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24 December: what is celebrated today
Christmas Eve arrives wrapped in light, aromas and memory. It is winter’s warmest night, the most eagerly awaited of the year: a pause that brings families together, a celebration that mixes the sacred and the everyday, faith and flavour. On 24 December, the whole world pauses to celebrate Nochebuena, a date that has crossed borders and creeds to become synonymous with gathering, hope and shared joy. But it is not only the birth of Jesus that is celebrated: this day also has its gastronomic tribute, World Custard Day, that simple, comforting dessert.
Christmas Eve
For centuries, Christmas Eve has been the threshold between waiting and miracle. In the Christian tradition, it recalls the eve of Jesus' birth, the “good night” that changed the course of history. But beyond religion, it is a universal celebration of family love, gratitude and the symbolic rebirth that each winter brings. Homes fill with lights, laughter and songs. Christmas carols sound like ancient prayers, and tables become altars of abundance and reconciliation.
Yet this celebration has older roots. Before the Christian era, pagan rites dedicated to the sun were held around 24 December: in Egypt, the god Ra was honoured; in Greece, Apollo; and in Rome, the Saturnalia lit up the streets with banquets and gifts. It was the triumph of light over darkness, of fire over winter. Over time, Christianity adopted that symbolism, transforming it into a song of the birth of a new hope.
Today, Christmas Eve is celebrated in very different ways depending on the country, but with a shared emotion. In Mexico, the posadas recall the pilgrimage of José and María; in Poland, the first star is awaited before dinner begins; in the Philippines, the Aguinaldo Masses fill the nights with song; in Estonia, food is left for ancestors; and in Spain or Latin America, people toast until midnight, when time seems to stop and every embrace falls into sync.
Christmas Eve is, above all, a ceremony of the heart: a night in which every tradition illuminates the same human desire for peace.
World Custard Day
On this same date, the calendar pays a curious and sweet tribute: World Custard Day. And it could not be otherwise, since few things embody the homely spirit of Christmas better than this humble and comforting dessert. Born in European convents, where nuns transformed the simplest ingredients—milk, egg yolk, sugar and cinnamon—into pure edible tenderness, the dish travelled around the world and took on many forms: crema inglesa in Italy, crème anglaise in France, crema catalana in Spain.
Custard is served cold or warm, accompanied by a biscuit or dusted with cinnamon. But beyond its flavour, what it evokes is a feeling of domestic calm, of a leisurely time after the meal, of childhood and care. Every spoonful has the power to reconnect us with the past and remind us that happiness can be as simple as a well-made dessert.
Celebrating World Custard Day on Christmas Eve is almost a symbolic gesture: an invitation to pause, savour the moment and share sweetness with those we love. In an age dominated by haste, these small traditions bring us back home, to our origins, to what is essential.