This article was first published in 2013 and has been lightly updated.
The winter holiday season is here and all over Italy, preparations for the festivities are underway. Though with each passing year, the light displays seem to go up earlier and earlier in Italian city centers and shopping districts, the official countdown to Christmas still begins with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or L’Immacolata Concezione della Beata Vergine Maria, celebrated on December 8.
The Immaculate Conception is a dogmatic position of the Catholic Church maintaining that from the moment when the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived in the womb, she was kept free of original sin, so that she was filled from the beginning with the sanctifying grace that Catholics officially believe is normally conferred in baptism.
Contrary to popular belief, the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary concerns her mother’s conception of her, not Mary’s conception of Jesus (the virgin birth of Jesus) nor the perpetual virginity of Mary. Although the belief that Mary was conceived immaculate was widely held since at least Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not dogmatically defined until December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. It is not formal doctrine except in the Roman Catholic Church. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is, therefore, observed on December 8 in Italy and many other Catholic countries as a holy day of obligation or patronal feast. In Italy, it is a national public holiday.
The day is marked with celebrations and processions throughout Italy. With most people getting the day off from work, it is also the day when many Italians put up Christmas trees and other decorations.
Though you’re probably familiar with the tree lightings held in many Italian cities, some of the smallest towns host the most elaborate and participatory rituals. Below is a taste of Immaculate Conception celebrations in small-town Calabria (Bagnara Calabra, in the province of Reggio Calabria).
