Christmas in Spain
If you are planning to spend Christmas in Spain then you are in for
a treat so long as you are going to stay into the New Year. In Spain the traditional
day for celebrating is not the 25th of December but the night of January 5th when
the Three Kings come into each and every home and leave presents for the children
in the fireplace. The 25th December is a public holiday and some children now have
a Papa Noel that comes to them then too but the main celebrations in all the towns
and homes are on the night of January 5th. If you cannot stay in Spain until then,
you will miss out on the major part of Christmas here.
On January 5th as it begins to get dark each town will have a major procession going
through it and all the children line up on the edge of the road to watch the arrival
of the Three Kings. They arrive on horseback or camel and as the floats go by sweets,
rather hard ones usually, are thrown by the children and adults on the floats to
all the people lined up on the streets. Children bring cones and bags to fill as
the sweets pour or bounce onto the pavements. It is a wonderful 30-45 minutes for
the children and afterwards the adults usually go in search of a tapas bar where
children are of course welcome ( this is Spain!) and the rest of the evening is
passed away merrily.
On the day of the 6th it is a public holiday and the Spanish have a feast of seafood,
ham and a traditional cake made of almonds, sugar, flour and turron.
Christmas in Spain is far less commercial than in the UK. The streets will hang
out lights but only the larger stores will go to any great effort to decorate their
windows with festive Christmas trees and reindeer. Families do not put out lights
outside their homes as they do in the UK, the whole thing is far less “twinkly.”
If you hate the commercial side of Christmas in the UK then spending Christmas in
Spain is a good choice. Personally I miss the “twinkle” and the big build up but
I just LOVE Christmas so I bring the “twinkle” here and hang out everything and
anything on my balcony and my tree still goes up at the end of November.
Toys, Crackers, cards, mince pies, Christmas cake, turkey, baby sausages, festive paper,
real Christmas trees are all hard to find here in Spain. If they are important to
you bring what you can over with you from somewhere like an online best selling toys web site. If you are staying near Gibraltar, perhaps
on the Costa del Sol then you can always do a quick drive over there ( don’t forget
your passport) and stock up on toys and treats at the supermarket there. You will find some
Spanish supermarkets sell turkey and mince pies, but only in areas that have a high
density of ex-pats living there. Better to be on the safe side and pack a few extras
in your suitcase.
For me the best solution is to spend Christmas in the UK and then whilst everyone
is depressed at the thought of more cold weather and long queues at the shops during
the sales I head to Spain for the wonderful celebrations of the Three Kings and
usually warm sunshine. I get my fix of sales on the 26th and by the 27th I am ready
to spend the next Christmas in Spain. Two Christmas’ each year. What a perfect life!