Much like Halloween and Thanksgiving, in the weeks leading up to Christmas all I was required to do was share our traditions via crosswords and Youtube videos. And much like those other festive weeks, I was continually amazed by my students reactions. But since Christmas and New Years are holidays the Spaniards actually celebrate, I also got to discover and even experience many of their traditions. It was a regular cultural gift exchange.
Christmas Lights
As anyone that has seen Christmas Vacation would know, putting up Christmas lights is a big deal back home. And once wondrous light displays began lining the streets of Madrid I assumed that to some extent the practice had made it across the Atlantic.
But then I showed my little children this little video of one of the thousands of homes across the country that sync their lights with music.
Minds. Blown.
I have never seen these students sit up with such attention before.
Every house do this? This is your house? How? HOW? HOW KRISTEN HOW!?!
Um. No sé.
Belénes
As a predominantly Catholic country, los belénes, or Nativity scenes, are a big part of the Spanish holidays. In La Plaza Mayor tons of stalls appear to sell different figures that families use to create elaborate Nativity displays in their homes. This alone did not surprise me. But with separation of church and state drilled into my head since Kindergarden, when I walked into my school and saw one in the center lobby I was shocked. Almost as shocked as my students were to find out that American schools could not allow such decorations.
White Christmas
Growing up in Florida, to me "White Christmas" was nothing more than something you saw in movies or CocaCola commericals. It was something that only happened in the North no matter how many times my sister and I asked Santa for one in the Swampland.
I never considered that a country as far north as Spain would also see this as such a foreign concept. This first sunk in while I was teaching a group of 12 year olds some winter vocabulary. One of the words was icicle, which understandably none of them knew. But after I described what an icicle was and drew one on the board, none of them could tell me the Spanish word for icicle. They understood the concept and told me they'd seen them in movies before, but didn't know the word because they'd never actually had to say it before. So when the teacher told them the word was carámbano, it was the first time several of them had ever heard the word. I guess that's why this is the closest thing Madrid gets to a White Christmas. Well this and Bing Crosby playing in Starbucks:
Wigs
Don't know why but in the weeks before Christmas there are suddenly packs of people in the streets with some of the most outrageous wigs I've ever seen. Children, drunkards, Spanish versions of the Cleaver family, all wear these crazy colorful wigs.
I would have gotten a pic of one of these groups or even asked them what the wigs were about, but honestly these people scared me.
Christmas Trees
While there are Christmas trees in Spain, apparently artificial ones from Los Chinos are preferred by most families. And if you do want a real tree you'll probably be sold a part or branch of a tree rather than a whole one. Which is why my Spanish roommate was shocked when this little homage to Charlie Brown showed up in our living room:
And she almost died when we popped some popcorn and instead of letting her eat it, we handed her a needle and some thread.
New Years Eve
In Madrid, Puerta del Sol is their Time Square. With a giant clock tower in the middle of the plaza, it's the perfect place to countdown to the New Year. Except instead of a ball, Spaniards have grapes. When the clock hits midnight, everyone in Spain eats a grape with each strike; 12 grapes in about 12 seconds. If you're able to do this you'll have good luck during the New Year. The tradition apparently started one year when there was a plentiful grape crop and the government was just handing them out.
After hearing about this tradition, I showed my students a clip of the ball dropping in Time Square. In one class, when everyone in the video started making out at midnight, a little girl raised her hand and asked, "If everyone is kissing how do they eat their grapes?"
Día de los Reyes
With the spread of American culture, Christmas has become more and more important in Spain. But the main holiday for Spaniards is still El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos, or Three Magi Day aka The Epiphany. Celebrated on January 6th, this is the day that kids leave out milk and cookies and hang their stockings...Except they leave water for the Magi's camels and leave out their (very clean) shoes to be filled with gifts.
While I was not in Spain for this day, I did get to try it's traditional dessert: Rascón de Reyes.
Shaped like a huge donut, this cake is similar to our fruitcake, made with pieces of dried and jellied fruit. It's lighter and more delicate than fruitcake and also filled with a creamy icing, so it kicks fruitcake's ass. But as anyone that's actually eaten the fruitcake their great-aunt Tillie sent them knows, that's not hard to do.
K Learns Spanish Lesson 12...Holiday Style
reno- reindeer; as Rudolph and his 8 antlered pals.
peluca- wig
villancicos- carols
carbon- coal
Interesting sidenote: here in Spain children are not as worried about getting coal from Santa because their is a sugary candy version that I hear is quite tasty called carbon dulce. I brought some home for my little cousins; they asked what they'd done wrong.
regalo- gift
uvas- grapes
trineo- sleigh (don't even try explaining how to pronounce this word)
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