Taste of tradition

Christmas is family time when kinship ties are renewed and rejuvenated for the year ahead

December 24, 2014 07:12 pm | Updated 07:12 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Marzipan covered plum cake and mulled wine are Christmas specials at Maya Gomez' home in Thiruvananthapuram.

Marzipan covered plum cake and mulled wine are Christmas specials at Maya Gomez' home in Thiruvananthapuram.

It’s Christmas today. As many families in the city celebrate Christmas with family and friends, MetroPlus gets a taste of tradition in some homes. Treasured family recipes get pride of place on the table while cherished family traditions make each Christmas memorable for every member of the family.

Maya Gomez

Christmas is celebrated at my parents’ home in Kumarapuram. My brother, his family and my family are joined by my aunt and her family as my mother [Daphne Gomez] is the matriarch. We get together for a heavy brunch after midnight mass is over at St. Anne’s Forane Church in Pettah, incidentally the first church in Thiruvananthapuram.

This family get-together is a tradition that both my paternal and maternal grandmothers were particular about. In fact, my paternal great-grandmother, May Moreira, a fount of stories, used to tell us how the Anglo Indian families in Pettah used to subtly compete with each other to be the best dressed in church.

This is the time of the year when my mother bakes her Christmas special plum cake with a marzipan covering that my grandmother also used to make. We have it with a fruit punch and mulled wine that is also a Christmas special. It is homemade wine that is mixed with spices and slightly warmed. After the brunch, the children usually put up a skit or a tableau based on the spirit of Christmas.

Beena Augustine

The house is decorated for the season in colours of red and green. Christmas wreaths are put up, matching home linen comes out and there is festivity in the air. That is when I start cooking my pork roast. Its aroma and flavours take me back to a time when my mother used to make the Christmas feast for our large family. This hand-me-down recipe, which my grandmother also used to make, is a yuletide special. On Christmas Day, we have a family lunch, since all four of us are at home. It is an Indianised version of the pork roast of the Europeans. Another quaint custom I have is of hanging up the stockings with gifts in it. When my children were kids, a friend of mine gave me a pair of stockings filled with chocolates for the children. Since then, I always hang them up and fill them up with sweets, small gifts, little mementos… Now, my children, Rishabh Thomas and Nivedita Thomas, are 25 and 22, respectively. But the stockings are still put up. Over the years, the gifts put in those have changed drastically. Now money is also stuffed inside.

Jaikumari Rajenesh

Since my husband Rajenesh and I hail from Nagercoil we make it a point to go there every Christmas. We attend early morning prayer at 5.30 in our church. As we have been doing for years, all of us, children, their spouses et. al., gather for breakfast at my mama’s [uncle’s] house. He is my mother’s youngest brother and as long as I can remember, breakfast on Christmas Day is at his house. The speciality is steaming hot puttu and a pork dish. Even after my uncle passed away, my aunt insisted that we carry on this practice of having Christmas breakfast together. Then we go to my mother’s place for lunch. Along with the cakes and wine, a regional favourite is Oraappam that is made of rice flour and coconut milk. It is a mix between a cake and a halwa.

Prema Vijayan

Festivities begin three days in advance, from December 23 onwards. Twenty to 25 youngsters, all cousins, go carolling to our relatives’ houses. The first destination is Muttada, where an aunt of mine lives. From there we move to Peroorkada and so on….it goes on till midnight. After midnight mass on December 24, all of us, that is about 100 people, give or take a few, gather at my house in Kannanthura, cut the Christmas cake and have wine. Our wine is special, it is made three or four days before Christmas. Fruits like orange, pineapple, raisins… are boiled and spices are added. Carmelised sugar is added to the mixture. I order the cake and the rest of the family bring the food. Prior to that, we decide to gather at a place for lunch. Last year we met at Veli boat club, played games, had food… we had such a great time. The food is catered. This has been our routine for the last 20 years. Christmas, for me, is family time. We have the same family gathering for Onam as well. The only difference is that then we have a sadya.

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