Advent Traditions: Christmas Cookies from Around the World

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It’s Advent! This time of watchful, joyful waiting is my favorite season of all! The weeks leading up to Christmas are full of Advent traditions and preparations: there are gifts to make and wrap, decorations to put up around the house, and of course lots of food to prepare.

Many old European Christmas and Advent traditions involve foods that are made weeks (or months) in advance and aged. This is especially helpful for busy homemakers who never seem to have enough time to bake everything right before Christmas!

Spreading out the Christmas baking is something I have been working on for years. I started with making my fruitcake early, and since then I’ve gradually incorporated other customary foods into our own Advent traditions.

Last week I shared some of my favorite cookbooks, and this week I’m giving you a glimpse inside my Advent kitchen. From cookies to celebrate the special feasts that fall during Advent itself to Christmas treats that need time to age, here’s a run-down of my Advent baking.

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First Sunday of Advent: Stir-up Sunday

The first Sunday of Advent used to be known as “Stir-up Sunday” in some cultures, due to the words used in the Collect (the opening prayer of the Mass): “Stir up thy might, we beg Thee, and come…” In the old calendar, this prayer was used on the last Sunday of the Church year, right before Advent. It is still used in the Anglican tradition on that day. The words from the old prayer are: “Stir up the wills of Thy faithful people, we beseech Thee, O Lord…”

One of the best known Advent traditions on this day is to stir up fruitcakes or Christmas puddings, to symbolize the fact that our hearts need to be “stirred up” to receive the Lord at Christmas and at His second coming.

Fruitcakes

There are two basic types of fruitcake: light and dark. I prefer dark, spicy fruitcakes, which are mostly fruit with a little cake to hold everything together! My sister makes light fruitcakes, which are more like fruit-studded poundcakes.

Recipes for both types of fruitcake can be found in A Continual Feast, by Evelyn Birge Vitz. Did I mention that this is my favorite holiday cookbook? My mother has made special recipes from this book for years, and I was delighted to find that my mother-in-law also uses it!

Or you can try this recipe for a spiced light fruitcake, which I adapted from the aforementioned cookbook.

December 6: St. Nicholas’ Day

St. Nicholas, or Sinter Klaas, or Santa Claus, is associated with Christmas in several cultures. In the Catholic tradition, the feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 6, during Advent. St. Nicholas was a real person, before he became the embodiment of Christmas! He was a bishop of Myra (in what is now Turkey) in the 4th century.

Many tales and traditions surround his life. One of the best known stories involves him dropping a bag of coins down the chimney of a family too poor to provide a dowry for their daughter to marry. Perhaps this is why Santa Claus is said to come down chimneys with his sack of toys?

If you want to celebrate this day like the Dutch do, have your children put out their shoes the night before. If St. Nicholas comes in the night, good children receive coins or treats in their shoes, while naughty children receive straw. Foil-wrapped chocolate coins are a tradition in our house!

Speculaas

Speculaas are Dutch cookies for St. Nicholas’ Day. They are light spice cookies with lemon or orange rind added to the dough: similar to pfeffernusse, but milder and without nuts or chunks of dried fruits and peel. They are traditionally shaped like St. Nicholas himself, or like windmills. It’s really not as hard as it seems to cut out a simple St. Nicholas figure.

These are some of my favorite Christmas cookies. I make the dough on St. Nicholas’ day and bake a few for us to enjoy, then freeze the rest for Christmas. You can find recipes in many cookbooks or online. Of course, my favorite is in A Continual Feast.

December 8: Immaculate Conception

This is a newer feast, established in 1854, but its importance in the Catholic Church is recognized by observing it as a solemnity. That means it has the same rank as Sundays. When the holyday falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated on the following Monday instead, so that neither feast is skipped.

Moravian Spice Cookies

Since it is more recently established, there aren’t many traditional foods associated with this day. Moravian Spice cookies can be made on this feast or the vigil, because of the Scripture passage Sirach 24: 20-21, “I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aromatic balm…” The passage describes Mary, but it mentions the spices in these cookies!

The dough is similar to gingerbread. It is rolled out very thin and cut into heart shapes. Once they are baked, the cookies are iced with fancy designs or religious symbols. You can find a recipe on Catholic Culture.

December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe

This feast commemorates the apparitions of the Blessed Mother to an Aztec peasant named Juan Diego in Mexico in the year 1531. St. Juan Diego has his own feast day on December 9, but I’m not usually organized enough to celebrate both days!

Mexican Cookies

Mexican food would be appropriate to make on one or both of these feast days. In keeping with the cookie theme, I like to make Mexican Wedding Cakes. These are little round sugar cookies made with ground or chopped almonds and covered in powdered sugar. I’ve also heard them called Russian Tea Balls.

Whichever the actual origin, they are quite tasty, and freeze very well. If you want an authentic Mexican treat, try polverones de canele, a cinnamon-sugar covered cookie similar to snickerdoodles.

December 13: St. Lucy’s Day

St. Lucy was an early martyr from Syracuse, Sicily. Like St. Nicholas, there are more legends than known facts about her. She has been revered as a saint for centuries, perhaps nowhere so well as in Sweden. The name “Lucy” means “light,” and she is known as the saint of light. The traditions for her feast reflect this.

