Christmas might be the western world’s favourite time of the year – family gatherings, large selections of delicious food, and hysterical present-hunting for one and all.
For better or worse, the rough idea of the much-anticipated festive season nowadays looks more like living in a two-months-long commercial. And while we can find the same hectic traits across Europe, there are still parts of the continent that treasure their own weird and wonderful festive traditions – like Spain, for example.
Christmas Eve in Spain is called la Nochebuena, (literally ‘the Good Night’) when Spanish people usually go to la misa del gallo, or Midnight mass, after having the traditional Christmas dinner which includes el pavo de Navidad, or Christmas turkey. Other than that, typical for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are all kinds of seafood dishes.
Most Spaniards do not open their Christmas presents until Epiphany, only the ones who welcome Santa Claus (usually called Papá Noel) in Navarra and the Basque Country open the gifts on Christmas Eve or the early morning hours of Christmas Day as they get it.
Due to the different languages spoken in various regions in Spain, another curiosity is that while in Castellano “Merry Christmas” is “Feliz Navidad!,” in Catalonia they say “Bon Nadal!,” in Galicia – “Bo Nadal!,” and in the Basque country, the greeting is “Eguberri on!”.
The Basques go even further and have their very own Father Christmas, called Olentzero, who brings presents to the Basque children, dressed in traditional Basque attire.
In other parts of Spain, presents are brought by the Three Wise Men, or los Reyes Magos, on Epiphany. Their names are Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar and on Epiphany Eve, 5 January, they tour the streets of Spain throwing sweets to the children who run along with their parade carriage (la carroza).
Another popular Christmas tradition in Spain is the Spanish Christmas Lottery (officially Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad) with el Gordo first prize. It has been held without interruption since 1812, even during the Spanish Civil War. Another curious fact is that the winning figures are drawn by children who sing the numbers when announcing them.
On 28 December, Spanish people celebrate el Día de los Santos Inocentes, (All Fools’ Day) by playing practical jokes (inocentadas) on each other and when one gets tricked, the joker pleads innocent: “Inocente, inocente!.” And the media is on as well, reporting false news for the people to figure out in the Spanish December version of the April Fool’s Day.
Spaniards have another curious custom on New Year’s Eve, the so-called las doce uvas de la suerte (The twelve grapes of luck), a tradition that consists of eating a grape with each bell strike at midnight. The twelve grapes symbolise prosperity in the twelve months to come (and to “waterproof” the luck in the coming year, one should ideally eat the grapes wearing red underwear) and the legend behind the origin of this custom says that over hundred years ago some wine growers from the Alicante region popularised the grape-eating tradition as a marketing attempt to boost the demand for their production, and that is just so Christmas-like.
