J
Jill
Guest
As I will be in DR for Christmas - how do people celebrate? Does almost everything close down (as in Mexico)?
Christmas Activities?
S
Sarah
Guest
The family I stay with over the holidays near Barahona always celebrates Christmas on Jan 6, El Dia del Reyes (Three Kings Day). But I've read here that more and more families are celebrating on Dec 25 instead. As far as everything closing down, I have not experienced that happening.
N
Natasha
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Christmas is Christmas, celebrated on Dec. 25th. Three Kings Day (Dia de Reyes) is celebrated on Jan. 6th. This is when children receive gifts as opposed to Christmas Day in the US. Yes, more and more Dominican families exchange gifts on Dec. 25th. (most likely because of the internalisation of the "white beared fellow", foreign nationals living in the DR, and because so many Dominicans living abroad have adopted Dec. 25th as the day to exchange presents). Nevertheless, Three Kings Day is still KING and that tradition will remain (hopefully).
Kids all over anxiously await the arrival of the Three Kings the night before - Jan. 5! Instead of leaving milk and cookies for Santa, us Dominican kids would gather an old shoebox and fill it with grass (for the camels) and mints for the Kings. We would place it under the bed. The next morning, we would find our presents under the bed, minus the shoebox, of course ;-) Growing up, I used to try to "cheat" and fight sleep as hard as I could in order to "catch" the Reyes and the camels come in!!!
As far as celebrating Christmas, well Dominicans don't really have a huge Christmas dinner like you have here in the US. That gastronomical ordeal is done the night before, on Christmas Eve (Nochebuena). Many Europeans do this too.
Christmas Eve dinner is even more important than Christmas Day itself. If you are a Dominican who is alive, you HAVE to be with your loved ones on this night! Christmas Eve dinner consists of a myriad of dishes, too many to mention here, but to give you an example, there is ALWAYS pasteles en hojas. There just isn't a Christmas Eve dinner without PASTELES. Think of tamales - but instead we make them with ground plantains and other tubers and fill them with ground beef. We then wrap them with banana leaves and boil them...ummmm delicious.
Christmas Eve is a VERY festive night. People drink, dance, sing, and just plain party throughout the whole day. Many people also choose to go to midnight mass (my folks did anyway). On Christmas Day people are just too bloated (from the "jartura" they had the night before) to really do much. You ussually eat the leftovers from Nochebuena (which you will probably have for another month or so). Kids are dressed in their best clothing on Christmas Day and people just hang out with friends and family throughout the day.
You think you are done? NO! This whole gastronomical dinner is again repeated on New Years Eve/Dec 31st. After dinner, people welcome the New Year with their loved ones and then the young (and not so young) hit the clubs or go to people's parties. I have to say that I have never seen other groups of people welcome the New Year and celebrate the whole Christmas season the way Dominicans do
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Natasha
Christmas is Christmas, celebrated on Dec. 25th. Three Kings Day (Dia de Reyes) is celebrated on Jan. 6th. This is when children receive gifts as opposed to Christmas Day in the US. Yes, more and more Dominican families exchange gifts on Dec. 25th. (most likely because of the internalisation of the "white beared fellow", foreign nationals living in the DR, and because so many Dominicans living abroad have adopted Dec. 25th as the day to exchange presents). Nevertheless, Three Kings Day is still KING and that tradition will remain (hopefully).
Kids all over anxiously await the arrival of the Three Kings the night before - Jan. 5! Instead of leaving milk and cookies for Santa, us Dominican kids would gather an old shoebox and fill it with grass (for the camels) and mints for the Kings. We would place it under the bed. The next morning, we would find our presents under the bed, minus the shoebox, of course ;-) Growing up, I used to try to "cheat" and fight sleep as hard as I could in order to "catch" the Reyes and the camels come in!!!
As far as celebrating Christmas, well Dominicans don't really have a huge Christmas dinner like you have here in the US. That gastronomical ordeal is done the night before, on Christmas Eve (Nochebuena). Many Europeans do this too.
Christmas Eve dinner is even more important than Christmas Day itself. If you are a Dominican who is alive, you HAVE to be with your loved ones on this night! Christmas Eve dinner consists of a myriad of dishes, too many to mention here, but to give you an example, there is ALWAYS pasteles en hojas. There just isn't a Christmas Eve dinner without PASTELES. Think of tamales - but instead we make them with ground plantains and other tubers and fill them with ground beef. We then wrap them with banana leaves and boil them...ummmm delicious.
