Christmas in the D R

amstellite

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Sep 5, 2007
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This might sound like a daft question but I will be in the D R from dec 31 to Jan 10 and I know the kids get gifts on Jan 6. Therefore I was going to get a bunch of small presents and wrap them there for the poorest kids in the neighborhood of La Caleta. One questiin though- and it might be silly- but I really don;t know- do they have Christmas trees and the lights and tinsle and all that too? I was thinking if not I 'd bring a small tree and the ornamnets and lights if they are not used to seeing that stuff.. what do you think- crazy or just plain dumb- ??thks
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Just wait and buy them there - although knowing Dominicans the decorations will have been up since late September. :D
 

Chirimoya

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Hell for leather sums it up. You'll see the lights, trees with baubles, plastic Santas, reindeer, etc. all over the place.

More traditional Dominican seasonal decorations are the charamicos: animals, angels and trees made of twigs.

In the poorer barrios and campos you may also see home made street decorations like trees made with plastic bags and arches decorated with scraps of plastic bags and drinks cans.
 

peep2

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Oct 24, 2004
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The Christmas displays were going up around our halloween when I was there in October. I would imagine there will be a lot of Christmas stuff on sale till the end of the year. No point in carting it down there unless you get an awsome deal on the stuff in the U.S.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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also, i believe that the whole gift thing does not have to happen on the 6th on january. in miesposo's family xmas dinner and presents are on the 24th, just like in poland.
 

Chirimoya

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As I understand it, that's the tradition in the north of the country. In the south the big dinner is on the 24th Dec but children are given gifts on Jan 6th.
 

PrincessaDR

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Chiri - in the north we do it pretty much like the rest of the country. the big Christmas dinner is the 24th. Some gifts exchanged. For the KIDS the big deal is Jan 6th.
 

Chirimoya

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OK, so it varies. But like dv8's esposo's family and others I know of, people in some parts of the north follow the Ni?o Jes?s tradition where children receive gifts on Christmas eve. What has probably happened is that the predominant Reyes (Jan 6th) tradition has gained ground in recent years.
 

dv8

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giving presents on the 6th should be persecuted by law :)
who wants to wait that long!!!???

now you painfully reminded me that i'll be spending this xmas in DR :cry:
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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My Dominican in-laws do the whole Christmas tree, lights, decorations, etc. We give my suegra her gifts on Christmas Day, but all the kids get theirs on Jan 6th. My husband told me the saddest day in his life was when he found out that the Three Kings and their camels didn't really come to his house on 1/6.:cry:

AE
 

ExtremeR

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Mar 22, 2006
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OK, so it varies. But like dv8's esposo's family and others I know of, people in some parts of the north follow the Ni?o Jes?s tradition where children receive gifts on Christmas eve. What has probably happened is that the predominant Reyes (Jan 6th) tradition has gained ground in recent years.

Quite the contrary Chiri, the normal and accepted tradition is the Reyes on January 6th, what has been gaining grounds though middle and upper class family are gifts given the morning of the 25th, sometimes they give half the toys the 25th and the big ones the 6th.
 

cibaoo

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This might sound like a daft question but I will be in the D R from dec 31 to Jan 10 and I know the kids get gifts on Jan 6. Therefore I was going to get a bunch of small presents and wrap them there for the poorest kids in the neighborhood of La Caleta. One questiin though- and it might be silly- but I really don;t know- do they have Christmas trees and the lights and tinsle and all that too? I was thinking if not I 'd bring a small tree and the ornamnets and lights if they are not used to seeing that stuff.. what do you think- crazy or just plain dumb- ??thks

It's not crazy or dumb but generally most people from barrios and poor countryside will not have noe.
 

Chirimoya

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Quite the contrary Chiri, the normal and accepted tradition is the Reyes on January 6th, what has been gaining grounds though middle and upper class family are gifts given the morning of the 25th, sometimes they give half the toys the 25th and the big ones the 6th.
There are two factors at play here - you quite rightly bring in the point about the North American/Northern European influence encroaching on the Spanish Reyes tradition with Christmas Day becoming the main gift-giving day, but I maintain that there is another old tradition, the Ni?o Jes?s, common amongst many families in the north of the country, where gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve as opposed to Reyes. This custom is also found in other parts of Latin America - including Mexico, Peru and Colombia.
 

PrincessaDR

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I have seen no evidence of that Chiri - the only ADDITION is gifts on the 24th in those families with either money or family members who are foreigners....
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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Extreme got it right.

Alter: I also was one of those kids (well back then we all were) who believed the Three Kings did come and I remember getting into an argument with an older kid who had woken up in the middle of the night and caught his parents hiding the gifts who was telling me there were no three kings and I could swear he was wrong...haha...I mean I had even seen the camel hoofs in my back yard the next morning and how could he explain to me that the grass I had left for the camels was all gone?

Amazing how innocent we were back then...

I see that eventually we'll start celebrating like in The US (I hope not), as Dominicans are adapting everything North American. We now celebrate Halloween (Jalouin) and even Thanksgivings...give me a break...
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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We do gifts the 24th. We do not do anything on the 6th. From what I have observed that is pretty much a Santo Domingo tradition with the parade and all that. In Santiago and environs the 6 is just a holiday...

HB
 
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amstellite

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Sep 5, 2007
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Thanks for the reply- I am unfamiliar with how it goes there so thanks for the pointers. I have a question though. I belive the kids where my friend lives will receive nothing -they are far too poor. There are many many children and they are always around- some much more poor than other s( or so they look to me shoe shiner boys and so on- they get me to fork ove rthe most- or am I being taken ??). But I see how they live in Juan's community of La Caleta and Campo Lindo - and I want to do something special this one time I am there over Ne Years and the 6th of Jan. I want to bring over a tree( small, artificial) lights, the works, for the family I know and then bring ove lots of small gifts- like 10 bucks a pop- and wrap them there- then give them to the other kids - but I want to avoid being perceived as the big American show-off... I thought about giving them to Juan and have him do it...maybe have a big barrel filled with presents and then have the kids come over and pick a number and then get the corresponding gift- blue for boys, pink for girls- similar to how we do grab bags here in the usa. what do you think- will that wash with them or will they resent me for it??