Christmas at BioTropic
An exciting and successful 2013 is drawing to a close. We would like to thank our customers, partners and friends for experiencing this year with us. We are looking forward to the next! We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year 2014!
The days running up to Christmas are extremely busy for BioTropic. This is because the Christmas holidays vary throughout Europe: while in France, for example, all the shops reopen on Boxing Day, holiday tranquillity still dominates in Germany. We therefore have to plan particularly carefully so that our products arrive and are delivered on time.
But how do our colleagues spend their Christmas? How is Christmas celebrated in the countries in which BioTropic is represented? We decided to find out:
The Dominican Republic office
Volker Schmidt: In the Caribbean island state, Christmas is not celebrated in contemplation, but with lots of vigour and commotion. Apart from Easter, Christmas is the only time which provides consecutive days of freedom. Lots of people receive a Christmas bonus at the end of the year. All of that has to be celebrated! And the Dominicans do that with suckling pigs, wine gums and advocaat. The pictures of selfmade christmas trees and decoration are taken by Volker Schmidt in the streets of Mao in the Dominican Republic.
Office Italy
Irene Parravizini spends Christmas time with her entire family: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings. Stockfish is an absolute must on Christmas Eve, with focaccia to go along with it. At midnight, everyone wishes one another good luck and opens their presents -- Irene always looks forward to her present from Grandma Giovanna most of all. Christmas Day and Boxing Day are also spent together; jellied pork is traditionally a classic on these days. Afterwards, a tombola is arranged. 6th January is 'Befana Day'. On this day, according to popular belief in Italy, Befana the witch brings children coal or sweets.
Romana Slusarek is Polish, and this means that the evening meal on Christmas Eve is important for her. She cooks traditional Polish dishes and everyone eats together. Then the presents are opened.
Michela de Leonardis meets up with her family on Christmas Eve. They also have a meal together with lots of fish. Later, they go to midnight mass, and only after this do they open presents under the Christmas tree. In the festive days which follow, they eat Cappelletti in broth: a northern Italian egg pasta speciality filled with ricotta and parmesan cheese. Alongside this there is traditionally a turkey filled with plums, walnuts, liver and sweet chestnuts. Then there are also roast potatoes and lots of other things. "In general, we just eat and eat and eat," she says.
Office France
In France, there is only one Christmas holiday, the 25th December. In most cases, this is spent with the family. The day before, there is a late-evening meal -- this is traditionally smoked salmon, duck liver pâté, goose or duck.
During the Christmas holidays, Odile Bouron particularly likes to eat oysters. Then she spends the rest of the day in peace in front of the fire with a good book and later meets up with friends. Nathalie Ricquier is travelling to her parents' home in Normandy to spend the holiday with her godchild. Willem Bakker is expecting his parents and enjoys watching the 'Godfather Trilogy' on Christmas Day.
The Netherlands office
In the Netherlands, Christmas is also mainly celebrated with family and friends, with everyone eating together. On Christmas Eve, many attend Midnight Mass. Every year, Anja van den Heuvel from the Dutch BioTropic office looks forward to the biggest Christmas tree in the world located in Lopik -- it is a broadcasting tower from which lamps are hung at the end of the year.
Office Côte d'Ivoire
In the Côte d'Ivoire, the many different religions live together in peace. Christians go to church on Christmas Eve and welcome Jesus Christ with a prayer. The following day is both for family as well as partying. Until well into the evening, Christmas is spent together at home, then the celebrations begin. Whereas the older generation tend to round the day off quietly, the younger generation celebrate well into the night along the proper party miles. This day is celebrated by all confessions together.
Tags: Anja van den Heuvel (GB), Dominican Republic (GB), Ivory Coast (GB), France (GB), Irene Parravizini (GB), Italy (GB), Michela De Leonardis (GB), Netherlands (GB), Odile Bouron (GB), Romana Slusarek (GB), Volker Schmidt (GB), Willem Bakker (GB)
