St. Paul's School - Christmas traditions in Spain

The country's patron saint is the Virgin Mary and the Christmas season officially begins on December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception (which is a National holiday). It is celebrated each year in front of the great Gothic cathedral in Seville a ceremony called los Seises or the "dance of six". This elaborate and very moving dance is performed by not six but ten elaborately costumed boys (we do not know why they are now ten boys, perhaps someone could help us find out?)

Santa Lucía.

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Photos taken by Rogelio Villellas, St. Paul's School, Barcelona, on a visit with students to the Christmas fair round the Cathedral in Barcelona.

The more common traditions include incredibly elaborate "Nacimiento" (nativity scenes), Christmas trees, and remarkable Christmas markets scattered among villages and cities with piles of fruits, flowers, marzipan and other sweets, candles, decorations and hand-made Christmas gifts.

Many Christmas markets are held - a famous one is held round Barcelona Cathedral every year from Santa Lucía until Christmas. The Nativity figures in all shapes and sizes are sold on stalls, alongside bark from cork trees to enable you to make your own nativity scene.

Yuletide logs are sold in Catalonia wearing the Catalan hat and will excrete presents for the children when hit with sticks (caga tió).

The custom of making a model "crib" goes back to St. Francis of Assissi.
He started the tradition by making a model nativity scene with small statues on a hill near to the Italian village of Grecco, in order to commemorate the birth of Jesus.

Little by little the idea caught on, and the people of Naples, famous for their carvings, gave momentum to the custom. First the cribs were only set up in palaces and monasteries, then later in manor houses. The crib only became popular in everyday houses when the figures were available at reasonable prices. The custom is most popular in the mediterranean countries, and has been adapted to suit each of the religions.

Christmas Eve is known as "Nochebuena" (the Good Night). It is a time for family members to gather together to rejoice and feast around the Nativity scenes that are present in nearly every home. The Christmas Eve gaiety is interrupted at midnight be the ringing of bells calling the families to "La Misa Del Gallo" (Rooster's Mass). The most beautiful of these candlelight services is held at the monastery of Montserrat, high in the mountain near Barcelona, which is highlighted by a boy's choir performing the Mass as if in "one pure voice". Midnight mass is held in churches all over the country and then the family go home to eat Christmas dinner.

Christmas dinner is never eaten until after midnight. It is a family feast, and often highlighted with "Pavo Trufado de Navidad" (Christmas turkey with truffles; truffles are a mushroom-like delicacy found underground). After the meal, family members gather around the Christmas tree and sing Christmas carol. The celebrations usually go on very late, one old Spanish verse says...

The feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28th (Día de los Santos Inocentes)

This celebration is equivalent to our April Fool's Day, and is a day for practical jokes (las inocentadas). In some parts of Spain young boys of a town or village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who orders townspeople to perform civic chores such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.

New Year's Eve is known as "Nochevieja" (the Old Night) as it is the last night of the old year.

One tradition appears to be fairly new, it seems to go back to a year when there was a surplus of grapes, and so a new tradition was started.

Everyone has to have twelve grapes prepared, and then as the clock strikes each of the strokes of midnight of the old year you must eat a grape, those that do not finish their grapes will not have good luck in the New Year ! The stiking of midnight in the "Plaza del Sol" in Madrid is shown on TV so all can see. New Year begins in Barcelona like a Carnival party with people in masks in the streets, who- like everywhere in Spain - try to eat 12 grapes during the last 12 seconds of the finishing year. A tradition that is said to bring good luck - if you manage it.

As in many European countries, the children of Spain receive gifts on the feast of the Epiphany.

In Spain January 5th sees the procession of the "Three Magi", who will bring presents to the children next morning and so are the Spanish alternative to Santa Claus (although Father Christmas is becoming very popular here, too !).

The Magi are particularly revered in Spain. It is believed that they travel through the countryside reenacting their journey to Bethlehem every year at this time. Children living in country areas leave their shoes on the windowsills and fill them with straw, carrots, and barley or the horses of the Wise Men. Their favorite is Balthazar who rides a donkey and is the one believed to leave the gifts.

Toys shops are open until midnight on 5th January and the Three Kings and their retinue form part of extravagant processions of floats, bands and dancers through the major towns and cities. The children of Barcelona, Majorca in the Balearics and Tenerife in the Canaries get the added thrill of seeing the Kings arrive by sea. These processions are a relatively recent phenomenon - Seville's, the oldest, dates back only as far as 1916 - but they are very popular. Sweets are usually thown to the throngs of children lining the routes.

Much older are the traditional plays featuring the Three Kings performed in Aledo (Murcia). Cañada (Alicante), Santillana del Mar (Cantabria) and Sanguesa (Navarre).

The main celebrations leading up to, and around Christmastide in Spain