The holiday season in Puerto Rico—especially for continental Americans—can be a sack of surprises. The celebrations, which begin early in December and end late in January, are an amalgam of the best of island traditions and criollo versions of mainland customs.
When I first came to live on the island nearly 50 years ago, Santa was practically a stranger. Most children received their gifts not on Christmas morning but on Three Kings Day, Jan. 6. The Three Kings—the Magi—arrived during the dark of night and delivered gifts to good children who diligently left boxes of grass for the Kings’ camels.
I was used to Christmas Eve being a time to decorate the tree and wrap gifts after the children were asleep— and for getting a head start on the feast to be served to relatives and friends on Christmas Day. In Puerto Rico, Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) was the main event. Christmas Day was to rest up from the late-night celebrations.
Instead of a crèche under an evergreen tree, many homes had hand-carved wooden santos arranged in a Belén, a re-creation of the manger scene. Today, refrigerated container loads of Christmas trees arrive here for the holidays and buildings are festooned with lights.
Christmas carols (villancicos) were rarely heard outside of church, but trullas, asaltos or parrandas were so common that we never went to bed without making sure the refrigerator and pantry were stocked for late-night visitors. The tradition was for the parranderos to wait until you were asleep and then appear at your door to wake you with traditional songs. When the lights came on, the happy visitors entered, sang, and partied, then invited the hosts to join them as they went to the next house on their list.
Many people headed for the town of Hatillo on Dec. 28 for the Día de los Inocentes (now the Festival of the Masks), a parade and party that had its origin in King Herod’s slaughter of the innocents but is now a lively town carnival and mask competition.
Before I lived here, I was accustomed to the holiday season ending abruptly on New Year’s Day. In Puerto Rico, it is just getting started. City people head for the country on Reyes (Jan. 6) to feast with relatives and friends. Each King has a day, then, on Jan. 9 the Octava (eight days of celebrations) begins. The Octavitas—eight additional celebration days—follow and extend the holiday season to the end of the month.
Most of these traditions are still very much alive and, in many cases, have merged with mainland customs. For example, Santa Claus arrives around Thanksgiving and takes up residence in major shopping malls for photo-ops until Dec. 24.
Many children now receive gifts both from Santa on Christmas Day and from the Three Kings on Jan. 6! New Year’s Eve is as noisy a party night as it is throughout the Western world. Hotels and resorts host grand affairs and a televised bash attended by thousands takes place at the Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan. In smaller gatherings, people may crowd around a radio to hear the traditional Brindis del Bohemio poem or you may see them eating 12 grapes in the 12 seconds leading up to the New Year, which is said to bring good luck.
Probably the thing that has changed the least during this halfcentury is the menu. The holiday season would just not be the same without pasteles, arroz con gandules, chicharrones, lechón, morcillas, arroz con dulce, majarete, coquito, and pitorro.
A pastel is a sort of tamale, made from banana and yautía (taro) batter stuffed with morsels of pork or chicken, then wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled to perfection. Arroz con gandules is a richly flavored rice pilaf made with pigeon peas. Chicharrones are chunks of pork seasoned with garlic and oregano and fried golden brown. Lechón is a spit- roasted pig and morcilla is a sausage made with pork blood, rice and, often, hot peppers.
Arroz con dulce is a sweet rice dessert made with freshly grated coconut and raisins. Majarete is custard made with coconut milk, rice fl our, and cinnamon. There are many recipes for coquito but, for me, the best are made from rum, coconut cream, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon. Some people add eggs and it becomes a criollo eggnog called ponche.
Pitorro or ron caña is rum that begins life in illegal stills. It is often made into a sweet and potent liquor by adding candy, fruit, and meat. If you can find it from a reliable source, it can be an unforgettable experience— but if you have too much (the alcohol content varies and its proof is often unknown) it can too easily be forgotten. A legal version is available in stores.
Just as in other parts of the world, holiday traditions vary from town to town and from family to family, but one thing never changes: the joy the season brings. You can experience the joy by participating in the events listed with this story. ¡Felicidades!
