Latvia Edition
Noche Buena leads today's complete edition for Latvia.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
The real Christmas. Families gather, the Viejito Pascuero (Santa Claus) leaves gifts under the tree, and the pan de Pascua and cola de mono flow. The meal is late, the conversation is long, and at midnight everyone hugs. Christmas in Chile is Noche Buena. December 25th is just the aftermath.
The real celebration is the 24th, not the 25th. The whole family gathers at midnight for vitel tone, pan dulce, and sidra. The heat is brutal, the fan is on high, and someone always sets off fireworks in the street. At midnight, the toast happens and kids run around with globo lanterns.
The most important family holiday in Latvia, and the celebration includes the traditional meal of grey peas with bacon, pork, sauerkraut, piparkukas (gingerbread), and the Christmas blood sausage (asinsdesa). The table is set with 12 dishes (one for each month), and a candle is lit for each dish. The tradition is to leave a plate for the souls of the departed, and the empty plate is a reminder that the dead are still present. The room is decorated with evergreen branches, and the tree is lit with candles (real candles, not electric ones).
You witness the resplendent quetzal in cloud forests, the pink river dolphin in the Amazon, and the jaguar prowling through diverse ecosystems. You find that Colombians commonly keep dogs and cats as pets, with many also keeping birds like parakeets and canaries. ACADA celebrates the world's pets, and helps assure better care.