Christmas in Italy

Buon natale!!! as italians say...
The Italian Christmas festive atmosphere is a lot like the other countries due to the fact that many customs are borrowed from a wide variety of nations. Although there are basic differences.
Christmas in Italy goes for three weeks, starting 8 days before the main day which is known as Novena. During those days the kids go from house to house to sing the christmas carolls.Shepherds gather in the city and they play musical instruments.
Children mimiching those people,they dress as shepherds and go around the city stopping at several houses playing the pipe and singing.At noon in the christmas eve the pope blesses the crowd near the Vatican square.
The typical italian christmas dinner is called cennone. There is not meat included but Italians gather all together and have some fish , other seafood , fresh vegetables like broccoli, and spagetti.

Ceppo is a wooden pyramid-shaped frame which hold shelves where presents, fruits and sweets are held for the family. It is also called "The tree of Lights" and it is fully covered in colorful paper, golden and silver pine cones and on the top of it there is a star with candles.

Urn Of Fate is an old tradition held for the family in which each member take turns drawing a present out of a vessel.