Catholic Europe

Abstract

At Christmas, European Catholics celebrate the Nativity, Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. For almost all Europeans, believers or not, Christmas is a family feast. It takes place over the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere that gave rise in ancient Rome to the Saturnalia marked by large, domestic banquets. This would lead to the feast of Christmas, which combines both secular and sacred customs: the Nativity scene, the Christmas tree, lights, gifts, and bounteous meals. Many Catholics, otherwise practising or not, attend Midnight Mass on the evening of 24 December. Likewise, the devout do not ignore the commercial aspects and Santa’s gifts. This chapter will discuss what happens in contemporary Catholic Europe from the start of Advent up to the feast of Christmas and through Christmastide to Epiphany, looking at how it is observed at church, at home, and in public places where a display of the Nativity scene is not always well received in France.