Christmas in Spain
Christmas in Spain is quite different from in other countries. It kicks off the weekend with the Inmaculada. Then there are different celebrations, both religious and other types, like the biggest lottery in the world. All through the month of December until the Three Kings Day on January 6th.
Some things may be surprising to the international visitor. Christmas is less of a commercial event in Spain than elsewhere. And Father Christmas is not a very important figure. It is still mostly a religious time and on many days shops and restaurants are closed.
Celebrating Christmas in Spain
If you are planning a trip to Spain in December, there are some important days to be aware of.
Firstly, there is a public holiday on the 6th of December as the day of the Constitution is celebrated. Not strictly part of the Christmas season. But never the less, people have time off from work and as the next public holiday is only two days later. You may be forgiven for thinking that the holiday season starts on the 6th, which also happens to coincide with St Nicholas day.
However, on December 8 the Inmaculada is celebrated and that marks the start of Christmas season. The name refers to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and is not to be confused with the virginal conception of Jesus. Some may think Virgin Mary was virginally conceived because of the name. However the meaning of the name is that Mary was conceived free from original sin. It is a public holiday in Spain and is celebrated nationwide. Perhaps a little more celebrated in Seville as the Inmaculada is the patron Saint of Seville. There are music and dancing from university music groups.
Students’ New Year
A few days later, on December 12 Noche Vieja Universitaria (University New Years Eve) is celebrated in Salamanca. Thousands of university students gather in Plaza Mayor for an early New Years celebration, as they all go their separate ways for Christmas and New Years. It is a huge celebration and lots of fun. Many students dress up in costumes and there are music and dancing in the streets.
On December 13 it is El Dia de Santa Lucia, patron saint of the blind. In many countries, this day is celebrated. Traditionally in Spain, the blind would sing Christmas carols in the streets. That tradition is less common nowadays but in certain places, bonfires may be lit as a celebration. In Scandinavia, people take celebrating Santa Lucia very seriously and keep this tradition alive also when they are in Spain. Where there are large concentrations of Scandinavians like in Mallorca, the Canaries, in the Torrevieja area as well as on the Costa del Sol, there are therefore more celebrations than in other parts of Spain.
On December 21st, the winter solstice is celebrated in certain parts of Spain. In a few cities including Granada, the celebration of Hogueras (bonfires) takes place. During the celebration people sometimes jump through fires to protect themselves against illness and bad luck.
On December 22 the El Gordo (the fat one) takes place. That is the nickname for the worlds largest lottery, in terms of prize money and one of the oldest. The official name is El Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad.
El Gordo is a big deal
The whole country stops for the big draw on the 22nd. The El Gordo lottery draw starts live at 9am (CET time) in Spain and is always broadcast live on TV and online. It is a thrilling three-hour show and since money is involved people are very keen on following it. In 2017 the total prize money was 2.240 billion with the top prize being 4 million.
On average, a Spaniard will buy lottery tickets for El Gordo and as the ticket price is high, 20 euros, people may pool together to buy one. The system is quite complicated: Each ticket has a 5-digit number printed on it and there are multiple series’ or sets of the same ticket number. Some say about 90 percent of the population in Spain buys tickets for El Gordo.
When someone wins, it is common to share the good fortune with friends and family and in some cases the whole village.
Merry Christmas
On December 24, Christmas is celebrated. Many attend Midnight Mass or ‘La Misa Del Gallo’ (The Mass of the Rooster). Apparently, a rooster crowed the night that Jesus was born, hence the name. Christmas Eve is known as Noche buena. Most families eat their main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve before the church service.
What is served for Christmas in Spain depends where you live. The traditional Spanish Christmas dinner was, ‘Pavo Trufado de Navidad’ which is Turkey stuffed with truffles or ‘Pularda asada’ (a roasted young hen), although they are not so common any longer. In areas by the sea, the most popular meal for Christmas Eve and for Christmas Day is seafood. This can be all kinds of different seafood, from shellfish and mollusks to lobster and small edible crabs. Another common Christmas dinner is prawn starters followed by roast lamb followed by with a typically Christmas sweet called turron which is a nougat made of toasted sweet almonds. Spanish almonds.
Christmas Day, December 25, is another national holiday in Spain and shops and restaurants may be closed. It is family time and often a large meal is eaten in the middle of the day.
Santos Inocentes
Three days later, on the 28th of December, the day of Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents) is celebrated. It can be said to be the equivalent of April Fools Day, when people play practical jokes on one another. Media will often include a prank story, so you have to be vigilant not to believe in something false when watching the news or reading the paper. In some villages, the young people light bonfires and one of the youngsters acts as the mayor who orders others to carry out tasks such as sweeping the streets. If you don’t do what you are ordered, you will have to pay a fine which is paying for the celebrations.
New Years Eve on December 31st is known as Noche Vieja. People tend to stay at home until right before midnight, when they take to the streets and gather in the town square. By tradition, you take grapes with you and you eat one grape per stroke of the clock to bring good luck for the new year. In Madrid and other main cities, thousands of people gather to count down together. Afterward, the whole city or town come together as one big party and people might not return home until after sunrise the next morning. Spanish Christmas involves a lot of fruit.
January 1st is, luckily for the partygoers, a public holiday meaning you can spend the day in bed should you need to.
The arrival of the Three Kings
In Spain, there are no or very few presents at Christmas. But in later years, some families have introduced Father Christmas to their families. In some cases he arrives with a few presents on the 24th and other families prefer him on the 25th.
Most families, however wait for the arrival of the Three Kings who come bearing gifts. There are processions all over Spain on the evening of the 5th, the day before the Kings presents the gifts. On that night sweets are thrown from the floats to all the people who come out to watch. Every town has its own variation of how the Kings are entering the town, on a donkey, on skis or something else.
And finally, the 6th of January has arrived. This is the day the children have all been waiting for; the Feast of the Epiphany (Día de los Reyes Magos). When the Spanish children wake up, they will find gifts the three Kings have left for them.
All through the day, the Kings can be seen visiting children’s wards in hospitals etc. to bring gifts also for the children, not in their homes.
January 7th marks the end of the Christmas season. Christmas in Spain is over for this year. Children and adults return to their schools and workplaces and everything returns to normal, until next December
