Christmas time for us here in Spain has been wonderful and full of visitors! We bought a small plastic tree to make it feel more christmassy as well as some Catalonian christmas items. You can buy real trees here but they are in shorter supply so pricier and also still alive and potted! We live in Valencia, which celebrates Christmas in much the same way as Canada does, roast turkey and all, with the one exception being that King's day on January 6th is the traditional gift giving time and holidays last until January 6th. Oh yes, and on Christmas night we looked out when we thought we heard carolers but there was a large group of folks in hallowe'en costumes. We have asked around but to the best of our knowledge it is just that we have unique neighbours and not that we discovered a secret Spanish Christmas tradition. The one funny thing I have noticed is that Santa breaks into your apartment here (everyone lives in apartments- so there are very few chimneys). Here is a photo that you have to look closely to see santa but he's there, catburgling into a random apartment. These Santas are everwhere (bottom right corner of photo).
Barcelona located in Catalonia, on the other hand, has MANY strange traditions. Melissa had taught me all about these traditions earlier so we went to Barcelona to buy trinkets and discover them. The first is the "caga tio"- a log you feed treats to for a month and treat well, and then on Christmas day you beat it with a stick as hard as you can and it poops out presents. Here is are two links: one of an actual child showing how it's done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_N7-HXTlI and here is the song with the translation that you sing to make it happen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_N7-HXTlI. We bought a tiny log but did not follow through with the beating. The other is the "caganer". This is a man, generally, who is squatting and mid-shit that you add to your nativity scene. I obviously bought two of these and put them below our tree as I could not bring myself to invest in a full nativity scene. And here the nativity scenes are not like at home- they are full villages (so your shitting man does not need to be right next to baby jesus)! They often include Egypt and some pyramids (as the kings originate from there) and functional water features and full kitchens are the norm. We saw some impressive incense burning stoves so that you could have a realistic cast iron stove. We also saw a number of devils for sale in the Christmas markets which caused me some confusion until some native Barcelonians told us every year there is a play where devils trick shepherds trying to go see baby jesus into a trap where they get put in a cauldron (witches may or may not be involved) and are about to die until St. Michael saves them and the devils go back to hell, tail between their legs. Obviously. There are many versions of Els Pastorets but here is one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aog_lcSS6E
So we had lots of wonderful visitors. First was Melissa and our Barcelona adventure- we got some great weather and had some good times. First, Melissa learned that gin and tonics in Spain are served in ridiculous glasses- I assured her not just for ladies. She seemed unsure at the glass choice:
Then we saw the usual pretty things- the olympic site:
The fort above Barcelona:
the still uncompleted Sagrada familia:
and the art museum (we didn't go inside but lovely from the outside):
Then for Christmas proper David and Rosemary visited us in Valencia and we cooked and ate delicious foods and went for some nice walks although sadly Christmas weather not perfect every day and a cooler wet front had moved in- think still positive double digits but definitely jacket worthy.
All in all, a wonderful holiday and I can't lie, reading the Canadian weather did help me feel we picked the right year to escape! As always, a hilarious photo I couldn't help taking with a Spanish Christmas wish- I hope you all had a tender Christmas!?!?
