4 Ways to make your British Christmas more Venezuelan
Got to love that Venezuelan family Christmas energy! A live Nativity scene from one of our friends's family photo albums.
In London, there is a notable change in the air when the calendar turns to its final page. Temperatures drop, lights go up, Michael Bublé seeps into our subconscious, high streets get busier and everyone gets ever so slightly more stressed. Part of the warmth and fuzziness that surrounds Christmas is its familiarity, you know what you’re getting – mince pies, advent calendars, Christmas crackers, your gran getting vaguely buzzed on sherry in the corner.
Equally, much of the magic of the Christmas period is the creation of new traditions that are accumulated with every generation. Every family’s Christmas is slightly different as different families intermix and traditions are layered one on top of the other.
If you’re lucky enough to be celebrating Christmas with a Venezuelan this year, you’re in for a treat this festive season. Venezuelan Christmases are vibrant, joyful celebrations, with incredible food and a strong sense of family and friendship.
From the shared labour of love in making hallacas, to the lively rhythms and upbeat melodies of Gaitas music, each tradition enriches the festive period. So, whether you’re just in interested in learning more about what a Venezuelan Christmas is all about or looking to make your Venezuelan significant other feel a little more at home, here are 4 ways you can Venezuelan-ify your Christmas this year!
We are Erika Urvina and Ryan Gilbert, a British - Venezuelan couple married for over 10 years, running a small restaurant together and we would love to share our advise!
The Venezuelan pesebre in all of it's glory. Photo credit: Venezuela es Tuya
1. THE VENEZUELAN “Pesebre” – Decorate a Nativity Scene
Unsurprisingly, you don’t see many firs or pine trees in the Venezuelan tropics so people don’t tend to put up a Christmas tree in their home. Instead, it’s more common to find a nativity scene, or a Pesebre, taking centre stage in Venezuelan homes.
These displays are not just simple setups, but can be quite intricate, featuring mountains made of carton, lights, moss for grass and aluminium foil to represent rivers. You may even be surprised to spot a few unfamiliar faces at the birth of Christ that they failed to mention in the Bible – Barbie, Batman, Robin, Superman… So long as you have the main characters – Jesus, Mary, Joseph, a couple of shepherds and the three Kings – no one really knows who was there on the day, so who’s to say that Superman didn’t swing by.
In some households, el niño Jesús, or the baby Jesus, is hidden or covered until the 25 th December and in other households, a family member hides el niño Jesús on the 26 th and only returns him on the 6 th January, el Día de los Reyes, the day the Three Kings arrive.
Whatever your preference, no Venezuelan house is complete without a pesebre, and setting one up is a way to let your imagination run wild. even if that means taking a bit of creative license with the casting!
Our very own, Erika giving it all on the dance floor to the rhythm of Gaitas!
2. venezuelan christmas Music - Dance and Listen to Gaitas
For most people in Venezuela, Christmas begins the first moment you hear Gaitas, the quintessential soundtrack of a Venezuelan Christmas. Gaitas music originates from Zulia, for whom listening to Gaitas usually starts just after Halloween ‘porque hay que disfrutarlas’ (because you have to enjoy them).
Everybody listens to and dances to Gaitas music – it defines a Venezuelan Christmas!
Interestingly, although gaitas are most commonly heard around Christmas time, the songs can range from romance to politics. Either way, we dance to all of them, and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without them.
To get yourself in the mood, we’ve put together a Gaitas playlist just for you! Click on the button below and play as loud as your neighbour’s will allow.
Don't forget to serve Hallacas and pan de jamon at your Venezuelan Christmas party.
3. noche buena - Host a VENEZUELAN Christmas eve party
Picture this: it’s Christmas Eve, and while the UK is cozying up with a mince pie to watch The Antiques Road Show Christmas Special Venezuela is cranking up the holiday spirit to eleven. Welcome to Nochebuena in Venezuela—a Christmas Eve celebration that makes your average British Christmas look like a quaint afternoon tea.
Nochebuena is high-energy, it’s bright, it’s loud, it’s chaotic, everybody’s dancing – it’s the antithesis of The Antiques Road Show Christmas Special. What’s probably upping the antics is that dinner is served after midnight, as typically people go to mass first, so everyone’s hyped up in anticipation. Then, after dinner, is when the celebration really begins. There might be a bit of gift giving but in reality, everyone’s just there to dance and celebrate.
Someone cranks up the Gaitas and the celebrations continue early into the morning, as Jesus would have wanted.
4. Serve hallacas - the highlight of a Venezuelan Christmas Dinner
Undoubtedly, the centrepiece of every Venezuelan Christmas dinner is the hallaca. A delicious blend of seasoned meats mixed with olives, raisins and capers stuffed inside a cornmeal masa (dough), wrapped in banana leaves.
But to understand what an hallaca really is, and why it means so much to Venezuelans, you need to spend a weekend making them. If you read our pieces on Venezuelan Christmas Food: Hallacas - A Delicious Tradition and Food, Hallacas and Christmas: what does it all mean to 5 Venezuelan entrepreneurs living in the UK, you’ll get a sense of what we mean. Hallacas are our beautiful labour of love.
Whilst making them in Venezuela is a daunting, yet manageable endeavour, what with infinite family members to lend a hand here and there. In the UK, just thinking about where to source the ingredients can be overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean that you need to go without!
From making them to sharing them, Liqui- Liqui is honoured to be a part of so many families’ Christmases here in the UK. We take hallacas very seriously because we understand how important it is to pass on the food and traditions passed on to us.
So even if that means planting the hallaca seed in your non-Venezuelan significant other’s head by sharing a Christmas meal at our lovely restaurant in Colliers Wood, or ordering some hallacas as a surprise for your Venezuelan in-laws, we’d love to help you share such a fundamental part of Christmas to the people that mean the most to you.
Come and enjoy a Venezuelan Christmas meal at our place in Collier's Wood, London
So, there you have it. Injecting some Venezuelan flair into your Christmas celebrations is a surefire way to create a holiday season filled with laughter, delicious food, and unforgettable moments. Whether you’re diving into an hallaca or devouring a mince pie, embrace the mixing of cultures this Christmas! It may be what you never knew you were missing this whole time.
Liqui - Liqui is a small family run Venezuelan run restaurant in Colliers Wood South West London.
“NO AI HERE: This blog post is written by humans. Please enjoy our opinions, expertise, advice, experiences, and typos. ”