Spanish Festivals home page It all begins on 1st December, when we open
the first door of our Advent calendar (a special Christmas calendar).
As December passes people begin to prepare the crib scene. We put moss or wood as the base
for the crib scene which represents what was happening when Jesus was born.We add little
figures that represent the three Kings, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the shepherds, the fishermen,
the "cagane" as well as many others who were present at the birth of Christ. The
Kings usually begin at the back of the crib scene and move forward a little bit every day.
We also prepare the cagatió (a wooden log with a smiley face) at more or less the same
time as the crib scene. The "cagatió" is a Catalan tradition, and the face
wears the typical catalan hat on his head the "barretina". Everyday we leave him
food, then on the 25th december we hit him with a stick and then he gives everyone
presents that he has made with the food we gave him.
We put up a Christmas tree that we decorate with colourful balls and other things,
sometimes we put lights on the tree and a Christmas star at the top. When all of the
decorations are finished and everything is prepared, the great night arrives.
For supper we usually start with "escudella", a typical Christmas soup made of
meat balls, "gallets", chicken.....: Some people put grated cheese over it and
it melts. This soup is delicious.
For the second course we have Turkey. For desert we have "turron", which is a
kind of nougat very typical of Christmas. All the family gets together for this supper,
and after Santa Claus comes and gives us some presents.
Santa comes from the North Pole flying with reindeers, Rudolph has a luminous nose and
leads them over Christmas Eve.For some people Santa comes on Christmas morning.
On Christmas day we have a special dinner and all the family get together. We eat the
left-overs from last night and we do the "cagatió" which I have already
explained.
After this the days pass very slowly until New Year´s Eve arrives. For this night all the
friends and family come home and we have a big party. Everybody comes dressed up. We
decorate all the house with coloured streamers. We prepare a "buffet" so that
everyone gets the food that they want to eat. After the buffet everyone puts on party hats
and fancy necklaces. At 12 o'clock midnight, we watch the T.V. to hear the twelve chimes.
While they are ringing we must eat 12 grapes, one for each chime. We eat them to bring us
luck in the New Year, one grape for every month.
Some people wear red underclothes on that day because they say it brings you luck, but I
don't do it ! After midnight has chimed we put music on and evrybody starts dancing until
early in the morning. On New Years Eve evryone drinks Champagne.
The next celebration we have is the night of the three Kings. The three Kings come from
the East, from the desert. They come riding on a camel, after they get a boat and they
come to the port of Barcelona. They make a procession through all Barcelona throwing
sweets and collecting the letters from the children that ask them for toys. That night the
children leave their shoes in front of the chimney and the Three Kings (Melchior, Gaspar
and Baltasar) leave sweets and presents in them. This is the last celebration in our
Christmas holiday.
Luna Muñoz St. Paul's School, Barcelona (aged 11)
I think that our Christmas is very different from yours. We have an Advent Calendar (I think you also have them, but I’ll explain just in case you don’t) which is a December calendar. It starts on the first of December and ends on the twenty-fifth. Every day you punch the number (with your thumb) and eat the chocolate that comes out.
We also make a crib scene, with a stable and little figures to represent the birth of Jesus. In Catalan we call it a "pessebre" and in Spanish a "Belén".
We open the presents that Santa brings us on the 25th, and play with them for a while, then I usually go to my grandparents’ house, where we meet our cousins and we eat "escudella" a typical soup made with pasta and vegetables. We also eat minced meat balls, which we call "pelota". After eating we do something called "caga tió", which consists of hitting a log - which has a face painted on the end and is wearing a "barretina" (which is a typical Catalan hat) – and singing a song. We hit the log with a stick. When we have hit it and sang the song, we look under the blanket that is over the log and we find presents. The presents are usually books, sweets and "turrón". We eat the sweets and turrón for dessert and the adults drink either a sweet wine or "cava" which is a sort of Catalan champagne with bubbles in it. When there are no more presents left, the log gives us a candy coal, which we call "carbó".
On New Year’s Eve, we usually stay at home with some friends, and sit on the sofa, watching TV. We all have a small transparent bag with 12 grapes in it and we wait for the "camanadas" (chimes of midnight). For each chime of the bell, we must eat a grape, until the twelve chimes finish. We usually stay up quite late, until 4 or 5 a.m.. The next morning we are very sleepy.
On the 5th January there is a "cabalgada", which is a sort of procession. It consists of the Three Kings, each on their own float, accompanied by other floats. They throw loads of sweets onto the streets as they go passed. Before we go home we usually have a sandwich in a bar, then when we get home we go straight to bed. On the 6th January we get more presents, as the Three Kings (or "Els tres reys as we say) are the typical ones to bring the presents in Spain. We get up quite early as we are very impatient to see our presents. We open them and then we play with them. After a while we go to my grandparents’ house. We take our presents to them, and then when we get there we open the presents that they have for us. We have lunch with them, the "escudella" and "pelota" are on the menu (as always!). We usually go back to school on the 8th or 9th January (after a few moans and groans). When we get to school we talk about our presents and our holidays.
Sergi Grume (aged 12)
TheThree Kings are also called The Magi. The story tells us that three noble pilgrims - Baltasar, Melchior and Gaspar - followed a guiding star to Israel, where Jesus was born. They brought him gold, frankinsense and myrrh.
Nowadays people in Spain celebrate by a big procession with floats and horses on the 5th January. Three people dress up as the Magi and sit on their floats throwing sweets to all the children. Children go to see them with lights and give them a letter which lists all the gifts that they want the Magi to bring. They think that they will only have their gifts if they are good during the year. After the procession the children leave food and drink out for the three Wise men and then they go to sleep. The next day, the 6th of January, every single child finds presents hidden somewhere in their house. Each present has the name of the person to whom it belongs written on it.
Some people also make a crib. This contains tiny figures of Jesus, Joseph and Mary, people with sheep, fruit and gifts going to the stable where Jesus was and the Three Wise Men with their camels. They put some moss around all these figures.Throughout the rest of the year, people (especially children) wait for this day and for all their gifts.
Email : Pat Spiller-Spanish Festivals or St. Paul's School, Barcelona