The Christmas season in Spain is a delightfully drawn-out time that spans several weeks with religious, cultural, and family festivities. It’s dotted with an overload of holidays, starting with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th and ending with the opening of presents on the Epiphany on January 6th. A mix of centuries-old customs and modern-day festivities, Christmas traditions in Spain are a delight to experience, characterized by festive foods, magical Nativity decorations, and a beautiful sense of community that makes the holidays so heartwarming. So, if you’re planning a winter trip in Spain, read our 5 facts about Christmas in Spain so you don’t miss out!
The season of Christmas in Spain is celebrated much longer than in North America.
In Spain, the season officially begins on December 8th with the celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a bank holiday. However, in the past few years, Spain has gradually adopted a “commercial” Christmas schedule like in North America. So, starting in late November, you can awe at the Christmas lights and decorations and shop at festive markets, which gradually build up the festive atmosphere. Want a quick run-down?
Here are some important dates during the Spanish Christmas season:
- December 8th: Feast of the Immaculate Conception
- December 22nd: El Gordo Lottery drawing
- December 24th: Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), a special time for family Christmas dinners
- December 25th: Christmas Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, religious observance, and family reunions
- December 28th: Día de Los Santos Inocentes, Day of the Holy Innocents, similar to April Fool’s Day, a time for pranks and shenanigans
- December 31: New Year’s Eve
- January 1st: New Year’s Day
- January 5th: Cabalgata de Reyes, the colorful Three Kings Parade
- January 6th: Three Kings’ Day or Epiphany (Día de Reyes), a day of gift-giving and celebrations
Unlike in North America, the holidays don’t wind down fast after New Year’s Day. The Christmas break for Spanish kids doesn’t end until after January 6. Spain has an extra five days of festivities!
El Gordo, Spain’s famous Christmas lottery, is known for its massive jackpot and widespread participation.
The El Gordo lottery (“the Fat One”) is also called the Lotería de Navidad. It’s one of the world’s oldest and largest lotteries, celebrated annually in Spain on December 22nd. The much-anticipated lottery has been running since 1812, and it started as a charitable initiative to raise funds for orphans and the poor.
The unique aspect of the El Gordo lottery is that it distributes a vast number of prizes, making it one of the richest lotteries worldwide. Each ticket for the lottery is divided into ten décimos, or tenths, allowing people to buy fractions of a ticket. Weeks before the big draw, friends, families, schools, or co-workers purchase décimos together, making it a community activity and hopefully making their money dreams come true together. You don’t want to be left out if your group wins!
On December 22, many Spanish families turn on the TV to see the draw, a time-honored tradition. It involves a massive revolving drum called the bombo, containing thousands of small wooden balls, each imprinted with a specific number. Another drum holds smaller balls corresponding to prize amounts. During the draw, school kids from Madrid‘s San Ildefonso school, a tradition dating back to the 18th century, sing out the winning numbers and corresponding prizes, which is also amusing! El Gordo is a truly cultural phenomenon in Spain, and participating in it is a tradition embedded in the country’s holiday customs.
Elaborate Nativity scenes decorate many Spanish towns, homes, churches, and public spaces.
The tradition of creating Nativity scenes, known as a Belén, holds cultural and religious significance during the Christmas season. Some of the scenes don’t just show the birth of Jesus but often display entire villages or towns, capturing everyday life during this biblical time. You’ll find merchants selling bread, cobblers mending shoes, farmers in fields, or locals hanging their clothes on a clothesline. These tiny figures, buildings, landscapes, and intricate details are fun to look at!
When in Spain during Christmas, you can see these belenes on display. You can also visit a town or city’s Christmas market, where you’ll find lots of Belén accessories like miniature pots and pans, fake moss, or tiny little handwoven baskets.
Spaniards celebrate the season with unique festive foods.
So many Christmas foods, and so little time! One holiday treat is the turrón, which dates back centuries in Spain. It originated from Moorish influence during their occupation of Spain. It’s made with honey, sugar, egg whites, and toasted almonds, and sometimes with additional ingredients like chocolate, fruits, or spices. The mixture is cooked and then cooled into solid blocks before being cut into portions.
