Christmas in Spain is a very religious time for the Spanish people. Since the Virgin Mary is the patron saint of their country, the Christmas season begins on December the 8th, the festival of the Immaculate Conception (Mary.) The celebration of the Immaculate Conception is annually celebrated in the cathedral in Seville. A dance called “Los Seise” is traditionally performed on the occasion. In English translation, “Los Seise” is called “Dance of Six,” where actually ten boys perform the traditional dance.
Nochebuena (Christmas Eve/ The Good Night) is a time for families to get together in large groups and rejoice for the birth of Jesus. On this day, a traditional almond candy (where its origins rooted from Spain, though are now distributed worldwide like places in Philippines,) called Turron is eaten.
Christmas time in Spain is a blissful and festive season, especially on the 24th of December (Christmas Eve) which is called Nochebuena where the streets are filled with dancers, lights and lamps. After the traditional Midnight Mass, many more oil lamps are lit flooding the streets with dancers entertaining the watching crowd. The famous dance watched by the crowds and onlookers is called “Jota.” The lyrics and dance movements of Jota has been passed on to many Spanish generations for hundreds of years. Spanish homes own a straw manger and wooden figures of the people present in the traditional Nativity story (Jesus, Mary, Joseph etc.) Spanish children have always believed that the Three Wise Men were the gift bearers for Christmas who distributed their gifts for them on January the 6th, just as they distributed their gifts to Jesus on that date.
Cows are also very symbolic in the Spanish tradition. They believe that the cow present in the stable where Jesus was born breathed over him in his manger, keeping him warm.
Spanish Christmas