Christmas
For Spaniards the Christmas season (Navidad) is
split into three main events: Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), New
Year's Eve (NocheVieja) and the feast of the Ephiphany.
Christmas Eve is a time for the family, who gather for the
main Christmas meal late in the evening maybe after attending midnight
mass. Santa Claus is a modern addition and the children may receive
a few presents during the evening. Christmas Day is a quiet time
reserved for recovering from the night before. There is an old
Spanish verse - "Esta noche es Noche-Buena, y no es noche de dormir"
(this night is a good night, and is not meant for sleeping!)
New Year's Eve is known as NocheVieja ('the old night' - the last day
of the old year). It is party time and one tradition is to eat
twelve grapes, one on each stroke of midnight, to bring good luck for the
year ahead.
The main celebration of the season is the feast of the Epiphany when
the Three Kings (Los Reyes) bring presents for the children, and is the
day when gifts are exchanged. On Three King's Eve, Spanish children
put out straw, food and water for the royal animals and leave their shoes
to be filled by the three kings. Naughty children will only find a
lump of coal in their shoes and most children will receive a lump of black
coated sugar as a reminder of this terrible fate! When the children
go to bed they leave barley in their shoes for the wise men's camels.