Catalonia, Spain

The Christmas season starts on the 8th of December with everyone going to Church to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrating Mary’s pregnancy. From this day onwards people start preparing for Christmas. Christmas trees (fake or real) may be decorated and foods prepared. A special log called Tio de Nadal (Caga Tio) is either collected from a forest or brought out of storage from previous years. Tio Nadal has a face and wears a traditional red hat, sometimes it also has legs. The children are tasked with covering the log with a blanket to keep it warm and feeding it nuts, oranges and Torrons everyday. Each morning they will find orange peels and nut shells left over in the dish. If they look after it well Tio Nadal will ensure they are well rewarded at Christmas.

In this lead up to Christmas families also prepare their Nativity Scenes at home. They vary in all shapes and sizes, with landscapes created with moss, aluminium foil for rivers etc. The characters are added over many days as they each entered the nativity story. Life Size Nativity scenes are also created for people to visit on family holidays. This tradition was started by Francis of Assisi  in 1223. Real people pose as statues through the streets of a village or in a forest and it is a popular family outing to buy tickets and take a walk through the display. Typical in all Nativity Scenes across Catalonia is the character called El Caganar. He is a young shepherd boy crouching with his pants down making a poo. This is not seen as disrespectful but that he fertilises the fields to bring a good future harvest. In the life-size nativity scenes a real character will stand at a distance from the crowd wearing fake buttocks to play this role. The children take great delight in finding this particular character.

24th of December

On the evening of the 24th the Catalonians may typically eat Sopa de Galets , a vegetable broth with large shell/ boot shaped pasta and mini meatballs floating inside. For dessert they enjoy Turron (accent on the o going up), a nutritious nougat with ground almonds and honey.

After dinner the children are distracted in other rooms singing carols and praying whilst small gifts are hidden under the blanket covering the Tio de Nadal. The children then sing a song to the log and beat the log with a wooden spoon or stick telling it to produce gifts. They lift the blanket and discover gifts. There is no Father Christmas in Catalonian tradition, the larger gifts have always been brought by the Three Kings on the 6th of January. However, in recent times parents have felt it more practical to allow Tio de Nadal to bring the larger gifts so that the children can play with them during the school holidays.

At 11pm or midnight the whole family goes to church for the Missa del Gall (mass before the cock crows). After the service they meet in the church hall to exchange gifts, socialise and drink Moscatell, Garnatxa or Cava Brut provided by the church. This is a thank you celebration for all that have helped prepare for the evening. Small theatre pieces of Mary and Joseph looking for accommodation in the inns are also performed. At about 2am everyone finally heads home.

25th of December

Lunch is normally served at around 3pm at the grandparent’s home with uncles, aunts and cousins all sharing in the celebration. Starters include cannelloni with béchamel sauce, and the main course is Sarsuela, a seafood and chicken stew. Desserts include fresh pineapple, 

Turron and polvorones. Cava is drunk after dessert. All alcohol is drunk in moderation.

There is a very relaxed atmosphere with no rush to leave and leftovers may be eaten again later that evening or eventually taken home to be eaten.

26th of December

The 26th is a quiet family day where people go to see the live nativity or children’s theatre called Els Pastorets. This is the story of the shepherds going receiving the news of Jesus birth and wanting to travel to see the baby but being hindered by Lucifer. In the end the Angels triumph and the shepherds arrive at the manger.

On many of the holidays during this period the whole family will go into the village to play Quina de Nadal. This is Bingo played with maize corns to cover the numbers. If a line is completed then a bottle of wine can be won, for completing the whole sheet prizes can range from a Gambon Ham through to a washing machine.

28th of December

Day of the innocent saints

This was the day that Herod ordered all babies to be killed. On this day people play jokes on each other and try to catch out the most gullible with ridiculous stories. They may also attach a paper figure to someone’s back unbeknown to them and let them walk around like that the whole day with people making fun of them.

31st December

New Year’s eve celebrations are with friends shooting off fireworks. Shortly before midnight everyone gathers around the TV to watch the bells striking 12 times for midnight. Each person gets 12 grapes and if you can eat all 12 grapes before the bells are finished chiming then you will have good luck in the next year. Many people take this very seriously eating their grapes quietly in a corner.