Christmas Around the World with CurrClick has partnered with myself and nine other homeschool bloggers this week. Each one of us will be giving goodies away during our bloggy event so be sure to check the schedule and stop by each site to learn about Christmas in other countries, enter the giveaways and maybe even make some new friends! Read all the way to the bottom to learn how to enter today’s giveaway here on my blog!
Christmas in Spain is celebrated much differently than in America. One major difference? Santa Claus is no where to be found! In Spain, the Christmas season is marked by several special days of celebration. From beginning to end the Christmas festivities last about a month long.
It officially begins on December 8 (that’s tomorrow!) for Inmaculada or The Feast of the Immaculate Conception. At the great cathedral in Seville, a city in the southwestern part of Spain, a special dance called Los Seises is performed by ten boys in honor of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of Spain. The boys’ costumes are very elaborate. The dance has precise movements and never varies from year to year.
Nativity scenes called nacimientos are set up in public squares and homes throughout Spain. The nacimientos are also called “Belen,” for Bethlehem, because they are very detailed and contain more than just the traditional figures. They represent the whole town of Bethlehem! Women doing laundry, olive harvesters, open markets, bullfighters and other scenes of everyday life are depicted.
Christmas Eve is known as Nochebuena, “The Good Night” or “The Blessed Night.” It is a time for families to gather together. As darkness falls, bonfires will be lit in public squares while oil lamps or candles are lit in homes. Many families will fast all day. At midnight the festivities are interrupted by the chimes of the local church calling worshipers to “La Misa Del Gallo” (Mass of the Rooster). Spanish tradition states that a rooster crowed the night (not the morning) that Jesus was born. The Benedictine monastery at Montserrat near Barcelona holds the biggest misa del gallo with a boys’ choir performing the Mass. After Mass families will return home to break their fast with a wonderful Christmas dinner where they will feast until the early hours of the morning. An old Spanish verse says…”Esta noche es Noche-Buena, Y no es noche de dormir” (“This is the good-night, therefore it is not meant for sleep!”) The menu of the Christmas meal varies depending on the region of Spain: seafood and fish on the coast, suckling pig and lamb in Castile and Leon, birds in Andalucia. A traditional Christmas treat is turron, a kind of almond candy.
Christmas Day or Navidad is set aside as more family time, feasting, and church going. Some gifts might be exchanged among adults, but children must wait 12 more days until January 6th.
There is a tradition in Spain of eating twelve grapes at the twelve bongs of midnight on New Year’s Eve, one grape with each bong. With each grape eaten a wish is made for the new year.
As mentioned earlier, Santa Claus does not play into the Christmas festivities in Spain. Children receive their gifts from the Three Kings instead! Three Kings Day, or La Dia de Los Reyes, also known as Epiphany is January 6th. The festivities begin the day before with a big parade welcoming the Three Kings to town. Here are the Three Kings at the Cavalgata, or Three King’s parade, in downtown Malaga this past January 6th.
On Epiphany Eve (January 5th) children will leave their shoes out filled with straw, barley, or carrots for the camels of the Wise Men. The next morning the children will wake to find the straw, barley and carrots have been replaced with gifts for them.
I have enjoyed sharing some of the traditions of my cultural heritage with you! A HUGE thank you to my friend Andalucy for providing all the photos for this post. She lives in Spain right now with her family.
Below you will find other ideas to incorporate in your study of Christmas in Spain.
* Vocabulary – look for the bold Spanish words above. Find the definitions either right before or after them to learn what they mean in English.
* Geography – Find Spain on a map or globe of the world. Now on this more detailed map of Spain find the cities that were mentioned in the article.
* Music – My grandfather, Avi, grew up in Barcelona. (My name, Montserrat, comes from the monastery just outside of Barcelona) One song Avi always sang at Christmas was the Catalan Christmas Carol Fum, Fum, Fum. Here is a recording my sister made of him singing in Catalan three Christmases before he died. My father is playing the guitar. Be sure to turn the volume up as the recording is rather quiet.
It is one of my favorite Christmas songs so here is another dose, in English, sung by the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
* Art – Watch this video to see how to make paper plate crowns to wear on Dia de Los Reyes or Three Kings Day.
And for older children follow the instructions at Scribbit for making Tiny Gift Boxes to represent the gifts given on Three Kings Day.
To enter the giveaway please leave one comment about something you learned from today’s unit study! There are six prizes so there will be six winners! Giveaway will be open until Sunday, December 12th, at 5pm (PST). If you don’t have a blog please be sure to leave some way to contact you in your comment. Thanks!
Prizes for today include:
Christmas Copywork by Lilliput Station
Let your child learn the true story of Christmas as they practice their writing skills. This file contains fourteen different copywork pages with verses from the KJV Bible and one with a verse from a hymn. Each page is illustrated with black and white drawings and comes with both primary and straight lines.
A Brief Look at CHRISTmas Traditions Around the World by Creative Learning Connection
A quick look at CHRISTmas scriptures, dates, and traditions from around the world. A fun and interesting way to add to your CHRISTmas study with your students of all ages.
