Christmas in Spain

The Christmas season in Spain commences with Saint Nicholas Day on December 6 and ends with Epiphany on January 6.

This month is filled with family gatherings, street parties, parades, masquerades, and plenty of gifts for children – finding a nation where kids receive more treats for Christmas than Spaniards is challenging.

A perfect Christmas for any Spaniard includes eating traditional food at a family feast, attending the Rooster’s Mass, receiving a gift, and, perhaps, winning the annual El Gordo lottery.

Christmas Food

Spanish Christmas feast is always abundant. Spaniards always serve plenty of cured meats such as ham, chorizo, jamon, and morcilla, sometimes accompanied by a selection of locally-produced cheeses.

The main dish is a roasted suckling pig with potatoes and caramelized onions. Seafood is common in Spain’s coastal regions, including prawn cocktails, lobsters, and seafood salads.

Galets is the traditional Spanish Christmas soup made with large pasta shells and meaty broth. For dessert, Spaniards eat marzipan, polvorones, and mantecados.

Polvorones are crumbly buttery biscuits with ground almonds, and mantecados are similar to polvorones but smaller and contain cinnamon.

Another Spanish Christmas dessert is Roscón de Reyes, the Kings’ Cake. Although the dessert is traditionally served for Epiphany, many families also bake it for Christmas.

The cake contains candied fruit slices, rum, and orange zest and is shaped like a giant doughnut.

Any dish is accompanied by cava, the Spanish equivalent of champagne. Some locals drink chilled mulled wine or eggnog with rum.

Church Services

On Christmas Eve, Spaniards head to local churches to celebrate the birth of Jesus with hymn singing, praying, and biblical passage readings. The mass begins around 10 p.m. and ends after the clock strikes midnight.

Christmas church service in the U.S. is known as Midnight Mass, but in Spanish-speaking countries, it’s called Misa del Galo – Rooster’s Mass. According to a legend, a rooster crowed the night Jesus was born.

Spanish churches typically set up life-sized nativity scenes for everyone to pray in front of them. Some Spaniards leave sweets and tangerines near Jesus’ manger.

The best place to attend a Rooster’s Mass in Barcelona is the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, designed by famous architect Gaudi. The mass usually begins early to let families with kids attend it without a headache.

Another must-visit Midnight Mass for tourists is in Santa Maria del Mar Church in El Born because the service is preceded by a medieval music concert.

Fireworks & Bonfires

Spanish Christmas festivities are in no way solemn but vibrant and fun. On Christmas Eve, when the clock strikes midnight, people go outside and launch fireworks, lighting up the sky in a myriad of colorful explosions.

Fireworks are common in Spain throughout December and early January.

People fire them on December 21, celebrating the winter solstice, on December 22, when the results of the annual Christmas lottery are announced, on Feast of the Holy innocents, New Year’s, and Epiphany.

On December 21, Spaniards also burn bonfires on town streets. In pre-Christian times, the light of the fire was believed to ward off evil spirits that thrive during the longest night of the year.

Similar customs were observed in many cultures. For example, Norse pagans would burn an entire tree trunk throughout celebrations of the winter solstice festival Yule, and people in the Balkan region have a similar Badnjak tradition.

Feast of The Holy Innocents

On December 28, entire Spain celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents. This day commemorates the baby boys massacred by King Herod’s order in the nativity story.

Herod tried to kill Jesus, worrying he would end his reign, but didn’t know where to find him, so he ordered his soldiers to kill all boys under two years old in Bethlehem.

Although the story behind this day is gruesome, nowadays, Spaniards celebrate it as the equivalent of April Fool’s Day. Everyone risks getting pranked at any moment, so people shouldn’t believe anything they are told.

Spaniards gather with their families for a traditional feast abundant with sweets. Some towns host parades, carnivals, and fund-raising banquets to help disadvantaged children.

In some regions, groups of children walk around their neighborhoods, making noise with spoons and anise bottles and asking for treats.

The Fat Lottery

While kids anticipate gifts, adults in Spain anticipate the results of the “Fat Lottery” El Gordo. Spanish Christmas lottery is the longest-running lottery in the world, counting over 200 years, and among the ones with the largest jackpots.