Christmas Eve is a VERY festive night. People drink, dance, sing, and just plain party throughout the whole day. Many people also choose to go to midnight mass (my folks did anyway). On Christmas Day people are just too bloated (from the "jartura" they had the night before) to really do much. You ussually eat the leftovers from Nochebuena (which you will probably have for another month or so). Kids are dressed in their best clothing on Christmas Day and people just hang out with friends and family throughout the day.
You think you are done? NO! This whole gastronomical dinner is again repeated on New Years Eve/Dec 31st. After dinner, people welcome the New Year with their loved ones and then the young (and not so young) hit the clubs or go to people's parties. I have to say that I have never seen other groups of people welcome the New Year and celebrate the whole Christmas season the way Dominicans do
Hope this helps!Regards,
Natasha
N
Natalie
Guest
Dominicans typically celebrate Christmas on the 24th,
the 6th of January (Dia de lso Reyes) is a gift giving day mostly for the children..In my experience everything does not close down
especially in tourist areas.
the 6th of January (Dia de lso Reyes) is a gift giving day mostly for the children..In my experience everything does not close down
especially in tourist areas.
N
Natalie
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
That was a really good response Natasha, I guess we
posted our messages at the same time because if I had read yours I wouldn't have bothered with mine
That was a really good response Natasha, I guess we
posted our messages at the same time because if I had read yours I wouldn't have bothered with mine
N
Natasha
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Why, thank you Natalie (we really have the same name you know ;-)) I had some time (not!) and I'll be at work till the wee hours it looks like so...
Regards,
Natasha
Why, thank you Natalie (we really have the same name you know ;-)) I had some time (not!) and I'll be at work till the wee hours it looks like so...
Regards,
Natasha
L
Lyse
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Jartura must be a dominican slang cannot find it in the dictionary. What's the meaning of that word?
Jartura must be a dominican slang cannot find it in the dictionary. What's the meaning of that word?
N
Natasha
Guest
Re: "jartura" , "jartera"
Yes, spelled that way it is a slang ;-) It means that you are all stuffed up [from food] or that you have eaten in excess.
Regards,
Natasha
Yes, spelled that way it is a slang ;-) It means that you are all stuffed up [from food] or that you have eaten in excess.
Regards,
Natasha
S
Sarah
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Sorry, didn't mean to make it seem like Dominicans had changed Christmas day...it's still the 25th of Dec, just like the rest of the world. I think that the 6th of Jan is emphasized so much in the area I visit because there are soooooooo many children, and that's THEIR day. In my experience, that's the day I think of when I think "Dominican Christmas".
As always, I enjoyed reading your descriptive recollections!
Sorry, didn't mean to make it seem like Dominicans had changed Christmas day...it's still the 25th of Dec, just like the rest of the world. I think that the 6th of Jan is emphasized so much in the area I visit because there are soooooooo many children, and that's THEIR day. In my experience, that's the day I think of when I think "Dominican Christmas".
As always, I enjoyed reading your descriptive recollections!
T
tgf
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Wonderful synopsis Natasha and Natalie. I'm surpised that no mention was made of the roasting pigs all over town on the night of December 23 to the day of December 24. At least on the north coast the pig population is drastically reduced as all families will buy a pig or piglet for roasting. Even the poorer families will often pool money to purchase a pig for roasting. As the evening of the 23rd rolls along people will be turning the pigs on spits, basting with oil and garlic, drinking ron or ginger tea (t? de jengibre - the person who gets the unsweetened glass has to buy the next round), listening to music until the wee hours. Then the feasting begins on the evening of the 24th. In the smaller communities often the town band or group of musical citizens will be up at dawn on the 24th marching around town playing songs to wake up the town, often accompanied by the parish priest, and welcome them to the Christmas Eve Day (after you've been up all night drinking, playing dominoes, and turning pigs on the spit, the musical renditions might not be that welcome for your hangover, but these traditions are lovely nonetheless). Writing this makes me want to be there again for Christmas this year.
Wonderful synopsis Natasha and Natalie. I'm surpised that no mention was made of the roasting pigs all over town on the night of December 23 to the day of December 24. At least on the north coast the pig population is drastically reduced as all families will buy a pig or piglet for roasting. Even the poorer families will often pool money to purchase a pig for roasting. As the evening of the 23rd rolls along people will be turning the pigs on spits, basting with oil and garlic, drinking ron or ginger tea (t? de jengibre - the person who gets the unsweetened glass has to buy the next round), listening to music until the wee hours. Then the feasting begins on the evening of the 24th. In the smaller communities often the town band or group of musical citizens will be up at dawn on the 24th marching around town playing songs to wake up the town, often accompanied by the parish priest, and welcome them to the Christmas Eve Day (after you've been up all night drinking, playing dominoes, and turning pigs on the spit, the musical renditions might not be that welcome for your hangover, but these traditions are lovely nonetheless). Writing this makes me want to be there again for Christmas this year.