Spain Unit Study by Homeschool Learning Network
Spain is a land that has a rich history, it has been occupied for over 4,000 years! Come join HLN to learn more about this amazing country. Lesson Plans Include: Spanish Basics!, Living Abroad in Spain: A WebQuest, Al Restaurante, Saving the World, Explore Madrid!, Spanish Folklore, We Invite You to Visit Madrid and Barcelona, Where in Europe is Spain?
Our Global Village – Spain by Milliken
Bring the world a little closer with these multicultural books. An excellent way for students to appreciate and learn cultural diversity in an exciting hands-on format. Each book explores the history, language, holidays, festivals, customs, legends, foods, creative arts, lifestyles, and games of the title country. A creative alternative to student research reports and a time-saver for teachers since the activities and resource material are contained in one book.
36 Classic Christmas Tales, Comprehension, Grammar & Vocabulary by St Aiden’s Homeschool
This series of tales which sketch such vivid and delightful scenes of the vibrant life of meadow and woodland, winter and snow, reindeer and jolly men in red suits, should have tremendous appeal to little and older people alike. These stories have sought to convey a three-fold lesson throughout, the first based upon natural history, the second of social skills and the third the elementary principles of living which should be made clear to every child at the earliest age of understanding. Grammar, imagination, vocabulary and critical thinking skills form an integral part of each unit study.
Package from Eastern Wind Academy, which contains Spanish Flashcard sets on Animals, Counting and Number Words, Pronunciation and Alphabet, Colors and Shapes Learning to speak a second language is so important in today’s global culture. However, teaching your child a second language isn’t always easy, especially if you do not speak that language yourself. However, games can make the process easier and more fun for everyone. When kids are having fun, they don’t even realize they’re learning! This also helps create a love of learning in the child, which will serve a child well throughout their lifetime!
© 2007-2010 Chocolate on my Cranium, LLC all rights reserved
I looooove this post! Chrismas in Spain was really well explained! I love this time of the year and the family traditions.
I love this blog!!! I learn that Christmas is over days in spain.
Thank you for posting this! I jumped on the computer today to learn about Christmas in Spain and found your blog. Perfect! I learned a lot of new things. I learned that there is no Santa Claus in Spain and gifts are delivered by The Three Kings and the celebrations last for days.
Thanks again
My last post didn’t leave a valid way to contact me. Try this one 🙂 Thanks again for the great post!
I learned that Santa doesn’t visit Spain, but the Three Kings do. I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate this in tomorrow’s advent drawer celebration!
Great post we are doing Christmas around the world. I had heard of the 12 grapes at midnight which we thought we would do this year. Didn’t know it was the 3 kings who delivered the gifts. I like that so much better than SC as it relates better to the nativity story.
Oh I love the extra curriculum (vocabulary, art, etc) THANK YOU!
I think eating the 12 grapes with the bongs is fabulous!! =)
Janece Suarez
janece1@suarez-turner.com
I loved reading your explanation of Christmas in Spain and especially seeing the nativities. I have a very special nativity that my mom made about 40 years ago that I love to put out on the mantle or buffet every year.
This is so much fun. I would love to have Christmas without Santa – we try but it is so hard in the US.
Karen
momma2bryce@yahoo.com
Great post! You know, I’m embarrassed to say that I was in Sevilla last Dec 8 and didn’t even know about los seises! Obviously we didn’t catch that. We are going to Sevilla tomorrow and I will be sure to see it this time.
Thanks for the video link. I may use that with my church kids.
This was so interesting! I really enjoyed MoTab singing Fum, Fum, Fum. I’m so excited to get to go to the Christmas Concert in a few weeks!! 🙂 I learned that they celebrate Christmas for almost a month other there! Crazy! And fun! 🙂
Thank you for participating in this Christmas around the world. I really enjoyed reading your blog. I thought it was interesting that the Kings brought the gifts instead of Santa Claus.
~Wendi (pidge1996@yahoo.com)
What I learned about this study….that Spain loves Jesus Christ and the nativity!! How cool that EVERYONE builds a nativity…in public!! I wish more Americans would adopt this practice.
Malia Liermann
snooky0630@bellsouth.net
My aunt lives in Spain and has forever (or so it seems…she moved when she was 16 and is now in her late 80’s). I have always loved her recountings of Christmas and the other hollidays there. The Spanish culture is so spiritual and I love to use many of their hollidays. My SIL is from Mexico and many of the same traditions are there as well.
Loved the links as well. Thank you for passing on this link yesterday, I am loving reading about the two links each day.
Thank you! What interesting information. I would have thought that they would celebrate Santa Claus, being such a catholic country.
I love the nacimientos (did I spell that right?) How fun to have the entire village represented. I wonder how they keep the chocolate one from melting.
Also, I had been wondering lately what the origin of the “Fum,Fum,Fum” song was. I am excited to share all of this with my kids.
The copy work from Lilliput Station looks great. Thanks for sharing the link.
It was all very enlightening to us. We don’t know much about the traditions of other countries, so I am so excited to check each blog this week so we can learn something new.
