With December marks its appearance in the calendar, the planning for pre-Christmas Eve has already started picking up the pace across the globe. Like all other countries, Christmas is an ecstatic fiesta, which is celebrated with equal gusto in Spain. Indian citizens planning their upcoming Christmas voyage to Spain need to know how the country goes festive during Christmas:
In Spain, people rush to the Midnight Mass (The Mass of the Rooster), as it is believed that a rooster (male cock) have crowed the night when Jesus took birth. With this believe, they continue the practice of Midnight Mass on the auspicious eve of Christmas. If you happen to be there on midnight of 24th December, make sure to taste the main Christmas dinner i.e. ‘Pavo Trufado de Navidad’. This is a Turkey stuffed traditional Spanish dinner, which is relished by the people of Spain during Christmas. On the other hand, the people around the North-West Spain region, Galicia, mostly enjoy the seafood on the eve of Christmas. The scrumptious platter is available in different kinds, which are made of edible crabs, shellfish, lobster and molluscs.
One of the common scenarios during Christmas that you can notice across Spain is that after midnight, the Spanish people walk through the streets holding torches. They also keep walking the distance by playing various musical instruments like drums and guitars uttering ‘Esta noche es Noche-Buena, Y no Es noche de dormir’, which indicates that the night is sacred and let’s not let the night go in sleeping.
The celebration doesn’t culminate here after 25th December. On contrary; the people of Spain also get involved into another day of celebration here on December 28th. The day is popular as ‘Día de los santos inocentes’, which means ‘The Day of the Innocent Saints’. On this particular day, people of Spain, local news channels and newspaper run silly tales and comical gig. The event goes something like that if you trick someone; you have to call them “Inocente”, which means innocent. The believe that goes with this age old practice is that on December 28th, innocent babies were killed as per the brutal instruction of King Herod when he was trying to kill baby Jesus.
The festivity continues to be there in Spain till January 6th, which is Epiphany. The day is recognised as a day of Christmas Story when Kings and wise men earlier used to carry gifts for baby Jesus. The actual meaning of Epiphany is ‘The festival of the three Magic Kings’. This is more like a Santa Claus carrying gifts and toys for children on the eve of Christmas in various other parts of the globe. Besides, in some of the cities, you can also witness the spectacular Epiphany Parades.
In recent past, numbers of Indian travellers have been reported to visit Spain for sightseeing, business and work purposes. Considering the significance of upcoming fiesta, a huge number of footfalls are expected across different cities in Spain.
If you happen to stay there till ‘Nochevieja’ (New Year), don’t miss out the interesting grape eating ritual here. They believe that if you eat 12 grapes with the 12 strokes at midnight, you are considered as lucky for the coming year. According to their conventional practice, 12 grapes represent 12 months of a calendar.
So get ready to witness the spectacular fiesta in Spain, and try to invite your luck by eating 12 grapes with the 12 strokes.