St. Lucy’s Crown

In the Swedish St. Lucia celebration, the eldest daughter of the family is dressed in a white gown and red sash, and crowned with a wreath of greenery and lingonberry sprigs and lighted candles. She gets up before sunrise and goes about waking her family with special buns and coffee.

The buns (lussebullar) are made in an S shape or an X shape with the ends curled, an ancient symbol of the sun. Alternatively, a yeast cake shaped like a crown may be served. You can put lighted candles on the cake if you don’t desire a walking fire hazard! The buns and cake are traditionally made of sweet yeast dough flavored with saffron. There’s a great recipe in-you guessed it!-A Continual Feast.

St. Lucy Gingersnaps

Luciapepperkakor is another Swedish tradition on this day. You can find an authentic recipe, but I just make my favorite gingerbread cutouts. Eat a few tonight, and save the rest for Christmas!

Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

Somewhere in between all these feasts is the third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday. The word “Gaudete” means “rejoice” in Latin. It is the first word of the Introit for that day.

In past centuries, when Advent was observed as a more penitential season (like Lent), Gaudete Sunday was a day of reprieve from the fasting and penances. It is still a day of rejoicing, reminding us that our Advent traditions and preparations are making our hearts ready to receive our Savior.

The liturgical color for this day is rose, instead of penitential purple which is worn during the rest of Advent. This color is used for the priest’s vestments, the laudian or altarcloths, and the candle for the third week of Advent.

The overall theme of the day is one of rejoicing. Today marks the midway point in Advent. The theme of the daily readings switches from anticipating the end of the world to anticipating Christ’s birth. In a Judeo-Christian society, this is when Christmas preparations begin in earnest.

Pink Party

Thus, a party is appropriate to add to your Advent traditions. And a party means… cookies! Pink cookies! I’ve heard of baking sugar cookie cutouts today and frosting some of them pink. Otherwise, candy cane cookies or pink spritz cookies work well.

But don’t stop there. Why not carry the pink theme throughout your dinner to really make it special?

Rose wine or a Pink Lady cocktail for the adults, and cranberry punch for kids make fun pink drinks. Serve them in wine glasses to add to the festivity (if your kids are old enough).

Ham and cheese rollups, secured with a toothpick, are pink and have the added bonus of looking a little like roses (if you squint). Other ham dishes will also work. Pink fruits like berries, pomegranates, and grapefruit combine nicely in a fruit salad.

Last but not least, set some fresh flowers on the table. Pink roses put the crowning touch on your celebration!

December 21: St. Peter Canisius

Peter Canisius was born in Holland in the year 1521. He entered the Jesuit order and traveled all over central Europe, preaching, founding colleges, and advocating reform within the Church. He had tremendous influence in both religious and secular society.

Pfeffernusse and Springerle

St. Peter Canisius spent much of his life in Germany, and he is one of the patron saints of that country. Therefore, I find it quite reasonable to make German Christmas cookies on his feast day.

Pfeffernusse, or peppernuts, are small, round, spicy cookies full of chopped almonds and citrus peel, and dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Grind your own spices for real old-world flavor! I have used different recipes, and am still experimenting to find one I like best.

Springerle are pale anise-flavored cookies. They are made with a specific springerle mold. You can find these in antique stores or specialty shops. Some look like rolling pins with different motifs engraved on them.

There are also lots of different recipes for these cookies. Some have whole anise seeds while others use powdered anise or anise extract. Plan ahead when making these cookies, because they need to sit out overnight on baking sheets.

December 23: St. John of Kanty

St. John of Kanty, or St. John Cantius, as he is sometimes called, was a Polish priest born in Kanty (Cracow, Poland) in 1397. He is known for teaching at the University and having a great love for the poor.

In honor of this saint, why not dish up some Polish food today? Kielbasi and saurkraut, pierogies, or cabbage rolls would be nice. It’s close to Christmas by now, so simple cooking now highlights the feasting that will begin in a few days. Simple meals are an important part of Advent traditions in many cultures.

Kolaczki

If you still want to make more cookies, try Polish kolaczki or kolachky. These jam-filled envelopes make pretty gifts–if you have any left after your family tastes them!

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Well, that’s my Advent cookie-baking countdown to Christmas! By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, I can focus on other baking because all my cookies are done.

If you make all of these cookies along with me, you will have 8 varieties: Speculaas, Moravian Spice Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes or polverones de canele, Gingerbread, Spritz or cutout cookies, Pfeffernusse, Springerle, and Kolaczki. And fruitcake! Don’t forget about those fruitcakes wrapped tightly in the back of your fridge. (I did one year.)

I hope you find inspiration to start some new Advent traditions with your family. Happy baking!

Additional Resources

The Catholic All Year Compendium, by Kendra Tierney, is full of inspiration for celebrating the feasts and liturgical seasons as a family. Her suggestions fit kids of all ages, and most are simple enough for even the busiest of families.

Drinking with Saint Nick: Christmas Cocktails for Sinners and Saints, by Michael P. Foley, contains cocktail recipes and beer or wine suggestions for every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons! It’s a great way to learn about some lesser-known saints. Plus, it gives you so many ways to celebrate!