Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for: ‘Honduras This Week’ has chosen Christmas Dinner as the Top Honduran tradition for Christmas 2007! Christmas night or ¨Noche Buena¨ is celebrated on the 24th in Honduras and the feast begins at midnight!

Since personal firecrackers are prohibited and midnight mass is held in the early evening, a nice party at home is how most Hondurans celebrate the season. Families get together, usually wearing their new clothes, catch up on each others’ lives, dance, drink ronpopo or mistela and eat, eat, eat!

A basic, traditional Honduran Christmas dinner usually includes roasted pork leg and a sweet dessert called ¨torrejas,¨ which is a ¨ biscuit bread that we make, with an egg glaze, fried and boiled with cinnamon and brown sugar,¨ local mother, Fidelia Molina said. A full-on dinner can include dried fish soup, yucca appetizers, stuffed turkey, chicken, meringue sweets and horchata, a rice water based drink.

¨We’ve been having our midnight dinner for more than 30 years, ¨ Molina said. ¨We start with appetizers, receive guests and exchange gifts. Then we give thanks and pray before the dinner.¨ ¨Our traditional meal includes mashed potatoes and gravy, different desserts and a stuffed turkey. I stuff it with pork, fruits, bread, rice, olives and peas, ¨ Molina adds. ¨ I love cooking for my family. We save our nacatamales for the next day, because it’s just too much food! ¨
The feast continues until the early morning.

After wishing each other a merry Christmas, the young adults or young at heart, go out and spread the cheer.

Christmas day is more laid back and quiet. Most Hondurans take this opportunity to visit relatives and friends, eat leftovers or go to restaurants.

From the ‘Honduras This Week’ family to yours: be safe and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and “buen provecho!”