K
Keith R
Guest
Re: a bit of clarification
Natasha,
As usual with your responses about Dominican traditions, your reply on this question is wonderfully (perhaps better put, lovingly) detailed. I think that it only omits the very small details -- the procession in the Colonial Zone, the ponche, the roasted pig (few people eat turkey in the DR), the pastelitos (the other kind, not in hojas), the very special Dominican way of caroling, and the fact that most offices, though open, do little in the way of serious work from about Dec. 1 until sometime in mid January (everybody's mind is on other things!). Ah, great memories...
As you might expected with a bicultural household like ours, we always exchanged gifts on NocheBuena/Christmas and then the twins got gifts too on Jan 6. Since their birthday is on Jan. 7, you can bet that this time of year is definitely their favorite!!
My wife says that she first suspected that something was not quite right with the Three Kings when the uncle she was living with as a child told her to leave, along with the mints, a certain brand of cigarettes for Balthazar that happened to be the same brand that uncle smoked. That same Three Kings Day she and some cousins were playing on a rooftop (though they weren't supposed to) and discovered discarded there the same grass they had lovingly prepared for the camels...it took about 2 seconds for my wife to then piece together the truth!
Natasha,
As usual with your responses about Dominican traditions, your reply on this question is wonderfully (perhaps better put, lovingly) detailed. I think that it only omits the very small details -- the procession in the Colonial Zone, the ponche, the roasted pig (few people eat turkey in the DR), the pastelitos (the other kind, not in hojas), the very special Dominican way of caroling, and the fact that most offices, though open, do little in the way of serious work from about Dec. 1 until sometime in mid January (everybody's mind is on other things!). Ah, great memories...
As you might expected with a bicultural household like ours, we always exchanged gifts on NocheBuena/Christmas and then the twins got gifts too on Jan 6. Since their birthday is on Jan. 7, you can bet that this time of year is definitely their favorite!!
My wife says that she first suspected that something was not quite right with the Three Kings when the uncle she was living with as a child told her to leave, along with the mints, a certain brand of cigarettes for Balthazar that happened to be the same brand that uncle smoked. That same Three Kings Day she and some cousins were playing on a rooftop (though they weren't supposed to) and discovered discarded there the same grass they had lovingly prepared for the camels...it took about 2 seconds for my wife to then piece together the truth!
L
Lyse
Guest
N
Natasha
Guest
Re: Keith, TGF and Sarah
Thanks for the additonal descriptions and experiences! I think Jill will have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Keith, my family always, always had turkey on Christmas Eve, along with pork and "chivo", though in recent years we have not had much of the latter.
Sarah, no need to say sorry...I was just adding to what you wrote and I think I knew what you were getting at in your original message
Regards,
Natasha
Thanks for the additonal descriptions and experiences! I think Jill will have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Keith, my family always, always had turkey on Christmas Eve, along with pork and "chivo", though in recent years we have not had much of the latter.
Sarah, no need to say sorry...I was just adding to what you wrote and I think I knew what you were getting at in your original message
Regards,
Natasha
K
Keith R
Guest
Re: Keith, TGF and Sarah
Okay. I stand corrected on turkey. It was never served to me during my several family NocheBuena celebrations, and it was not so heavily tocked in the stores at that time (while roasted pig was ubiquitous!), so I thought turkey was not as traditional. Should have asked my "personal expert" on Dominican affairs (my wife) first...
Un abrazo,
Keith
Okay. I stand corrected on turkey. It was never served to me during my several family NocheBuena celebrations, and it was not so heavily tocked in the stores at that time (while roasted pig was ubiquitous!), so I thought turkey was not as traditional. Should have asked my "personal expert" on Dominican affairs (my wife) first...
Un abrazo,
Keith
J
Jill
Guest
Re: Keith, TGF and Sarah
Wow - thanks Natasha!! I'm so glad I stumbled into this website, and found people with such passion about the Dominican Republic!
I was looking for some general info on DR, and now, from all that I have read on this site, I am really looking forward to visiting.
Thanks again!!!! Jillian!
Wow - thanks Natasha!! I'm so glad I stumbled into this website, and found people with such passion about the Dominican Republic!
I was looking for some general info on DR, and now, from all that I have read on this site, I am really looking forward to visiting.
Thanks again!!!! Jillian!