Travel Tips

Inside Brazil’s Christmas traditions: Feasts, fireworks, & family fun

From lively Christmas Eve dinners to beach celebrations and fireworks, discover the Brazilian Christmas traditions you won’t find outside South America!

Prefer a summery Christmas to a snowy one? If so, you’ll love Christmas in Brazil.

Happening right in the middle of summer, Christmas here takes place outdoors, with beachfront BBQs, street dancing, and lots of fireworks.

Brazil’s festive season is one of the most vibrant in the world. Combining religious customs with Afro-Brazilian flavors, Christmas traditions in Brazil range from nativity scenes and midnight masses to tropical feasts and Samba concerts.

Whether you’re considering spending Christmas in Latin America or simply looking for new festive ideas, let these unique Brazilian Christmas traditions inspire you.

In this article

Christmas Eve in Brazil: The main celebration

Christmas Eve sees a HUGE party atmosphere across Brazil, but it all starts after dark to commemorate the traditional time of Jesus’ birth.

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Ceia de Natal: Christmas Eve dinner is the main event, which happens between 10 and 11 PM. During Ceia de Natal, you can expect lots of festive food, drinks, and dancing.
Gift-giving: Another of the most common Christmas traditions in Brazil is to open gifts at midnight, rather than the next morning. Some of these gift exchanges are Amigo Secreto (Secret Santa), an anonymous way to give gifts.
Outdoor celebrations: Before or after the gift exchanges, many families attend midnight masses, let off fireworks, or simply head out to enjoy the festive atmosphere and warm tropical weather.

Christmas Day: A relaxed, summery, beach-day holiday

Christmas Day in Brazil is far more relaxed than Christmas Eve. People rise late, and the pace is very slow. Most families spend the afternoon outdoors, such as by heading to the beach or gathering in the park for a long, relaxed lunch.

Christmas Day in Brazil has a very ‘summer holiday vibe,’ so if you’re unsure what to pack for your Brazil trip, think swimwear, flip-flops, and summer dresses.

While the vibe is generally quiet, you might find some of the open-air restaurants along the beaches running lunch buffets with live bossa nova or chill DJ sets outdoors.

What Brazilians eat for Christmas

The Brazilian Christmas dinner blends summery dishes with distinct South American flavors. Christmas Eve dinner is a massive spread, with both traditional dishes and regional favourites like:

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Pernil: Slow-roasted pork leg
Chester: A special holiday roast chicken you can only find in Brazil
Farofa: A side dish made from toasted cassava and mixed with bacon, raisins, and nuts
Salpicão: A creamy chicken salad with apples, raisins, and potatoes

For desserts, many Christmas Eve dinners include:

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Rabanada (Brazilian French toast with cinnamon)
Panettone/Chocottone
Fresh fruit platters
Tropical fruit desserts like passionfruit mousse
Chocolate-based desserts like Pavê (similar to Tiramisu)

The Ceia de Natal feast is held late in the evening due to both Brazil’s late-night eating culture and the summer heat.

On Christmas day, most families will eat leftovers from Ceia de Natal, or if eating at the beach or park, they will enjoy Churrasco (barbecued meats) or barbecued fish (especially in coastal areas).

Brazilian Christmas decorations & symbols

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You’re unlikely to find Christmas decorations of snowmen and reindeer or real pine trees in Brazil. Instead, Brazilian Christmas decorations center around colorful LED lights and tropical motifs, like palm trees lit up and Santa in shorts (especially in coastal areas).

In fact, most cities set up bright, over-the-top installations and giant LED trees, like the iconic floating tree on Rio’s Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, which is 278 feet tall and has a million lights!

Town squares in the South are extra extreme with Christmas lights, and even have a ‘Christmas of lights festival’ (Natal Luz) in Gramado. The annual event features not just epic light installations but also shows, parades, and musical performances, and is recommended in every Christmas in Brazil Travel Guide.

Another of the most popular Brazilian Christmas traditions is the giant Nativity scenes (Presépios), which are often very elaborate, featuring characters like fishermen, farmers, and animals in countryside settings. You will find these in plazas and churches during the festive season.

What’s more, in Brazil, they give Santa Claus a tropical style. Rather than his traditional thick coat and boots, you’ll see Papai Noel in a lighter, summery suit to prevent him from overheating in the Brazilian sun.

Religious & cultural influences that make Brazilian Christmas unique

Midnight Mass: As over half of Brazil’s population are Catholic, religious Christmas traditions in Brazil like Missa do Galo (Midnight Mass) are prevalent. While it traditionally starts at midnight on Christmas Eve, Missa do Galo typically takes place anywhere between 8 PM and 11 PM, depending on the church or region.
Afro-Brazilian cultural influences: Brazilian Christmas traditions have a musical and communal layer in Bahia & the Northeast. Throughout the festive season, towns and cities host music events, including samba (drumming), afoxé, maracatu, and coco.
Lemanjá offerings: On New Year’s Eve, many Afro-Brazilians in coastal regions make Iemanjá offerings. This involves setting flowers, floating candles, or symbolic gifts in small baskets or boats, then putting them in the ocean to ask for blessings and good fortune in the New Year.
Wearing white: In certain regions like Bahia and Rio, many people wear white at the end of the year, as a symbol of peace and renewal.
Indigenous craftsmanship: Many Christmas ornaments are made from sustainable materials such as woven palm, seeds, and feathers. In the Amazon region, decorations and nativity scenes may include Amazonian animals and indigenous-style woven baskets and adornments.

Modern holiday culture: fireworks, music, and community gatherings

On both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, neighborhood gatherings can spill out into the street, with fireworks, music, and a general party vibe.

At midnight on the 24th, when Christmas officially begins, many Brazilian families and neighbourhoods set off small fireworks displays to mark the occasion.

Then on New Year’s Eve, there are huge public fireworks displays that take place all over the country. For example, Copacabana Beach in Rio hosts one of the world’s largest firework displays lasting over 12 minutes.

New Year’s Eve (Réveillon) also brings many public concerts and outdoor shows with live music, as well as lively street parties in many neighbourhoods.

What’s more, in the run-up to Christmas, some coastal towns like Copacabana see Christmas-market-style vendors pop up, selling festive crafts and Brazilian holiday treats like Panettone.

Explore Brazil’s Christmas traditions without losing signal

If you’re heading to Brazil this Christmas, don’t let expensive roaming fees or patchy WiFi make you miss a single samba performance or beachfront party!

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