BIS MAGAZINE/BIS Food and Drink News.../Christmas in Spain

CHRISTMAS

 

 

Christmas is a time of family gatherings and  holiday meals.

A time to celebrate and have fun…

A time when dreams can come true…

A time for Santa, stars and glorious carollers…

A time for beautiful ornaments, gifts and twinkling lights…

A time to open your heart, to love and forgive...

Merry Christmas! 

 

 

 

 

Here is how people celebrate Christmas in Spain.

 

 

 

 

At the heart of the Spanish Christmas tradition is the elaborate nacimiento (nativity scene), sometimes called a Belén (Bethlehem). The nativity scene can be found in nearly every home as well as churches and in many public places. Some are a community effort and people work on them throughout the year. They are objects of pride, often handed down from generation to generation.

 

As in many other European nations, Christmas markets are scattered among villages and cities with booths filled with fruits such as pomegranates of Andalucía, Valencia oranges, and apples from Aragon along with walnuts and chestnuts from Galicia. There are also flowers, marzipan candies, baked goods, candles, decorations and hand-crafted Christmas gifts. Choirs entertain at the markets and the scents and sounds fill the air during the Advent season.

 

Church bells ring out on Noche Buena (the "Good Night" or Christmas Eve) calling everyone to Misa de Gallo (Mass of the Rooster). Many believe that the most beautiful of these candlelight services is held at the mountain monastery at Montserrat. The boy's choir at the monastery have been described as performing the Mass in "one pure voice." At Labastida, shepherds enter the church bearing a lamb, and a shepherdess carries a representation of the Christ Child.

 

 

After Mass, people return to their homes for a feast. In some areas it often features a main course of pavo or turkey, usually stuffed with truffles, but along the coast you may find cod or red snapper. Following the meal, families usually gather around the Christmas tree to sing Spain's famous carols, called villancicos. The celebration continues until dawn as expressed in an old Spanish proverb: Esta noche es Noche-Buena y no es noche de dormir. (This is the Good Night, therefore it is not meant for sleep.)

 

 

 

Christmas Day sees more festive eating, either of leftovers from the previous night's meal or another family feast. Some attend another church service.

Some families have adopted the American Santa Claus, or Papa Noel as he is known locally, as the gift-bringer on Christmas Eve, but most continue to wait until January 6th for the traditional visit of the Three Kings. On the Eve of Epiphany, January 5th, children fill their shoes with grass or grain for the kings' camels and place them on the doorstep. During the night, the Three Kings, known as Melchor, Gaspar, and Balthazar, leave gifts in and around the shoes. January 6th, Epiphany, is heralded with parades in various cities where candy and cakes are distributed to thousands of children lining the streets.

In some towns the Magi arrive in a boat from across the sea while in others they come by helicopter. You may also see them astride horses or riding on parade floats. They visit hospitals, orphanages and homes for the elderly, as they pass through Spain on their way to Bethlehem. The Spanish children have a great fondness for the Three Kings, especially Balthazar.

 

In Granada and Jaen, however, there is one tradition, not at all common in other places of Spain. Named Hogueras (bonfires), this custom began prior to the arrival of Christianity and is the observance of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter. Wood fires are built and people jump over them in the belief that they will be protected against illness.

 

 

 

How you ever wondered how the Christmas tree tradition came about?  

  

The tradition of having an evergreen tree become a symbol of Christmas goes back past recorded written history.

 

The Druids in ancient England & Gaul and the Romans in Europe both used evergreen branches to decorate their homes and public buildings to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Over the years, these traditions were adopted by Christians, who incorporated them as part of their Christmas holiday celebration.

 

Trees used specifically to celebrate Christmas are mentioned in the early 1600's in Germany and surrounding countries. The families would set up these trees in a prominent location of their home and decorate them with coloured paper, small toys, food, and sometimes candles. As these people moved or immigrated to other countries, they brought this tradition with them.

 

Through the years many different things were used to decorate Christmas trees. As the world moved into the 1900's, many trees were decorated with strings of popcorn, homemade cards and pictures, cotton to look like snow, candy in all shapes and sizes, and occasionally, fancy store made glass balls and hand blown glass figurines. Candles were sometimes used, but often caused devastating fires, and many different types of candle holders were devised to try to prevent tree fires. Electric tree lights were first used just 3 years after Thomas Edison has his first mass public demonstration of electric lights back in 1879. The early Christmas tree lights were handmade and quite expensive.

 

Today, Christmas tree ornaments can be found in nearly every size, colours, and shape imaginable, and they are used to decorate the millions of Christmas trees used throughout the world.

 

 

 

Christmas Bells

 

 

For centuries, bells of churches have rung forth the glad tiding of Jesus' birth. In medieval times the bells tolled for an hour before midnight on Christmas Eve, and then on the hour their voices changed to joyous ringing.  The tolling was to warn the powers of darkness of the approaching birth of the Savior. It was believed "the devil died when Christ was born" and in England, the tolling of church bells was known as "Tolling The Devil's Knell." As a result, bells have become a part of our Christmas decorations, mostly in imitation form. You will also see many varieties on Christmas cards.

 

      Many families will adorn their Christmas tree with bells and remind their children that, "...whenever a bell rings an angel gets its wings” These words were immortalized by Clarence the angel, and the daugherter, Zuzu,  the classic holiday movie, "It's A Wonderful Life."