Inside: Learn about Christmas in Brazil including symbols of Christmas in Brazil, Brazilian Christmas foods and more. You will find a printable Christmas in Brazil cut and paste worksheet, activity ideas, as well as links to books and videos.
We have had so much fun learning about Christmas celebrations in different parts of the world during the holiday season. It’s fun to see what traditions are similar to ours and which ones are different.
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Growing up my family had friends in Brazil and they would come and stay with us (and teach us yummy Brazilian recipes). When I was young, I was able to visit Brazil with my parents and eventually in collage I took Portuguese classes (I still don’t speak the language).
All of these experiences with Brazil made me so excited to include Christmas in Brazil in our study of Christmas around the world.
Learning About Christmas in Brazil
There are so many different ways you can learn about celebrating Christmas in Brazil. You can use books, videos, printables, activities, and more.
Personally, I decided to use a mix of all the options above and I created a fun printable to use as we learn about Christmas time in Brazil.
Videos
There are a lot of different video options and depending on the age of those learning different videos will be appropriate.
We watched a few different videos about Christmas in Brazil. Here are links to the videos we chose to watch:
Worlds Largest Floating Christmas Tree in Brazil
What’s Christmas Like in Brazil?
Books
There aren’t a lot of books specifically about Christmas in Brazil. But there are some with a page or two about Brazil.
A World of Cookies for Santa – this book includes different types of cookies children make for Santa in different countries around the world including Brazil.
Christmas Around the World by Mary D. Lankford – See the book on Amazon is a book filled with information about Christmas in different countries. We read the section about Brazil for this study.
Activities and Recipes for Christmas in Brazil
Along with watching videos, reading books, and doing the worksheet about Christmas in Brazil we also did some hands-on activities (our favorite!)
There are several different activities you could do as part of your unit. These are just a few options that I decided to include.
Floating Christmas Tree Craft – Grab the popsicle sticks and green paint to make your own floating Christmas trees. It took some trial and error for the kids to get their trees to stay standing and floating.
Make Brazilian Cheese Bread – Though not necessarily a Christmas food this cheese bread is delicious and easy to make. It’s a perfect recipe to try as part of your study of Brazil. (If you don’t want to make it from scratch you can get a mix or purchase them frozen.)
Make Brigadeiros – Another Brazilian recipe we love making are brigadeiros. The recipe is simple, and the treat is tasty.
Paper Plate Christmas Tree Craft – Since Christmas trees are one of Brazil’s Christmas symbols make this fun paper plate tree to hang on a door in your house.
Do Secret Santa – Draw names with family or friends and have your own secret Santa gift exchange.
Christmas in Brazil Printable Worksheet
We have loved the cut and paste worksheets we have used for our states studies and other Christmas around the world units so I made one for Brazil.
The printable is a 3-page document with 2 pages of things for the kids to color, cut out, and glue to the main journal page.
After completing this unit the kids will have 1 page filled with information about Christmas in Brazil that’s perfect for a journal page or a Christmas Around the World Folder/Book.
The printable includes a variety of different information (fun facts about Christmas in Brazil) as well as images for the kids to color. You can get a copy of the free printable pdf at the bottom of this page.
So what information is on the printable? So much information!
Related Post: Christmas in Italy Free Printable
Brazilian Christmas Worksheet
I tried to pack in a bunch of information that I thought kids (and adults) would find interesting and give a good overview of Christmas celebrations in Brazil. There is no way to include everything about the Christmas season, but this worksheet gives a great overview.
Country and Flag
At the top of the printable worksheet is the shape of the country of Brazil as well as the Brazilian flag for the kids to color along with some simple information about the country and flag.
Brazil is a country in South America that was a former Portuguese colony. Many traditions in Brazil are similar to those found in Portugal, the United States and other countries.
How to Say Merry Christmas in Brazil
Below the country and flag area is a space for the kids to glue the how to say Merry Christmas “Feliz Natal” in Portuguese (the language spoken in Brazil) box from page 3 of the printable.
My kids always love asking how to say things in other languages so I knew this information needed to be included on our worksheet.
If you aren’t sure how to say “Feliz Natal” you can ask google to say Merry Christmas in Portuguese so you can actually hear what it should sound like.
Fun Facts About Christmas in Brazil
The next section of the printable has 6 different boxes for you to put “mini-books” found on pages 2 and 3.