Families and friends often gift turrón to each other. They also gather around tables laden with different varieties, and turrón makers seem to be inventing new flavors each year! These sweet treats are shared alongside other traditional Spanish Christmas foods and drinks.
Other Christmas sweets are polvorones and mantecados. The Moors introduced these cookies, which were initially made with just flour and lard, eventually evolving with the addition of sugar and almonds after the Crusades. Mantecados, specifically, have their roots in Estepa, a town in Andalusia known for producing these delicate treats. These cookies were historically made with pork lard (manteca), which gives them a crumbly texture, giving them that melt-in-your-mouth effect.
Eating 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve is also a unique Spanish tradition known as las doce uvas de la suerte, or “the twelve lucky grapes.” It’s a symbolic way to ring in the New Year and is said to have originated in the early 20th century in Alicante, where grape growers came up with the idea to sell excess grapes by promoting the practice as a New Year’s Eve tradition. It gained popularity quickly and became a widespread custom across Spain.
So, on December 31st, Spaniards turn on their TV sets, and each person gathers with a bowl of twelve grapes. Different Spanish TV networks hold a countdown to the New Year, and presenters try to eat the grapes with you! The challenge is to eat one grape with each toll of the clock, eating all twelve before the last stroke at midnight.
Eating the grapes in sync with the chimes of the clock can be a challenge, especially for newcomers or those unaccustomed to the tradition. A fun hack is to pre-peel and de-seed the grapes and cut them in half, so you can keep up! If you’ve successfully eaten your grapes, it’s a good sign that you’ll have prosperity and good fortune in the upcoming year.
Lastly, on the eve of January 6, or the same day as the Epiphany, families gather to share a roscón de reyes, a light, ring-shaped cake, often decorated with candied fruits and sometimes filled with cream or chocolate. Bakers place a hidden figurine or bean. The “lucky” one who finds it in their piece of cake pays for the whole roscón! Speaking of the Epiphany…
Three Kings’ Day, or the Epiphany, is almost as important as Christmas Day.
Dia de Reyes, or Three Kings’ Day, marks the culmination of the Christmas season and is a commemoration of the arrival of the Three Wise Men (Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar), who were visiting from the East. They followed a star to find the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Their arrival is considered the revelation or “epiphany” of Jesus to the Gentiles, symbolizing the manifestation of God’s son in the world.
On the eve of Three Kings Day on January 5th, elaborate parades called the cabalgata de Reyes take place in cities and towns throughout Spain. These spirited parades feature floats carrying the Reyes Magos (“the Three Kings”) as they wave to the crowds and are accompanied by many elves and helpers, who throw candies and small gifts to eager crowds, especially the little ones!
On the morning of January 6th, el Día de Los Reyes, Spanish children wake up to find gifts and presents left by the Three Kings, much like the tradition of receiving gifts on Christmas morning from Santa Claus. So, in terms of gift-giving, El Dia de los Reyes reigns supreme as the most important holiday celebrated in Spain!
FAQs
What are two Christmas traditions in Spain?
Two cherished Christmas traditions in Spain include the celebration of Three Kings’ Day on January 6th, marked by lively parades on the eve of the Epiphany, and the opening of gifts on the morning of the Epiphany. Another tradition is the elaborate Nativity scenes, known as Belén, depicting not just the birth of Jesus but beautifully crafted entire villages, incorporating local craftsmanship and cultural elements.
How long is Christmas in Spain?
The Christmas season in Spain spans several weeks, starting in early December and continuing until early January. The season begins with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, with decorations and markets emerging in late November. It ends on Three Kings’ Day on January 6th, marking the end of the festive period.
What are two New Year’s traditions in Spain?
In Spain, one tradition is eating twelve grapes at midnight to symbolize prosperity for each month ahead, a fun yet challenging custom. Another tradition involves watching the televised countdown, often broadcast from Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where the whole country gathers to welcome the New Year. These customs, coupled with wearing red underwear for good luck, create a lively and communal atmosphere on Nochevieja.
These unique Spanish holiday traditions of festive foods, celebrations, lotteries, and artistic Nativity displays are a fun and heartwarming way to spend a few weeks in Spain. Do you agree that winter is one of the best seasons to visit Spain? Would you like to experience Christmas in Spain? Let us know, and we’ll help you plan a magical Spanish trip!
