Year: 1878

Christmas with the Romans is kept very
much as it is in England there is the same
gathering of relations together, and there is
even more than the same amount of feasting
All sorts Of people turn up about Christmas
time-many whom you cannot even remem-
Der to have heard of or seen-to ask for
Christmas boxes, and there are. Of course, the
same Christmas bills. Long before the time
comes you are prepared for il 10y an unwonted
display of live poultry. In Genoa you meet
flocks of melancholy looking turkeys wander
ing about all the streets, directed by n man
with long cane and every now and then
they stop at some doorway, and sonic one
comes out and chooses a bird, and carries it
upstairs to be fattened on chestnuts till
Christmas comes. The poor creature wan
ders about the kitchen while its purchaser
gloates over its increasing plumpness until it
roasts before the same kitchen fire. In Rome
these wandering flocks are no longer seen,
and the capon is more in favor than the tur-
key. Christmas Eve, although it is one Of the
chief fasts in the Roman Church, really ushera
in the festivities and has become one of
the greatest feasts, though people only eat
'Iuaigre" diet and those of the lower and
middle classes would think their year i'll spent
if they did not have grand supper on Christ
mas Eve. Fish is kept back for days before
hand, at the risk of spelling, and fetches un-





sorts which custom has laid down as the cor
rect one to be eaten on the occasion. The
great favorite here as at Naples, is the "capi-
tone, fish resembling conger-eel, fried in
oil o. roasted in slices on n grdiron fish
soup, too in which all sorts of fish are boiled
together, is a much-apprec cated dish and
picked cells, caviare and macaroni dressed
with tomato sauce, and saltcd anchovics, all
have their admirers The supper finishes with
Et,,1 IS % a., a., a..
of almonds and honey, and pangiallo, a sort
of dcbased plum pudding, cold and heavy ; in
fact, the whole meal, and eaten at that hour,
is one of the most indigestible that can be
imagined. In some families to avoid eating
maigre, supper is put off till midnight, and
then there is a great consumption of chicken
soup, especially among the canons of st.
Pietro, who, having midnight service to per-
form, prepare grand brew of it in the sac
risty On Christmas Eve there are no per-
formances at the theatres. The next day
eating begins again, but this time there is no
restriction as to what may be eaten capons
play great part in it but there is nothing
so specially characteristic as in the preceding
supper.


From one till about four you will scarcely
see q soul in the streets, and after that hour
you chiefly meet people who have dined and
are going to spend the evening with friends,
Il
game in which there is a pool, and every
one chooses so many numbers the numbers
are then drawn out of bag, and the one
who first has all numbers drawn wins the
pool. Some few of the theatres give repre-
sentations, and all night through there is
great deal of singing and noise in the streets.
An old custom, that of the 'pifferari" or bag
pipe players who used to come into Rome
from the Abruzzi to play before the images
of the Madonna at the street corners at Christ
mas time, no longer exists OF the religious
ceremonies which formerly took place but a
bare remnant remains indeed, the chief at
traction in that way is the ''prcsepio," at the
Ara C9li church, where an altar is converted
into grotto representing the scene of our
Lords birth, in which the miraculous BAN
bino" is the central figure, and around are
figures of the Virgin and the wise men, and
above them are very substantial clouds with
angels. There is great ceremony when the
Bambino, blazing with sham jewelry (fOr the
real gems it possesses are too precious to be
risked in such crowd is carried from the
altar where it is usually kept all round the
church and on to the steps in front to bless
the crowd, and finally deposited in the ''pres-
epic" In this church, too, is erected a sort
of small stage, on to which children of eight
or ten years of age mount, dressed in all the
tinery they possess, to deliver short ad-
dress, which they have learned by heart, to
the crowd their proud parents standing be-
low to prompt them, if necessary, and the
successful performers being rewarded by
loud-whispered applause. On the day after
Christmas Day the opera begins at the ApOl-
10, and with that we are fairly launched into
the carnival season, which lasts till Lent


Pail Mall Gazette