User:Bishonen/Sicilian Christmas
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Sicily, the largest of the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa,1 boasts a remarkable range of Christmas customs, from the traditional blessing of Santa's goats (known in some isolated regions of the island as Satan's2 goats) by the legendary Marchese of Ragusa and his six unruly children, to the tradition-encrusted baking of the sugar-encrusted Sicilian cucciá or Baroque gingerbread palazzo on the day of St. Lucy (Lucia, or December 13, the shortest day of the year). An important ingredient in the latter was originally angel dust, but in the 21st century it has evolved into an innocuous sweetmeat (see Porter, p. 43).3