Buon Natale ........

Piazza IX Aprile, Taormina
Taormina is a charming place to be at Christmas time, the Corso Umberto is adorned with lights and there is a huge Christmas tree in Piazza IX Aprile.

On Christmas Eve after dinner and present opening, everyone heads to the Duomo where a huge bonfire is lit at 11pm, the tradition is that the bonfire will keep the baby Jesus warm. The locals call Christmas Eve the Night of Luminaria (Illumination).

Evening mass begins at midnight in the Duomo when the priest carries baby Jesus down the cathedral aisle.

Duomo, Taormina


On a clear Christmas day you will see Mount Etna’s snowy cap sparkling in the winter Sicilian sun as if she has been dusted with icing sugar especially for the festive season.

Christmas day morning you will hear the many church bells peel signifying the beginning of Christmas mass.

Christmas lunch is usually meat and as expected in Sicily sweets and desserts are of the most importance. The evening is usually spent playing Sicilian card games like Scopa or Briscola with a set of Sicilian playing cards.

Corsi Umberto, Taormina
Nativity scenes are popular in Sicily particularly the custom of holding a ‘Presepe Vivente’ (Living Crib), whereby local people dress up as Mary, Jesus, the Three Kings, angels and shepherds in a theatrical presentation of the Christmas story.

We have a live nativity scene every year in Giardini Naxos where you walk along a planned route and watch men dressed in Coppola’s (traditional Sicilian flat caps) who reinact ploughing the earth and see women young and old dressed in scarves and shawls hard at work scrubbing in a mock laundry, it is also a chance for the local actors to demonstrate traditional skills like baking, sewing, carpentry and stone masonry.

There are live animals too which is always popular with children and eventually you are rewarded at the end by seeing baby Jesus in his crib, always played by a lucky local baby.
Bonfire outside the Duomo

It is the perfect setting for a Sicilian Christmas safe in the knowledge that the White Almond blossom will soon be back in bloom and that spring will once again return to our Sicily for another year.

At White Almond Private Sicily we would like to wish all our followers, clients, contacts and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

2014 has been an amazing year for us, we have met many wonderful people and made new friends for life.

We look forward to seeing you all in Sicily in 2015.


Buon Natale tutti …………………………………




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