Christmas in Spain : by Marta Crespo Sanchez

In Spain, Christmas is an important time which has a distinct religious connotation.

We start to celebrate Christmas decorating our homes. We use to decorate them around December 6th, and the Christmas decoration most characteristic here, is the nativity scene. The streets are decorated too, but probably the best decoration and above all nativities scenes are in church.

The first day in Christmas time is Christmas Eve, this day is very familiar and we use to have dinner with all our families. That night at 12 o´ clock it´s the "misa del gallo" to celebrate Jesus´ birth. The next day it´s Christmas and we spend all the day with the family. Personally my family and I go to mass, but not everybody does it.

Then, we celebrate New Year´s Eve. This day, here, isn´t so familiar, but is very funny. At 12 o´clock, to say hello to de new year, we eat twelve grapes, one with each chime of the clock. After that we go out to celebrate it, and maybe this is the biggest party day in Spain.

Finally, to see off at the Christmas time, we celebrate The Epiphany´s Eve on January 5th and Epiphany´s Day on January 6th. In Epiphany´s Eve, Three Wise Men called Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, take presents to all the children. Here this is a special night for all the kids because if they have been good, they will have their present, but if they have been bad, The Three Wise Men will take them coal.