Christmas in Spain

Christmas time starts in Spain some days before 24th Decembre, but is this night one the most important date in this period.
On 24th ,we celebrate Christmas Eve; we usually stay at home with our parents ,grandparents and the rest of the family.
We are very happy singing christmas carols and playing games. Later, we have dinner, a special dinner, we often have soup (made of fishes and crabs) and then meat (turkey or lamb) or fish and crabs, and for desert "turrón" (tipical Spanish sweet made of almonds, sugar, eggs) marzipan, "casadielles" (only in our region, made of nuts, sugar, flavour) polvorones…etc.
After dinner, many people, specially old people, go to church to attend mass at midnight. This mass is called "cockerel mass" because cockerels were the first animal that saw the Holly Child in Belen.
New year Eve is the next import date during Spanish Christmas, we celebrate it on 31st December. Some families have dinner at home, others meet friends and go to restaurants. This dinner is very special, we eat good crabs, fishes, meat etc, adults drink wine, champan and children fizzy drinks. Desert is the best: "turrón, marzipan, polvorones"…etc.After dinner, Spanish people usually have 12 grapes with the twelve strokes of midnight to say the farewell old year.
In every town there are some tipical places to hear the strokes of the clock, often is town hall square, where people meet and eat grapes, then they go to parties which last all night long in disco , bars, hotels…etc and they enjoy and have fun till next morning. Then they have breakfast (eating fritters with hot chocolate or garlic soup) and after that they go to bed and rest all day long.
The greatest date for children in Christmas time is on 6th January, we celebrete Epifhany, the day when three Eastern Wise men o Three Kings arrived to Belen, looking for Jesus Christ, .They found and adored Him and gave their presents Gold, incense, myrrh.
In Spain, these Three Kings are who bring presents to children, but only if they have been good boys or girls. Some days before 6th, children write a letter to Kings ,telling how good they have been, and asking for toys and presents for them and for their relatives. A Kings´ambassador collect letters in shops or malls in towns. He also come to our school riding a horse. Later on he gives our letters to Kings.
On 5th January, at night the Three Kings arrive towns and villages and take place a great parade. Kings are followed by their army, assistants, musicians..etc and they marching through towns to children´s houses and this night will leave presents to good boys and girls and pieces of coals to the bad ones.
Children expect anxiously their presents and they try to sleep but it is very difficult tonight.They have put their cleaned shoes and three glasses of milk to Kings and a handful of straw and a bucket of water to camels. Finally time goes by and next morning toys and presents are in the living room next to shoes and three empty glasses.
Children will play all day with new toys and they will have a special cake for this day, called "roscón" made of flavour, sugar, eggs, butter, fruit, stuffed with cream or moke.
It keeps inside two figures. If you find ,when eating, the small king , you will be lucky all year long , but if you find the bean , you will be unlucky.It´s a matter of luck.
And with this happy day, Christmas time has finished this year, tomorrow we will go back to school and we will wait next Easter holidays.

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Students from Cabueñes School