mountains. These are decorated with figurines of pasture animals, and  in the highest part of the hill is placed a star. Hay adorns the stable where the baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph will stay.

Building the nativity is cause for joy and celebration. The family gathers to decorate the manger scene. Upon the arrival of Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), the child is placed in the manger and thus welcomes Christmas morning.

We also decorate the house with many colored lights, streamers, and a Christmas tree. In the cities of Peru it is customary to find gigantic Nativities, with contests underway to determine the best. In many schools children act and recreate the birth of Jesus .

Moms, aunts, and grandmothers take great care to cook a Christmas Eve dinner. This dinner may be turkey,

traditional food, hot chocolate and/or panettone.  Families gather all together, waiting for midnight, singing carols, and reading passages from the Bible.

When midnight finally comes, they all wish each other a Merry Christmas and eat dinner. Some families go to midnight mass and others go to church in the morning.

In the streets, Christmas carols (and fireworks) are heard.


What I Learned
Turkey and Panettone go together like the mixing of great cultures.
Fireworks at Christmas is actually pretty common.... at least in South America.
If you don't stay up until Midnight you're going to miss all the fun.
The nativity is the center of the celebration, as it should be!

If You Lived in Peru
There is a good chance you would be Catholic (82%), but not as good of a chance as if you lived in Argentina (92%).
You would be one of 29,849,303 people who call Peru home, living in an area a bit smaller than Alaska.
You better like corn, because 55 different varieties grow in Peru!