Feliz Navidad

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. A lot of people have asked me why I don't take advantage of the Christmas break and travel around the United States, but I can simply not imagine this season without my family. So i cannot compare directly Spanish festivities with American ones, but I know some traditions are slightly different.

LA CASTAÑERA

This is a tradition from Catalonia, but it has spread out all over Spain.

La castañera is usually an old lady that, when the cold weather arrives, sells roasted chestnuts in little carts on the street. They can also sell sweet potato and caramel-coated almonds, but Christmas without the smell of fresh roasted chestnuts just wouldn't be the same for me!

LA CESTA DE NAVIDAD
This is something I hope the OIR imports from Spain ;) (just kidding). Every year, every company give their employees a basket (cesta in Spanish) full of Christmas goodies. These usually include:

- turrón, a confection typically made of honey, sugar, almonds and egg white; 
- peladillas, an almond with a sweet and hard outer shell;
- polvorones, a very crumbly and rich shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk and nuts;
- marzipan;
- dates;
- praline;
- Spanish wine such as cava, which is sparkling, as well as other drinks;  
- embutidos, hashed pork seasoned with aromatic herbs and spices;
- asparagus; 
- good olive oil;
- etc!

LAS 12 UVAS

For New Year's Eve we have this tradition of eating 12 white grapes on the last 12 seconds of the year. Sounds easy and silly, right? Try it! It is really hard to eat them all at that speed. But the tradition says that, if you get to swallow them all on time, you'll have good luck for the next 12 months.

Almost every family does this, it is a big deal. We even have a TV show so that everybody eats the grapes at the same time! Here you can watch a video of the broadcast from last year:

LOS TRES REYES MAGOS

Traditionally, in Spain we did not have Santa Claus. Don't panic! Most households do now, but even if they didn't, we have our own gift-giving tradition, and that is the Three Wise Men, who for whatever reason are called in Spanish the Magic Kings. The concept is basically the same: they come overnight to leave presents, but instead of riding reindeer they come in camels. Also, they don't come on December 24/25th, they come on January 5/6th.

Connected to this tradition, on the evening of December 5th every town has its Cabalgata de Reyes or Cavalcade of Magi, a parade where the Three Wise Men throw candy at the kids while they stroll in their floats.

On the 6th in the afternoon, families gather to eat the Roscón de Reyes, a ring-shaped cake with candied fruit on top of it and a paper crown in the middle. Also, it is filled little figurines, for instance of a Wise Men or the mule, hidden inside. The custom in Spain is that if you get the bean instead of a figurine, you have to pay for the cake; however if you find Baby Jesus, you get to keep the crown.

I can't wait to go home for Christmas! Although sometimes I wish I could experience this time of the year in other cultures, like here in America. Can you think about differences that might be interesting for a Spanish girl? I know some of your countries don't celebrate Christmas, but do you, at any point in the year, have something similar?

In any case, merry Christmas and happy New Year :)