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INTERESTING
ARTICLES
Christmas
in Spain
The Spanish certainly know how to celebrate Christmas. Here's how
they do it
by Steve Lean
Christmas
in Spain differs in many ways from our normal celebrations in the
UK, the US and other western countries. For a start, it is nowhere
near as blatantly commercialised. The Spanish treat Christmas very
much more as a religious event. It is very rare to see Christmas
lights, displays and produce in stores much before December.
This
is a welcome change from the relentless promotion of Christmas from
October onwards, as we have become used to. Once they get going
though, the Spanish will throw themselves fully into the spirit
of Christmas. Every town and city will have its streets adorned
and decorated with lights and nativity displays. These displays
have very important religious meaning and are called the Belén.
Christmas
trees magically seem to appear for sale everywhere and Pointsettiers,
the traditional red-leaved plants, are planted in just about every
public and municipal garden. As well as the traditional trees in
the home there will also be small versions of the Belénes,
or nativity scenes. These will always include the baby Jesus, Mary
and Joseph and the Three Kings.
It
all starts with 'The Fat One'!
The
Spanish Christmas generally kicks off on December 22nd with the
world's biggest lottery draw: El Gordo (the Fat One).
This
takes place over many hours throughout the day and is watched
or listened to by most of the population of Spain. The prize fund
for this Christmas lottery totals a mind-blowing 2.1 billion euros!
It has some of the best odds of winning in the world, with a 1
in 6.4 chance of winning one of the 2.4 million prizes.
Tickets
are 200 euros each but can be broken down into tenths, so for
20 euros you can have a share.
Sometimes you will find whole towns and villages clubbing together
to buy tickets. Or clubs, workplaces and other syndicates doing
the same.
Christmas
Christmas
Eve is called Nochebuena (goodnight) and is the most important
family gathering of the year.
People will often meet in bars early in the evening for a few
drinks with friends then return home to the family and have their
main celebratory meal.
Fish
or seafood starters followed by a roast will be a typical meal.
Lamb or pork is the usual fare, not turkey as is the normal custom.
A Christmas sweet called turrón often follows. This is
a nougat made from sweetened toasted almonds. Spanish
champagne, called Cava, is usually the preferred drink for the
Christmas toast but you can be sure that plenty of fine Spanish
wines will also be uncorked for the celebrations!
By
contrast, Christmas Day will be a much calmer affair with the
family getting over the night before.
Perhaps a visit to a local bar or a stroll through the square
might be suggested. There may be small presents for the children
but the main present-giving day doesn't come until January 6th
- Three Kings Day.
The
New Year
On
December 28th we have Santos Innocentes (Holy innocents) day.
This is much like April Fools Day and many people, organisations
and the media play the usual tricks and spoofs to join in the
fun.
New Year's Eve is called Noche Vieja (old night) and is pretty
much the same as anywhere in the world with much partying into
the early hours of the morning.
As
everything starts so late in Spain, people tend to stay in until
midnight and then go out to celebrate after the traditional 12
Grapes ceremony. Basically everyone has 12 grapes ready for midnight
and at the stroke of midnight one grape has to be eaten on each
chime of the clock. This is supposed to bring you good luck for
the coming year.
New
Year's Day is a day of rest and recuperation - and headaches!
Three
Kings Day
This
starts on the evening of January 5th with excitement, processions
and floats in every town.
The Three Kings and their helpers throw thousands of sweets (caramelos)
from their floats to all the children and anyone else who comes
out to watch.
Every
town will have its own special way of celebrating this event.
In some coastal towns the Three Kings may arrive by boat before
the procession. Or in the ski centre of Sierra Nevada they even
arrive by skiing down into the village.
The
Three Kings Day proper is January 6th. This is the most important
day of the year for the children, who will wake up to find that
the Three Kings (los Reyes Magos) have visited and left them presents
in the night. That's if they've been good, of course! Throughout
the day the Three Kings will carry on the good work and visit
children in hospitals and in other less fortunate circumstances.
On
January 7th it's all over. Kids back to school, mum and dad back
to work, situation back to normal.
Then it's pay off the credit cards and start saving up for next
year!
Merry
Christmas (Feliz Navidad) to you all.
Article
written by Steve Lean
Steve
Lean is a writer, photographer and Spanish food nut. He lives in
Andalucia, southern Spain and is the webmaster of Proper
Spanish Tapas. Here you can find recipes, ingredients and
"everything you ever wanted to know about tapas - the small
plate with the BIG flavour!"
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