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Revist@ Digit@l del IES Ciudad los Angeles   NAVIDAD INTERCULTURAL
     
Spanish Christmas
 

In Spain , the Christmas holiday are very important, because all the family meets together.

The more common traditions include incredibly elaborate nativity scenes (el Belén), Christmas trees, marzipan and other sweets, candles, decorations and hand-made Christmas gifts.

The first day, is Christmas Eve, it is celebrated on 24 of December, that day all the members of the family have dinner together. The next day is Christmas Day, it is more or less a continuation of what we began the day before. People spend time with their families, they eat another great meal, children enjoy with the presents that they have received from “Santa Claus”, the Spanish equivalent of Saint Claus.

 

 
 

My best day, or my best night is New Year's Eve, because all my family stay at my grandparents' house and we spend a very good time! We laugh a lot.

And we have to add that this day, for example, in all plazas of Spain when the clock strikes 12, the church bells sound 12 times, and at this moment, all Spaniards eat 12 grapes, one for each toll of the bell. According to tradition, those who eat the grapes will have 12 months of prosperity in the New Year. In my family that moment is very funny! When we have finished the grapes, normally people go out with their friends and we stay all the night having fun.

The next day is New Year´s Day and we have lunch with our families too.

Another important day for me is the sixth of January, that day I woke up early, because I want to see my presents. When I was a child, the night before I left my shoes on the balcony with a glass of milk for the Three Wise Men, because my mother told me that the camels need something to drink. Nowadays I know that the Three Wise Men don't exist but I love that day! For breakfast or after lunch, families often have the typical dessert of the day, the “Roscón de Reyes”. Somewhere inside the cake there is a surprise.

But in the city-centre of Madrid , you can go to see the “Cortilandia” it's a famous song. And another place that people usually go at Christmas is “Plaza Mayor” near Sol, there you can buy many things, for examples jokes, to laugh with all people.
by María de Andrés (2.1)