Spanish Christmas traditions

1. Christmas celebration in
Spain

2. THE THREE WISE MAN
In our country, we celebrate “Los Tres Reyes
Magos” (The Three Wise Men ) on the sixth
of January.
The Three Wise Men is a Spanish tradition
that says that: Once upon a time María and
José had a child ( Jesús ) and three men
followed a star to find the place where
God´s son was. When they found him, each
wise men gave him a present: Melchor gave
him gold, Gaspar, myrrh and Baltasar,
incense.
So, nowadays, on 6 December, most children
in Spain get one or more presents. The Three
Wise Men leave the presents under the tree
and kids think they really come into houses
to leave the gifts.

3. For lunch (at 2 or 3 o´clock) people in
Galicia have seafood or whatever. The
most important thing is the dessert,
everyone eats: a “Roscón de Reyes”( which
is a typical cake ) Inside, there´s a toy- a
wise man and a bean. When you eat your
piece of Roscón, if you find the toy wise
man , you´ll have good luck; if you find
the bean, you´ll have bad luck and you
have to pay the Roscón.
The day before The Three Wise Men´s day
there´s a parade in which all the family ,
specially kids collect candies while the
Three Wise Men throw to the people that
are watching the parade. It´s an amazing
moment and it´s really fun.
School starts again after “Reyes”.
And, that´s all our celebration on the 6th
of January.
Written by Marta and Noa

4. CHRISTMAS EVE
In our country, we celebrate
Christmas Eve on 24th December.
This day is very important because
it’s an evening when family get
together and we have a special
dinner. We sit at the table at ten
o’clock. Our meal is seafood or fish,
which is typical in Galicia in the
northwest of Spain and our typical
dessert is marzipan, “polvorones”
and “turrón”.
Written by Nerea and Hugo
Hard and
soft turrón
Marzipan
Polvorone

5. CHRISTMAS DAY
We celebrate Christmas Day with our
family on the 25 of December. It is a
family celebration, too. When we get up,
we go to the Christmas tree and take the
presents but Spanish children get the
most presents on “Reyes Magos”, on
January 6. At three o'clock, we have
lunch, usually seafood or fish with our
family. The dessert is often turrón and
polvorones.
It is beautiful.
Written by Iria and Sheila

6. NEW YEAR’S EVE
In our country, we celebrate
New Year’s Eve on December
31. We have dinner at about 10
or eleven o´clock and we wear
something red because it will
bring good luck. At midnight,
we eat 12 grapes, one with each
stroke of the bell because that
will also bring good luck.
Young people (over 16) usually
dress up and go out until the
following morning; the oldest
ones even have breakfast before
they go home!