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Christmas time in Albania

Bolzano 17. 12. 2004

The old man and the Bakllava

Few people know about the traditions of little countries. This is not because they are not interesting, but just because they are definitely unknown. Albania is one of these.

Few people know about the traditions of little countries. This is not because they are not interesting, but just because they are definitely unknown. Albania is one of these. So how do people spend there their Christmas and New Year's Eve?

We have to remember that until the end of Communism in 1992 no one in Albania could celebrate Christmas because religion was prohibited. Now, fortunately things have changed and so people have the possibility to celebrate Christmas without any problems. The entire family gets together and this is the essential thing for us. In any case New Year's Eve is the most important feast because it gathers all Albanians: Muslims, Christians, Orthodox and Bektashian.

Unlike other countries the Christmas tree is called the New Year's tree; the same happens with Santa Claus. In fact in Albania he is called “Plaku i Vitit te Ri, it means the old man of the New Year. He does not come at Christmas, but at New Year's Eve. In fact one of the characteristics is that at midnight the old man of the old year goes away while the old man of the new year arrives. On this occasion all the people do their best to organize and prepare this celebration. Especially women spend a lot of time to cook some delicious food; for example one of their typical desserts is “Bakllava, which is very sweet.

The recipe of bakllava is a bit complicated and it takes a long time to prepare it. In fact, first we have to do the puff pastry. In order to prepare it we have to mix together some flour, some water and a bit of salt; then it is important to roll out this dough. Now we put it in a baking-pan: a layer of puff pastry and a thin layer of another mixture made up of butter, sugar, walnuts and biscuits cut into small pieces, and finally pieces of cooked puff pastry. It is important to alternate the two types of layers ten times and we put it in the oven. At this point we let water and sugar boil till the sugar has melted and the water becomes red, well the color of caramel. Then we pour it on the bakllava and we have to wait at least two days before we can eat it.

During Christmas Albania offers its inhabitants a lot of concerts and events which make people much more motivated. This period usually encourages consumption. In Albania people are influenced by this modern way of living, because they have begun to buy a lot of things and to spend a lot of money. In any case consumption is not present at the levels of other countries because the real meaning of these festivities is that of staying together.