Children string empty cans on a piece of rope and drag the cans around, making a ton of noise to remind the Kings to leave the children gifts that night. It’s held on January 5th, the day before the Three Wise Kings arrive. You’ll find the Spanish Christmas tradition known as El Arrastre (The Drag) in the coastal city of Cádiz. RELATED CONTENT: 12 of the most useful Spanish phrases to learn before your trip to Spain 6. It’s a special time for families to get together, give thanks and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Many families also eat the main Spanish Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) just before or after Midnight Mass. Many people go to a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, known as La Misa Del Gallo (The Mass of the Rooster), because a rooster supposedly crowed the night Jesus was born. Midnight MassĪ post shared by Spain Catholics making up over half of the country’s population, the Christmas church services are a very important part of Christmas in Spain. Once the song is finished, they take off the blanket to discover all their hidden sweets. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, they sing the Caga Tió song, whack the log with a stick and ask him to poop out turrón (sweet nougat) and other treats for them.
Children feed the Caga Tió small pieces of bread or orange peel each evening in the lead up to Christmas. Caga Tió, meaning pooping log, is basically a wooden log dressed up with a face, legs, blanket and a barretina (Catalan hat). In Spain, you rock around the Christmas… log! It’s of the most curious of all Spanish Christmas traditions and it’s found in the Catalonia region. You can even watch living Beléns, where real actors and animals recreate the Nativity scene.ĮXPERIENCE IT FOR YOURSELF: Treasures of Spain and Portugal 4.
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You’ll see them in traditional households, shop windows and town squares in the lead up to Christmas, and you’ll spot handmade figurines like baby Jesus and the Three Wise Kings in Christmas markets all over Spain. They’re more than just a few figurines in a stable – these are huge and elaborate nativity scenes, with houses, markets, farms, rivers and all kinds of characters. Portal de Beléns, meaning ‘stable of Bethlehem’, are the incredible nativity scenes found across Spain at Christmas time.
RELATED CONTENT: Northern Spain Holidays: Discovering the Green Side of Spain 3. He wears peasants clothing, smokes a pipe and brings gifts for children on Christmas Eve, in return for food and alcohol. The Basques also have their own, more rugged, version of Santa – the mythical giant Olentzero. In Galicia, a mythical coal miner called El Apalpador feels children’s stomachs to see if they’ve been eating well and leaves behind little treats like chestnuts and sweets. That’s also not the only version of Santa Claus in Spain. These days, some kids in Spain also open a few presents on Christmas day too, so you can have double the fun!
If it’s too long to wait for pressies, don’t worry. When the families return home, they leave out their shoes for the Kings to fill with gifts during the night. It’s one of the most wonderful Spanish Christmas traditions you can’t miss! Instead, towns and cities hold huge Three Kings parades (‘cabalgatas’) on the night of January 5th, where the Kings parade through the towns on floats and throw out sweets for the kids. Forget Saint Nick – in Spain, it’s the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men (known as Reyes Magos – Melchior, Gaspar and Baltazar) who bring the gifts to good children at Christmas time. A post shared by Spain of the most unique facts about Christmas in Spain is that there’s no Santa Claus.
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