Here in Spain Christmas is not as white as in many other European countries since it hardly ever snows, but everyone is still completely engaged in the Christmas spirit. You spend this time with your family – no matter how far you are away from home, the important dates need to be celebrated with your whole big family! (Parents, siblings, uncles, grandparents, cousins etc.)
From the beginning of December, most houses are decorated with both the typical artificial Christmas tree and the traditional Belen (Nativity scene), in which baby Jesus and the three wise men figures approaching him can’t be missed. Public exhibitions of the really big ones exist. Also, Christmas is the time to listen to the traditional Christmas Carols, such as Arre borriquillo or Hacia Belen va una mula.
A few days before Christmas is the big lottery happening! We start buying tickets in summer and a lot of people will spend a little fortune on them. This tradition lives not only from the peer pressure, but even more important from y. It’s also popular to buy lottery tickets from places you visited ou employer selling them. It’s also popular to buy tickets from places you have visited within Spain during that year.
On Christmas Eve we usually have an impressive family dinner and on the Christmas day again. We like to eat seafood during that time! Additionally we might find a few little presents under the Christmas tree in the morning of the 25th, but for the majority if them we have to wait… On the same day, we always watch the king’s speech on television.
We think the 31st is a part of the whole Christmas celebration as well, but there’ll be a separate article about the new year traditions. So finally on the 6.1 the three wise men will have dropped off our presents in the early morning. The children will have written them in a letter what they wish. It’s traditional to have a “Roscón de Reyes” for breakfast with hot chocolate. There will also be a big parade in every city where a lot of candy gets handed out.
