The most popular Italian Christmas traditions that are seen uniformly throughout Italy are the Midnight Mass, Befana and the Nativity scene, it is in Italy that the concept of the manger began. This Italian Christmas tradition is followed on the day after Christmas where the children are visited by Strega Buffana or La Befana who is a good witch. She is supposed to flying around Italy on a broom and delivering gifts and treats for the children who have been good and leaving coal for the children who have been bad.
Another of the unique Italian Christmas traditions are to give a bag of lentils to your friends of which they have to prepare lentil soup. This peasant soup is supposed to remind them of their small beginnings and make people humble and thankful for what they have. Italians also believe this is supposed to bring them prosperity and good luck for the upcoming year.
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Like everything essentially Italian Christmas is given a lot of importance and is celebrated with great fervor. Italian Christmas traditions differ from region to region within Italy just like Italian food. Even if a few cities are just a few miles apart they celebrate Christmas in very different ways. This is primarily because of the various empires that have ruled over various provinces of Italy that Italian Christmas traditions have so much variety.
