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We have those from long ago to thank also for the tradition of having a bird as the centrepiece of the feast. The symbolism of the idea was pertinent, as it was believed that the geese and other migratory birds which returned each year to northern lands from the south were messengers sent from heaven to bring with them the spring, and all the abundance that would entail. The sacrifice of such a bird at around the winter solstice was a gesture by which in effect the victim was returned to the heavens. There it could petition for the swift return of spring. Modern traditions, of course, vary from country to country. Here in Spain, Papá Noel, or Father Christmas, is a comparatively recent arrival, mainly thanks to television and Hollywood. Santa will generally bring Spanish children something, but the bulk of their presents always come with the Reyes Magos, the three Wise Men or Kings. Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar arrive from the East on the evening of the 5th of January, process down the streets in their chariots and, when the children are safely tucked up in bed, will pass from house to house, piling presents into the shoes that have been left out in excited expectation. Those who have been naughty will wake to find only lumps of sweet black rock called 'carbón' or coal. Everybody, however, will tuck into their 'roscón de Reyes', the ring-shaped cake studded with candied fruit representing the emeralds and rubies on the Kings' robes.
What
do people eat over Christmas?
The menu varies from region to region. Here in Andalucía
the typical Christmas Eve dinner will start with the 'picoteo',
the nibbles of the best serrano ham and other cold cuts you can
afford. There will be good cheese, and plates of exhorbitantly priced
prawns. Foie gras is becoming more popular too, and Just
when you thought you couldn't eat another thing, out comes a
tray piled with 'turrón' and other Christmas goodies. 'Turrón'
is a nougat made of almonds, sugar, honey and egg white, and is
a speciality of the Alicante region in the east of Spain. There
are many types, but two are much more popular than the rest: the
chunky 'Alicante' style and the smooth and creamy 'Jijona'. If you're
ever in the area it's well worth a visit to a turrón factory
in the town of Jijona (now often spelt Xixona), for the aroma of
roasting almonds will convince you that they must be making the
most delicious sweet known to man. The Spanish certainly think that's
the case as every year they get through appreciably more than a
kilo per man, woman and child. As
if that were not enough, fried and stuffed pastries are popular,
and lots of people put marzipan figures or cakes on their sweet
trays, too. Marzipan, made of fifty per cent almonds, fifty per
cent sugar, goes back a long way in Spanish history - it's thought
to have been introduced by the Arabs in the eighth century. It is
a speciality of Toledo and its region, and of its nuns, of course,
from the Convento de Santa Isabel, for example. Some families will have more reason than usual to celebrate, following the huge lottery draw on the 22nd. That morning, all you hear coming from radios and televisions is the sound of the numbers being called as they are drawn from the great churning balls called 'bombos'. The voices calling the numbers belong to boys and girls from the Colegio de San Ildefonso. It is a great honour for them, they practice hard, and their delight is plain when they announce one of the big prizes, especially El Gordo, the Fat One, worth a cool two million euros per winning ticket. You
can have a pre-Christmas binge, and catch some fun local dances,
at the famous and hugely popular 'fiesta de las migas' in Torrox,
on the last Sunday before Christmas. 'Migas' means crumbs, and in
many places in Spain the dish is made with stale bread. Here, however,
plain wheat flour is used. It is cooked with oil, garlic, water
and salt; a simple peasant dish of stodge, therefore, but delicious
if properly prepared and accompanied by something tasty like the
unusual salad served in Torrox. It contains salt cod, olives, oranges,
tomatoes and onions, and is called 'ensalada arriera'. On
the 28th December, Spain remembers the Slaughter of the Innocents
by celebrating a sort of day-long April Fool's Day, 'El día
de los Inocentes', when all sorts of 'inocentadas' or practical
jokes are played, not least by the press. Just outside Málaga,
at Puerto de la Torre, they also hold a fiesta on this day in honour
of the flamenco-tinged 'verdial' dance, where the participants dress
in plain country clothes but with weirdly decorated hats. .
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Another
striking difference in the Spanish Christmas is that the huge
family dinner is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, rather
than on Christmas Day. People spare no expense on the food, and
make a point of decorating the table with their finest cutlery,
glassware and linen. After daunting quantities of food and drink,
carols are sung round the family crib, called in Spanish the 'belén'
or 'nacimiento' or 'pesebre'. These nativity scenes go back to the
thirteenth century and Francis of Assisi, who used a real ox and
ass in the one he made in a cave. The idea caught on and spread
to Spain in the eighteenth century. Elaborate versions can be seen
in shops, churches, town halls and cathedrals. In some places, Arcos
de la Fontera near Jerez, for example, you can visit 'belenes
vivos', where townspeople dress up in period clothes as the characters
in the scene and transform areas of the town into Bethlehem.
