Christmas in Spain is not a huge commercial occasion, thankfully. There are lights strung above the streets throughout Sevilla, which are traditionally lit after Immaculate Conception Day (December 8th). Although there are some public Christmas trees, typically you won’t find them in a Spaniard’s home. Instead, they decorate with nativity scenes (called Belénes – the Spanish word for Bethlehem). You can purchase everything you need in the local Christmas markets. Seriously, there are rows and rows of stalls – all selling the same items. Mainly in Catalonia, they add a caganer, or “crapper” to their nativity scene. This is a defecating figure perched behind Mary and Joseph to signify fertility. In modern days, political figures are popular as additions to the nativity – and both surprisingly and not surprisingly, Donald Trump is the most popular figure today.
You will never find a local away from their TV or radio on December 22nd, when they announce the current year’s lottery winner. That’s right, the lottery around Christmas time is the largest in the world! Named “El Gordo” or the fat one, with a prize pool in excess of 2-billion euro. The lottery includes a jackpot and several other grand prizes. Orphans from Madrid sing the winning numbers every year. The orphans pull balls from two different pools – one for the winning number and one for the prize. No one knows what started this tradition, but they say the orphans are less prone to cheating. The 5-digit numbers are sold in stores. They come in packs of 10. You can buy one of the ten for 20 euros or buy the whole string of tickets for 200 euros. But you have to pick from what the store has available. Nobody knows precisely when the big prizes will be announced – it totally depends on the random drawing of the balls. We will be in flight during most of the lottery drawing; however, when we land, if our ticket wins the jackpot, we will be heading straight for the ticket counter for a first class return ticket to Spain!
On Christmas Eve, most locals will go to midnight mass, and Christmas Day children will be given one small gift.
January 6th is the big day – El Diá de los Reyes Magos (The Feast of the Epiphany) – the day the 3 Wisemen arrived in Bethlehem bearing gifts for baby Jesus. This is the day all of the presents are opened. But where do the gifts go if Spaniards don’t have Christmas trees at home? The gifts are generally laid on the living room sofa or on the children’s seats at the family dining table. On January 7th, Spain returns to normal. The kids go back to school and adults go back to work (after a majority taking off work from December 24th onward). There are several other festivities that take place during these two weeks. The Spaniard’s know how to celebrate the holiday season in style!
The three wise men are central to the holiday season in Spain. As noted above, homes, workplaces and city plazas are decorated with nativity scenes featuring the arrival of the 3 wisemen. Children in Spain mail letters to the 3 wisemen highlighting their good behavior and gifts they’d like for the holidays (sorry, Santa Claus). Even adults, still write letters to the 3 wisemen annually. In case, you’re wondering the 3 Wisemen visit every home distributing presents. And yes, one leaves them milk and dessert plus glasses of wine.
To bring in the New Year, head to your local grocer and buy a bag of seedless, green grapes. Spaniards eat 12 green grapes at the stroke of midnight – one each for the 12 bongs of the church bells signaling midnight. So, while Americans are toasting with champagne and kissing their beloveds, the Spaniards are stuffing their faces with grapes with each toll of the bells. In Spain, the champagne and kissing comes after the grapes. It is said to bring prosperity. This tradition began in 1909 when vine growers in the Alicante region had a bumper crop of grapes and needed to sell them before they went bad. It’s hard to understate how important this tradition is to the locals. As an example, one of our Spanish friends (who lives in the US temporarily) even calls her family at midnight Spanish time to make sure she eats her grapes with her family. This custom has now spread into many Latin American countries.
We will be celebrating New Year’s this year in Southern California with good friends and parents of S’s god son. We suspect that this will be a fun way to celebrate New Year’s with the young ones before they reluctantly shuffle off to bed. For them, we might have to cut grapes in half!
So, don’t forget to eat your 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, and have a happy and prosperous Holidays and New Year!
Wearehere 