{"id":12471,"date":"2013-12-13T12:45:20","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T17:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=12471"},"modified":"2016-03-31T16:06:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T21:06:03","slug":"colombian-christmas-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/12\/colombian-christmas-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian Christmas Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas in Colombia is <strong>an entirely different experience to what we might be used to back in Europe<\/strong>. As soon as they possibly can, Colombians start to decorate their houses, celebrate the festive season with their family and, as with Christmas elsewhere, <strong>eat and drink more than is good for you<\/strong>. Here are just a few of the typically Colombian Christmas celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Velitas<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1854\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1854\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2011\/11\/from-the-archives-the-beautiful-noche-de-las-velitas-in-bogota\/plaza-de-bolivar-velitas-diputados-farc-noche-500\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1854\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1854\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/plaza-de-bolivar-velitas-diputados-farc-noche-500.png\" alt=\"Plaza Bolivar on the Noche de Las Velitas\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/plaza-de-bolivar-velitas-diputados-farc-noche-500.png 500w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/plaza-de-bolivar-velitas-diputados-farc-noche-500-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1854\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plaza Bolivar on the Noche de Las Velitas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>La Noche de Las Velitas is celebrated all over Colombia on December 7. In honour of the Virgin Mary, people <strong>line the streets, their windows and doorways, parks, squares and any other free space<\/strong> with candles and lanterns. I guess she must have really loved candles. <strong>It&#8217;s a surreal and spectacular sight<\/strong> and something which everyone gets involved in.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Novenas<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12472\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12472\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/12\/colombian-christmas-traditions\/p12800771\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-12472\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12472\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/P12800771-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"A novenas celebration in Colombia\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/P12800771-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/P12800771-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/P12800771.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yes, this is actually inside somebody&#8217;s house. Not recommended for people with epilepsy&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Novenas<\/em>\u00a0is a tradition that started in the eighteenth century and is a celebration in honour of Jesus (you might have heard of him). It begins <strong>nine days before Christmas<\/strong> and every day people gather in homes, offices and parks to get involved in some singing, praying and general merriment. Of course this is a religious festival but it is also <strong>an opportunity to gather the family in celebration<\/strong> and feel the homely warmth of the Colombian festive season.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m told that it isn\u2019t just celebrated amongst family though. Allegedly <strong>there are late-night-dancing\u00a0<em>Novenas<\/em><i>\u00a0<\/i>with friends<\/strong>. Wild.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Food<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5890\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5890\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/12\/colombian-christmas-food\/colombia-christmas-food-natilla\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5890\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5890\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Colombia-Christmas-Food-Natilla-269x300.jpg\" alt=\"Natilla, it looks slimy but I promise it tastes good.\" width=\"269\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Colombia-Christmas-Food-Natilla-269x300.jpg 269w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Colombia-Christmas-Food-Natilla.jpg 445w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5890\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Natilla, it looks slimy but I promise it tastes good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>No, I&#8217;m not going to claim that <strong>eating food around Christmas time started in Colombia<\/strong> but, as in any country, the traditional dishes play an important role in the celebrations. In Colombia, you&#8217;ll be hard pushed to avoid\u00a0<strong><em>bu\u00f1uelos<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<em>natilla<\/em>\u00a0(a custard-based desert made with\u00a0<em>panela<\/em>\u00a0and cinnamon or\u00a0<em>arequipe<\/em>).\u00a0<strong>Local delicacies also get heavily involved<\/strong>, so don&#8217;t be surprised to find an ajiaco on your Christmas table.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Lights, camera, action<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5927\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5927\" style=\"width: 217px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2012\/12\/christmas-lights-colombia-where-to-see-some-gorgeous-christmas-lights-in-bogota\/christmas-lights-plaza-bolivar\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5927\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5927\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Christmas-Lights-Plaza-Bolivar-217x300.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas Lights Plaza Bolivar by Paul Giles\" width=\"217\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christmas Lights in Plaza Bolivar in 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Well, mainly just lights really. Colombian Christmas decorations are at the same time <strong>spectacular, gaudy, beautiful, kitsch and outrageously over-the-top<\/strong>. Which is what makes them so fantastic. Next week we will be sharing some photos of the best Christmas lights in Bogota, but it&#8217;s not just lights &#8211; huge nativity scenes and <strong>figurines that seem to have nothing to do with Christmas<\/strong> are rife throughout every Colombian city, town and village throughout the Christmas period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas in Colombia is an entirely different experience to what we might be used to back in Europe. As soon as they possibly can, Colombians start to decorate their houses, celebrate the festive season with their family and, as with Christmas elsewhere, eat and drink more than is good for you. Here are just a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88891,"featured_media":1797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[35,1544,115,626,4,66,97,92,623,65,393],"tags":[2927,58,142],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.4 (Yoast SEO v18.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Colombian Christmas Traditions - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2013\/12\/colombian-christmas-traditions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colombian Christmas Traditions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas in Colombia is an entirely different experience to what we might be used to back in Europe. 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