Holiday Countdown

Day 24: Dinner

Author: Raziel Hernandez is a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering and a Museum Advisory Council member.

A photo of three people posing with each other and smiling.

Christmas dinner 2019 with my family in Fayetteville. In the picture, my aunt and mother.

A table with lots of food dishes and several hands outstretched to fill plates with food.

Dinner in the Tropics

I am from La Chorrera, Panama and dinner is one of the most essential parts of Christmas. Christmas started as a Catholic tradition, and it still has a religious connotation. However, it is not necessary to be Catholic to celebrate Christmas. Due to Catholic heritage, Christmas celebrations start early on, with December 8th as the Conception Day; and therefore, Mother’s Day. There is also something called “Posadas”, which is a reenactment of what the Virgin Mary went through up until Jesus was born. People gather in their local churches, dress their kids as Bible characters, celebrate mass, and take the neighborhood’s streets to sing carols. My local church divides the tradition into 16 days – each day a passage of the Bible is read – and we visit houses in the neighborhoods. I have been part of this tradition since I can remember, up until I moved to the United States at age 18.

My family loves Christmas. Since most of the women in the family are devout Catholics, Christmas is always celebrated very respectfully, but still in a very Panamanian way. Panamanians love a good party, so Christmas is always the time to reunite the family, dance, drink, eat, and enjoy. The Christmas atmosphere is always a good one: since we live in the tropics, summer starts in December. Everyone paints their houses, graduations happen in December, and the biggest two parties of the year are about to start: Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

10:00 am – 24th December: Running last-minute errands.

The 24th is a very hectic day. Dinner for 10-15 Panamanians needs a lot of ingredients. Food such as jam and turkey are bought the days before. The 24th is used for last-minute errands and/or minor additional foods that we usually buy in case of unexpected guests, such as crackers, more bread and Christmas cake, and more drinks. Those purchases start at midday, and they are usually done in small neighborhood stores called “chinos” or street vendors/markets, which are more popular for festivities, but part of the culture all year around.

3:00 pm – 24th December: Cooking dinner

Cooking dinner starts around 3:00 pm. Panamanians eat Christmas dinner at midnight, and if you attend church or any religious service, cooking it early is a priority. Dinner depends on the family, but a traditional Panamanian Christmas dinner consists of tamales, arroz con pollo/Arroz con guandu, an animal protein, Rosca navideña, potato salad, and maduros (ripe plantains).

6:00 pm – 24th December: Mass

Religious services are often offered at night in Panama during Christmas.

8:00 pm to 12:00 pm – 24th December: Celebration

After going to a religious service, my family heads back to the house to party. I have celebrated most of my Christmas at my grandmother’s house with my parents. My cousins drop by at different times to exchange Christmas presents and food. Dinner is not serviced until midnight, so we just wait until it is time. By this point, most families would have a party going. Music is always played loudly, so there is always a neighbor who does everybody a favor and plays music for the entire street. Worst case scenario is multiple neighbors competing with the loudest music, but we are used to it. People also change into formal/new clothes during this time. Since the family members that I spend Christmas with are all over the age of 30, they usually do not enjoy a big party. Most of the time we just play recorded salsa concerts or watch movies on the TV. Our favorite salsa concerts are from Ruben Blades, La Fania, Celia Cruz, and Willie Colon. Non-salsa-related concerts often include Vicente Fernandez or Juan Gabriel.

Snacks are often bought to supply one’s appetite before Christmas. Walnuts, chocolate, Dane Christmas cookies, and Christmas fruit cake, apple, pears, and grapes are often put on the table to snack before midnight.

12:00 pm – 24th December: Midnight dinner and fireworks

Finally, midnight has arrived. Fireworks are often displayed 30 minutes before midnight, up until 1 am. My grandmother lives beside her sister, and one of my aunts loves fireworks, so we go to her house to watch hers light up the sky. Ever since his kid was born, we spend midnight there to open her kid’s present. The kid is the youngest in the family, so he is the only one that gets cool presents. After exchanging meals – or in my case, stealing chocolates and walnuts from my cousin’s table –, we go back to our house and eat dinner and open presents. We receive neighbors in the meantime and keep talking. After a while, my family goes to sleep, but there are a lot of people who stay up all night until 6:00 am. Kids use this time to play with their new toys.

7:00 am – 25th December: Breakfast

My family wakes up early. For breakfast, we usually have Rosca. My grandfather’s family roots are from Veraguas – a province in Panama –, so every year he orders his roscas from Santiago – a city in Veraguas. My family has kept this tradition ever since his passing. My favorite Christmas/celebration tradition from Panama is eating “recalentao”. Recalentao is simply leftovers from the midnight dinner, but somehow, they taste better for me when they are not recently cooked. No matter how old I am, I live and die for recalentao. We also eat Roscas with hot chocolate.

Since we spent Christmas night with my mother’s side of the family, the 25th is usually for my father’s side of the family. My dad has 14 brothers, so gift exchange is done in a different house each year. Most of the time, the gift exchange is in Puerto Caimito – my father’s hometown. After eating and exchanging gifts, we go for a walk by the beach.

Since I haven’t been back for Christmas in 3 years, I try to keep Christmas traditions alive in Fayetteville. I have midnight dinners with other Panamanian friends. We all dress up for the occasion. We try to adapt the menu but always keep it Panamanian with additional American side dishes, such as green bean casserole.

Feliz Navidad!

Five people poses next to each other with table in front of them decorated in a festive way and holding various food dishes.

Three people poses next to each with a decorated tree to their right and a manger scene set out on a table before them.

Christmas dinner 2018 in Panama with my immediate family.

Two people posing next to each other and a large table of food dishes before them.

Four people sitting at a table and smiling at the camera. They are in the middle of eating outside with the house behind them lit up with festive lights.

Five people posing with each other and a couple stockings hanging behind them.

Pictures of different Christmas dinners that friends have sent me (with consent to post).

Playlists for Panamanian music:

End of year celebration: Music related to Christmas and New Year.

Latin jazz and salsa: The kind of music my parents and grandparents would absolutely love during Christmas.

POV: Vas en un bus para el interior: music for most latino tastebuds.