Nativity scenes are laid on a

table at home, in churches

or public places.

There are also living

representations on public

places during these days

Other people decorate their homes with the more international Christmas tree or they set both of them

TURRÓN: An almond based tablet in two versions, hard and soft.Currently there are a lot more versions

POLVORONES Y MANTECADOS: Soft crumbly cakes made mainly of lard and flour

MAZAPANES: Popular figurines made of almonds, sugar and eggs

ROSCÓN DE REYES:A cake that is traditionally eaten on January 6th.Hidden inside the cake there is a king figure, for the "winner" and a bean, for the "loser"

AcAccordinttttt

According to the Spanish tradition, the Three Wise Kings are the ones who bring presents for all the children in the morning of January 6th. However, nowadays many families also follow the Father Chrismas tradition, on December 25th, because this way their children have more time to play with their toys

The Three Kings Parade on the evening of January 5th

In the morning of this day the most famous lottery draw, "El Gordo", takes place.Almost everybody buys either a number or fractions and subfractions of different numbers, which increases the chances of a share in the winning

● Children go from house to house asking for money or sweets and they usually have to sing a Christmas Carol to get the prize. This is called "pedir el aguinaldo"

● Families gather to have dinner together (turkey, lamb leg or fish in the oven). There are always a lot of appetiziers like "jamón" and seafood.

● New Year's Eve dinner is not so familiar and many people meet either at home or elsewhere to have a big dinner and then eat the 12 lucky grapes,one at each stroke of the bells at midnight, to secure 12 happy months in the coming year

● The traditions says that you must wear something RED on this night

La MISA DEL GALLO is a midnight mass celebrated on Chrismas Eve. It is a religious tradition for all the Spanish speaking countries.This because a rooster is supposed to have crowed the night that Jesus was born "EL DÍA DE LOS SANTOS INOCENTES" takes place on December 28th. It is equivalent to the April's Fool Day FIRECRACKERS: Just after the strokes for the New Year, many people go out to the streets to set off their firecrakers or fireworks On January 6th, according to the tradition, bad kids may get coal instead of gifts. This fact never happens. However, some naughty children may get a piece of COAL CANDY together with their presents.

In our region_Andalucía_ some of the most popular carols get a "flamenco" flavour or they have "flamenco" roots.There are many choirs that sing in benefit meetings where you can also get some home made food and drink. This meeting is named ... after one of the seasonal musical instruments: La zambomba.Here you can see and hear some examples of this kind of "villancicos" Christmas Carols contest in Jerez Villancico rociero "Cantaba José"

The traditional Christmas Carols_villancicos,as we called them_ are also very popular all around Spain.Some of them are just translatios of English versionsMany others are typical Spanish or from Spanish speaking countries.