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Las Navidades en España – Christmas festivities in Spain

In my opinion, to celebrate Christmas abroad is an ulterior opportunity for cultural enrichment: it would have happened to many of you, for family reasons or on New Year’s Eve; in my case it happened because of work.
The magic wafting through the streets is the same one inhaled in other European countries or other parts of the world; Spain shares many customs of the Christian tradition.

The festivities start on the 22nd of December with the Sorteo de Navidad, a lottery many people hope to win, which causes all lottery shops to be filled with people trying to get a ticket, starting from November. Then on the 24th of December, Nochebuena, the families gather for dinner, waiting to go and celebrate the misa del gallo, and the table is set up with all kinds of dishes.

Figure 1 Decorations in Catalan on the streets of Barcelona. December 2007 Copyright by Francesca Federici

Standard decorations like fir trees, colored lights and also the Christmas crib, Belén, are used in the Catalan tradition with one variation: here they add the caganer, the rather ironic statue which is inserted as the symbol of fertility and irrigation. Normally, each Autonomous Community has its own typical meal, for example, in Cataluña (please note that I am following the writing in Castilian, otherwise in Catalan the denomination would be ‘Catalunya’), to be precise, I was in Barcelona, there are fish varieties since it is a coastal zone.

The 25th of December is spent with the family, but the real exchange of gifts is done on the 6th of January, since the visit of Santa Claus is not such a widespread tradition; meanwhile the day passes cheerfully among the villancicos, pulverones y turrones.¹

Figure 2 Turrones and other Christmas delicacies. Photo December 2007 Copyright Francesca Federici

Then the 31st of December, Nochevieja, arrives and it is on this fateful date that I realized it wasn’t really important where you were and in which big European metropolis you had the opportunity to celebrate, but what really counts are the people around you! And as in many regions, everybody searches for the main square, where the bells toll twelve times at the stroke of midnight and according to tradition, grapes, uvas, are eaten for each of the twelve tolls, as a wish for prosperous and joyful months to come; afterwards the celebrations go on on the streets or in local premises, trying the madrugar, to greet directly the first day of the new year.

Figure 3 Celebrations on the streets. December 2007 Copyright Francesca Federici.

Finally, between January 5 and 6, los Reyes Magos arrive on horseback, and it is the children’s favorite holiday; during the 5th of January there are parades of the Wizard Kings all through the streets of the city and the shops and typical small markets remain open all night, selling sweets and gifts. The children don’t go to sleep and they can ask the Wizards for gifts during this real masquerade procession, the Cabalgata. Once they go home, according to tradition they leave their shoes in an easily visible part of the house or on the balcony. They go to sleep thinking already about the gifts of the next day and when they wake up they eat a special sweet, Roscón de Reyes, shaped like a donut with candies inside, to remind them of the rubies and emeralds adorning the dresses of the Wizards, and a surprise. The lucky child who finds that little hidden treasure will be crowned as the king or queen of the house, as a delicious and delicate way to greet and start the day and the newly entered year.

(¹) Villancicos are popular songs. The pulverones are Christmas sweets made of marzipan; the turrones are common nougat, also with very sweet varieties and special tastes (for example: with Catalan cream)