Christmas in Rome 2006
One would think Christmas is a big deal here in Rome, bigger than anywhere else in the christian world. One would expect holiday themed store windows and crazy sales to bring in customers. But (thankfully) Rome hasn't fallen victim to the American style commercialism associated with the holiday. It's much more traditional here. There are Christmas markets and a few holiday themed shops, but for the most part, in Rome, Christmas doesn't really begin till Christmas eve. Although this year, the Pope, a german who grew up with the concept of the "ol Tannenbaum" ordered the largest tree ever for the Vatican square. At 109-feet tall, this 9 ton silver fir from Calabria finally arrived to Rome on Dec. 13th, more than a week after it was scheduled to arrive. The storms and winds of early December made it really difficult to get the tree to the Vatican. And even when it did arrive, it was missing quite a few branches. But luckily, the crew was able to screw them back in after the tree got vertical.
The big event of the holiday is the "Creche reveal". Every church in Rome builts their own manger scene and the competiion can get fierce. Some are very traditional, some even historic. Some are filled with live actors, some (like the Vatican display) are the scale size of a Judean village. And some (we've been told) are very high tech, complete with automatronics, lighting and "special effects". Word gets around very quickly as to which church has the best creche; the prize is having the Pope come to have a peek. The proof of the Pope's visit is that he places a veil on the face of the Mary character after he's made a visit. Unfortunately for us, we made plans for Christmas dinner back in Paris so we never go to the see the big creche reveal. We snuck a peek behind a few curtains in various churches but we were quickly scolded away and told to come back on Christmas eve.
The Piazza Navona has turned into the La Befana carnival with carny games, cotton candy, licorice, silly prizes and La Befana dolls. La Befana is the Italian version of Santa Claus, in the same context as someone who flies through the land giving good children sweets and bad children coal. Basically, she's an old witch. As the story goes, when the wise men came looking for the manger they stopped at the house of la Befana and asked directions. She was too busy and brushed them aside with her broom. Later she realized she made a mistake but when she went to look for them they were gone. And so now she spends every January 6th (epiphany) looking for good and bad children. The good kids get the gifts, the bad ones get a lump of coal. By the way, the La Befana dolls are really scary; Disney witch scary...
Christmas shopping is everywhere. There are the crafts markets near the Piazza Navone, the high prices gifts near the Piazza di Spagna and small neighborhoods around the Trastevere and Campo dei Fiori have festive strings of lights hanging overhead, bekoning the shoppers. But don't look for any discounts before the holiday. There are no pre holiday sales in Rome. The sales come after the holiday season; just it used to be when we were kids.
Today we saw one of the zampognari (shepherds from the Abruzzo area who come to Rome to play their sheepskin bagpipes for Christmas. They're all dressed in traditional sheepskin garb. You can check them out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=13wUzco_wvg . One of the local jokes is to impersonate the zamognari by humming while holding your nose and hitting your throat with your hand to change the pitch of the drone.
The zampognari supposedly came from the Abruzzo region. It's been told that these leather clad, sheepskin vested bagpipers actually played for the baby Jesus in the manger, even though Christianity in't come to the Abruzzo until long after Christ's death. But for hundreds of years, these zampognari or pifferai have been coming to Rome for Christmas, playing their pipes in excahnge for food, lodgings or "contanti", cash. Supposedly, the best place to see them on Christmas eve is at the church of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill. Some say that the creche at Santa Maria d'Aracoeli is the largest in the world. 
It's size is due to the celebrity occupant of the church, the Santo Bambino. This lifesize statue of the baby Jesus has been performing miracles for hundreds of years. This infant Jesus was carved from olive-wood from Gethsemane by a Franciscan friar in Jerusalem at the end of 1400. It's been told that the final painting was completed by the hands of angels.
The sick would call for the Santo Bambino and he would come to them, along with his staff of administrators, in a gilded gold carriage. He is resplendidly dripping in jewels as a token thanks from those he has healed. Apparenly the Bambino like expensive clothing and jewels. The original was stolen in 1995 and never returned, but the new one is carrying on the tradition, although he pretty much sits in his glass house these days, coming out very rarely. Christmas eve is one of his nights out.
But aside from the pomp and pagentry, December is a wonderful time to visit Rome. The days can be very warm with temperatures climbing up towards the high 60's Fahrenheit. And the light is beautiful; crisp and clear.