Albania · Social

Christmas & New Years in Albania

cswaim

This year Christmas fell on Sunday and in Albania, it felt like any other Sunday. A few more shops closed than normal, but people were out in doing their normal activities. When you remember this is a country that is 90% Muslim, then maybe that is not so surprising. In fact, it looked like most were using the day to get their shopping done for New Year’s Day. While Christmas is not a huge holiday here, it is still a holiday though only a few families really celebrate it. People put up trees and decorate them and their homes with all the Christmas trappings, but it really is in preparation to celebrate the big holiday, New Year’s.

Under Turkish rule Albanians were coerced (or given tax breaks) into converting to Islam. Then under Communism, no one was allowed to celebrate religious holidays so New Year’s has become the day of national celebration. There is a Muslim holiday that falls in December as well, so like the US, there is a holiday “season,” culminating with a huge celebration for New Year’s.

In Albania, New Year’s Day is when you exchange gifts and if activity on the street is any indicator, the week before New Year’s is when you do your shopping. The routine is to watch the fireworks New Years Eve and after that, the kids go to bed and await the arrival of Santa Claus (Baba Gjushi). A lot of the adults then go to the club parties, dining and dancing until morning, or they just go out and walk around and stop for drinks and wish each other a prosperous new year.

We are not exactly sure if there is a set routine for the New Year celebration, but
this year it started mid-afternoon on New Year’s Eve when the shops began closing. Of course the boys have been perfecting their fireworks skill for about 2 weeks, but this week is the opportunity to get the timing down. How long can you hold the firecracker before dropping it beside the unsuspecting pedestrian? Is the throw and run more effective than the drop and walk? And why do the Americans always act so upset when no one else seems to care?

The fireworks continue to build until midnight and then, if nothing else, Albania knows fireworks. We had discussed going out after midnight to see what the dining and dancing scene was like, but to a person, we were told to be very careful. We had planned on watching the fireworks from the rooftop of our apartment as it would give us a great view of the city, but it was too crazy to risk exposing yourself on the rooftop. About 11:30, the noise steps up noticeably and builds until midnight and continues for about 25 minutes. EVERYONE has bought TONS of fireworks and they begin to shoot them off from their houses, apartments or street. Yes, right in the middle of the city, EVERYWHERE!! It lasts for about a half-hour. It was really something to behold. we are not talking about the wimpy fireworks things you get in the States. No, these are serious fireworks with lots of bang and sparkle. We watched, leaning out of our kitchen window. It was amazing! We took a video (see below) that we hope to post on the Web, but it really doesn’t entirely capture the closeness of it all. It was a bit surreal, even. Fountains on the rooftops that lit up the entire apartment building; Roman Candles from a hand out the window; firecrackers in the streets and alleys; and the big, spectacular fireworks illuminating the skyline. When it started you could see clearly across the rooftops but very quickly the smoky haze settled on us and the smell of gunpowder permeated everything. We just stayed inside — it was a bit frightening — and finished watching VH1’s music video New’s Year’s mix. Quite festive for us!

On New Year’s Day, the kids wake up to the presents that Baba Gjushi has placed either on or under their beds, and the family opens presents. Later that day, everyone goes visiting. We were invited to some friends house for dinner (an Albanian family) and they stuffed us like we eat at Thanksgiving and Christmas combined! First, snacks and liquor at the coffee table. Then, pork chops, cheese, Russian salad, pickled beets, tomatoes and olives. Then, a piece of homemade byrek (a phyllo dough meat pie) stuffed with a chicken filling. Then, a quarter of a turkey breast. We had given up at this point. Neither of us could manage more than just a mere taste of the turkey. Then, it was time for dessert, a homemade confection similar to baklava but with this angel-hair-type pastry on top and finally, fresh fruit. All this on top of free-flowing liquor and assorted sodas and juices. My goodness, we were miserable by the time we left. And of course we were sent home with left-overs.

The day after New Years Day is also a holiday and we were invited to our host family’s home for similar treatment. At least there, they served it all on your plate at once, so we just leave food on the plate. We had two meats, stuffing, salad, fruit and baklava. Of course, there was plenty of wine and we were sent home with leftovers as well. We won’t have to cook for a week.

Video streaming is more difficult than Criss expected. He is working on it, but it is not working yet. So if you would like to see the video, download one of the files below. It runs about a minute, but if you put it on continues repeat play for about 30 minutes, you have have a feel for what the evening was like. Some of these files are very large (up to 82mb), so it will take a bit to download.