The tradition originated in 1810 in Cadiz, during the Spanish Civil War. At that time, the town served as home for the Spanish government-in-exile and resorted to the lottery to cover the war expenses.

The idea of the lottery on its own wasn’t revolutionary, but no one had seen a draw of such scale. The tradition has stuck, and nowadays, millions of Spaniards participate in it every year.

El Gordo lottery tickets are expensive, so not every Spaniard can afford them. One ticket costs over $200. However, tickets are also sold in decimals, each costing about $20 – similar to how one can buy cryptocurrency.

The tickets are sold countrywide in stores, cafes, bars, and offices. The prize amount varies by year; for example, in 2020, it was $4,000,000. According to surveys, 40% of Spaniards would quit their jobs if they won the lottery.

The lottery results are announced on December 22, when people gather with friends and family to watch the draw on TV and drink.

Epiphany

Epiphany is a holiday commemorating the Three Wise Men, also known as the Magi or Three Kings, who came from the east to worship Jesus and brought him three gifts: gold, myrrh, and frankincense.

January 5 is nearly as exciting for young Spaniards as Christmas because each city municipality organizers a large float parade on Epiphany eve.

Musicians, artists, dancers, and people dressed as the Three Kings walk through the streets and wave to all locals.

After watching the parade, Spaniards return home for an early dinner. Children clean their shoes and leave them on the windowsill for the Magi to fill them with treats or small toys at night while everyone is asleep.

On January 6, Spaniards eat the Roscón de Reyes cake, translated as the Kings’ Cake. They hide a small figurine of baby Jesus or a bean inside the cake, and whoever finds it is believed to have a lucky year.

The Caga Tio

Children in Catalonia and Aragon regions anticipate the arrival of Caga Tio, a cheerful holiday character renowned for his generosity.

He brings kids gifts and treats, so Spanish kids receive gifts at least three times throughout the Christmas season.

Caga Tio translates as Pooping Log. He’s a log with a smiley face and four branches attached to serve as feet. Caga Tio is sold at Christmas markets across the country, but some families craft one themselves.

Although Caga Tio is a beloved character among children, they treat him poorly. Spanish kids beat him with sticks. Why? Well, beating the log with sticks is the only way to make it poop treats.

But before receiving gifts and treats, children “feed” the log with dry bread and orange peels throughout December. There’s also a Catalan song about Caga Tio that goes,

“Poop, log,
poop nougats (turrón),
hazelnuts and mató cheese,
if you don’t poop well,
I’ll hit you with a stick,
poop, log!”

Fascinating, isn’t it? Caga Tio is among the most bizarre Spanish Christmas tradition, but children love it, so who cares?

Gift Exchange

Spaniards exchange gifts with family and closest friends on Christmas Eve after returning from church or on Christmas Day. One unique thing about Christmas in Spain is that kids don’t receive gifts from Santa Claus.

Spanish kids get presents from Saint Nicholas on December 6, Three Wise Men on Epiphany, and a Pooping Log, but never Santa Claus in a red suit with a buckled belt and fur-trimmed hat with a pompom.

Some Spanish kids get gifts from their parents; others believe in Caga Tio, El Apalpador, or Olentzero, depending on the region. You’re already familiar with Caga Tio, but who are El Apalpador and Olentzero?

El Apalpador is the traditional gift-giver in Galicia, a mythical coal miner who feels kids’ stomachs to see if they’ve been eating well and leaves them treats.

Olentzero is a mythical giant from the Basques region who smokes a pipe and brings gifts in return for alcohol and food.

Christmas Decorations

Spanish Christmas decorations include garlands, wreaths, and fairy lights, but the nativity scene is always in the spotlight. Spaniards craft the nativity scene themselves or buy the figurines at local Christmas fairs.

Like most Europeans, Spaniards decorate the Christmas tree with baubles, tinsel, ornaments with holiday symbols, and lights. Decorations on town streets are one-of-a-kind, lighting the night in rainbow colors.