Happy Christmas from our Producers!.
December 13th, 2021 | Sourcing & Sustainability
As we head towards the holiday season, writing our Christmas cards, putting up the tree and looking up the perfect turkey recipe, we began to wonder what Christmas looked like for our producers all over the globe. What traditions do the families who grow our coffee observe in the weeks leading up to December 25th and on the big day itself?
Here’s what we found out…
COCAFELOL, Honduras
Are there any particular traditions that are carried out in your communities at Christmas time?
One of the best most representative traditions where days before Christmas the community organises itself to carry out the famous POSADAS which consists of hosting Jesus, Maria and Jose. This is done one day in each house and the neighbours and relatives, we share food and moments of joy. There are fireworks, song and celebration of the word of God in every home.
Do you decorate your homes?
The children enjoy decorating the Christmas tree and the front of the house are lights. The birth, which is a representation of the arrival of the Child Jesus, is decorated with great love for the family. The children look forward to the decoration of the tree that fills them with joy.
What types of food and drink would you expect to enjoy on Christmas Day?
Christmas is one of the best times for our families, as we frame moments of joy and happiness, commemorating our great joys, the funny moments that we had when we fell in front of our brothers or cousins and how much they laughed before helping us get up, the night Christmas when we remember we laughed together at the episode. Precisely the Christmas season coincides with the coffee harvest, making this time more unique, as it allows our families to enjoy more quality time, bringing moments of joy and happiness.
Days before dinner, parents who live far away begin to arrive to enjoy the evening, the food is prepared by the women of the family, they prepare and bake the bread, especially the quesadilla, cook dinner, the baked pig and the tamales cannot be missed; All this in the kitchen of the grandmother’s house, while preparing the tamales and the bread, they laugh remembering the anecdotes they have witnessed or the occurrences of their children, nephews or brothers. At dinner time the whole family is at the grandparents’ house, the relatives who live far have finished arriving, those who were cutting coffee are ready for the special moment and to start enjoying the typical food the tamales, the baked pig, the stuffed chicken, the fruit salad, all with “Mom’s seasoning” because it always tastes better. enjoy a cup of coffee watching the grandchildren play.
Do you exchange gifts at Christmas?
Especially in large families, days before Christmas we play Secret Friend where we write the names of the family members on paper, cut them out and fold them so that no one decides who to choose. On Christmas night after a delicious dinner we exchange gifts. The protocol of the game consists of describing the qualities and characteristics of the person to whom we will give the gift so that others can identify who it is without saying the name. The little ones are the ones who enjoy the moment the most.
Does Santa Claus come to homes on Christmas eve?
Currently, the tradition of writing to Santa Claus asking for gifts is being lost, the covid-19 pandemic caused a new cyber era because education is all done through technology and children want technological items. They always wait for their gifts but at a certain age they no longer believe that Santa Claus exists.
How do you spend Christmas Day?
We go to church as a family to thank the birth of Jesus as well as to thank the year that is going, for everything received, for the work and the coffee harvest that allows the sustenance for our families, for what we share, for having happiness to be together, remembering those who are no longer with us; thanking the time shared and the lessons they left us. These are moments that last in our memory because it strengthens family ties.
And finally, what is the weather like?
It doesn’t snow, it doesn’t rain. But coffee is drunk a lot to calm the cold, always with the family at 3pm.
