Da - Di Mosca

oh yeah...I guess this is a kind of central european thing that baby jesus brings all the gifts! in austria (I guess in germany too) we call that "Christkind"!!! and it happens on christmas eve!

and by the way: easter eggs are still delivered by the one and only easter rabbit!!! ;-)

have fun & happy new year!
Doris

Hello Doris !

In France, the presents are brought by Saint Nicolas (northern-eastern part) on the 6th December (afternoon), but you need to feed his donkey one month along with carrots, and to let him a glass of wine the evenings. Presents are also brought by the Père Noël (a kind of Diad Moroz, a Christmas Father, but with nothing to deal with Jesus Christ, who lives in Finland, where elves are manufacturing toys for him, and who carries all this toys using a reindeer sled) from the 24th December at Midnight precisely, to the morning of the 25th. And then, you have the January Father, or Mother, depending of the region (even by Saint Sylvestre himself sometimes), whose presents are given with the Deo Gracias (before the desserts) in the plates on the Saint Sylvestre night (31st December), and are opened not before kissing under the mistletoe, after midnight, that means on the New Year. Then arrive the 3 Kings (Les Rois-Mages - Sorcerers), on the 6th January, they bring little presents, mostly something sweet to eat. We also eat the "Galette des Rois" a kind of cake filled with a bean or a little terracotta, and the one who find it is the Queen/King of the day and can ask what he wants.

Concerning the Easter chocolate, nougat, turròn or sugar eggs, even the real painted eggs, they are dropped by the bells of Roma going back to Roma (flying and passing by our sky) after having rung Easter, on Sunday early in the morning. Problem is that bells do not have eyes and they cannot see where they loose their eggs, and you need to search them every where, in the garden, in the house, and quickly if you don't want the dog to find them before you. Most often, you may forget some and find them the year after if you are lucky. As you see, by us too, the egg has nothing to deal with chicken. Sorry, but we do not have a rabbit, except cooked with oranges and bergamot. For Easter, we eat a special cake tasting like a Pandoro, but in a form of a dove and with little white snowy sugars on it.

Isa