The 6 mini books share simple and fun facts about Christmas in Brazil and different symbols of Christmas in Brazil. Here are the facts I decided to include on the worksheet.
Weather in Brazil at Christmas Time
Though it might seem crazy to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere Christmas is hot in Brazil.
December is the start of summer and the warm time of year in Brazil and other countries in the southern hemisphere. The temperatures are throughout the country are usually around 75-85 F and it is humid.
Christmas Eve
In Brazil Christmas is a family holiday and often includes extended family members (aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents).
Most of the main celebrations in Brazil happen on Christmas eve (Dec 24th) and goes late into the night. Christmas dinner is eaten Christmas eve before attending mass.
Many Brazilian families attend midnight mass or watch it on tv. Midnight mass service on Christmas eve is called Misa de Gallo or Mass of the Rooster.
After mass, there are often fireworks that light up the night sky.
For those that don’t attend midnight mass Christmas celebrations may start earlier on Christmas eve.
Christmas day celebrations continue as time is spent with family and a left over lunch is often eaten. After celebrating late into the night a nap is often taken Christmas day.
Christmas Food
Traditional dishes for the Christmas feast include Chester or roast turkey, chicken salad, potato salad, Farofa (a toasted cassava flour recipe) and white rice.
Pave, Brazilian rabanada (French toast), Brigadeiro and Panettone are all popular desserts.
Papai Noel (Santa Claus)
Santa Claus is known as Papai Noel and Bom Velhinho (Good Old Man) in Brazil.
Children believe Santa comes from the North Pole and has a sleigh pulled by reindeer. While delivering presents in the warmer climate of Brazil he changes into his lighter weight silk Santa suit.
Sometimes children will leave a sock near the window. It is said if Papai Noel finds your sock, he’ll exchange it for a present.
Christmas Tree
A traditional Christmas tree is an important symbol of Christmas in Brazil. Pine trees are what people decorate in Brazil (not palm trees) but since real pine trees are hard to find most families decorate a plastic Christmas tree.
Rio de Janeiro has the world’s largest floating Christmas tree! It floats on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. The tree weighs 542 tons and is wrapped in 3.3 million light bulbs.
Christmas Decorations
Christmas decorations in Brazil are similar to those found in the United States, Europe and Canada. Christmas trees, nativity scenes, Christmas lights, Christmas-patterned tablecloths and snow.
A big Brazilian Christmas traditions is to display the nativity scene (called presépio in Portuguese) in homes, churches, and even shopping malls.
Many people in Brazil include fake snow as part of their Christmas decorations to help Santa feel at home.
More Interesting Facts About Christmas in Brazil
I only had so much space on the worksheet so I picked some favorite fun facts to include. But I want to share a few more fun facts you can talk about if you would like as you learn about Brazilian Christmas traditions.
- In Brazil many employees receive a 13th salary or double their salary in December to help boost the economy around Christmas.
- Amigo Secreto or amigo oculto (secret friend) is a popular way to give gifts to friends and family. Each participant secretly gets a gift for another participant, the gift-givers are revealed when it’s time to open presents at the gift exchange.
- Epiphany is the celebration of the journey of the wise men to visit baby Jesus and is celebrated on January 6th by many in Brazil.
- One of the popular Christmas songs in Brazil is ‘Noite Feliz’ (Silent Night). Another popular Christmas song is ‘Boas Festas’.
- Because it’s hot in Brazil at Christmas time many families will spend Christmas at the Beach.
Using the Printable Christmas in Brazil Worksheet
There really is no wrong way to use this printable. For our lesson I had the kids cut around the rectangle leaving the 2 squares that make the rectangle attached for the 6 different areas on pages 2 and 3.
You can talk about these 6 different areas in any order you would like. I let my kids pick the order as we went along.
For each of the 6 topics have the kids color the picture and fold the rectangle along the middle line, leaving the picture as the font of the “little book”.
Inside the book, you can have the kids write information or you can have them cut out the information in the light gray box for each topic and glue it inside the book. (We cut and paste the information)
While my kids were coloring the cover for each book I would read the information to them and we would talk about it.
Then after they colored the picture and glued the facts inside they glued the “little book” to one of the 6 boxes on the first page.
Free Printable Christmas in Brazil Worksheet
Please keep this free printable worksheet for personal and class use only.