We enjoyed this post. Thank you! It was very fun.
From my 12yo: Christmas isn’t the same everywhere.
9yo: I didn’t know about the shoes with the hay. I didn’t know they put them out for the Kings instead of Santa.
10yo: I like the part about the shoes, too.
15yo: I like the eating of the 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve. Doesn’t it make you want to buy grapes? Does everyone dance at the Cathedral after the boys dance?
kelly (at) dkcountryarts (dot) com
The one thing my kids loved learning was the huge nativity out of chocolate. However the picture of the Seville Cathedral has started a whole topic for today on European architecture!! So we are off to search the internet for more information!! Thanks so much for participating in Christmas around the World!!
Stacey (mountainc4@gmail.com)
What a wonderful post!! I always wonder what the holidays are like in other countries and it is fun to share with the kids too.
Thank you for sharing the two versions of the carol. That was so cool! And I’ve never heard that one before. 🙂
I love the Three Kings! Thanks for sharing that with my family today. The flower nativity is phenomenal!
I learned about the live size nacimientos y la misa con el coro del ninos. Me gusto tambien que hablaba acerca de los Reyes. Nosotros celebramos los Reyes y ojala que tendramos una fiesta en enero.
I’m practicing my Spanish.
This was a very informative blog. I thought it was interesting how the Nativity is set up anywhere and can include other parts of day to day life, too.
UGH – I put the comment in the wrong place! Thank you for sharing. I am looking forward to learning about all the different ways people celebrate Christmas.
I didn’t realize that Santa played no part in Christmas in Spain … love that they get their gifts from the 3 kings instead! But waiting until January 6th … not sure if my kids would go for that LOL!
This was very informative, great job! I was most interested to learn that the children put barley and hay in their shoes for the camels. It’s not often you hear about them.
I loved how well you explained their traditions. I love the fact that they celebrate it over a whole month. The children eating grapes was one fact I did not know, that is most interesting.
Kelli
http://www.raisinganarrow.com
I thought I knew a lot about Christmas traditions in other countries than the USA but I learned several new things on this blog, including that in Spain children feed the Wise Men’s horses.
I learned so much and that I would love to be in Spain for a month or so 😉 I think eating a grape with each clock bong on New Year’s is such a lovely thought.
steffanie771 at hotmail dot com
Fascinating! I like the fact that Santa isn’t a part of the Christmas celebrations and the gifts come from the 3 wise men. It is so much more fitting.
I love that it seems – as with many European countries – that Christmas is a bit less secular. They seem to separate gift giving and the celebration of Christ’s birth. How nice. Thanks for the post. I’m loving this ‘trip around the Christmas world’! Cool that know Scribbit too. She’s my sister! Thanks again. Put me in that drawing!!
Carinne
alaskanmom@gmail.com
I loved your blog! The pictures were amazing! I love that Christmas in Spain is such a family orientated holiday and that much of the celebration centers around the true meaning of the season. Thanks so much for the great extras of art ideas and vocabulary!
These downloads are helping us with our homeschool focus so much this month. Thanks! Eating chocolate is on my list every day!
I love that song “Fum, Fum, Fum!” I’ve never heard it before. I grew up as a missionary kid in Guatemala, where during Noche Buena, we ate tamales and popped firecrackers. Thanks for sharing how Spain celebrates Christmas.
I’m loving this trip around the world, learning about all the different traditions. It sounds like Christmas in Spain includes quite a bit of celebrating with family and community. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for posting this. I knew nothing about the Christmas customs in Spain so it is all new to me and like it that they don’t have Santa Claus.
Von ~
violets4von at hotmail dot com
I love how they celebrate the Three Kings, and I enjoyed hearing your Grandfather Avi sing Fum, Fum, Fum. How wonderful that you have that recording of him for your children. Such a treasure!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful information about your heritage.
Blessings,
Shannon
Terrific post–thank you for all the explanations and pictures and video clips. We really enjoyed the Nativity villages and parade pictures. One thing new we learned was about the midnight church celebrations and feasting. In Russia they have an elaborate midnight church service/pageant on Easter that is quite amazing.
Thanks again.
gammonfam [at] sbcglobal.net
Thank you so much for preparing all this wonderful information about Christmas in Spain. I was able to visit many countries in Europe while I was stationed in West Germany years ago. However, I was not able to travel all the way to Spain. I wish now that I would have been able to go there. Thank you so much for all the information. Is there a chance you would be able to write more information about Spain but, not just about Christmas there? About the only thing I know about it is they don’t speak the same spanish they do in Mexico! I especially enjoyed reading about the chocolate nativity. I have a question about it though I may have missed the information…Do they eventually eat it?? What a stomach ache that would be!
It would be hard to choose just one of the items you are so generously giving away but, I can make a list of the great giveaways you are giving away that I could so greatly use in homeschooling my son. Thank you, even if I am not one of the lucky winners. Here is my list:
Our Global Village – Spain by Milliken
Spain Unit Study by Homeschool Learning Network
36 Classic Christmas Tales, Comprehension, Grammar & Vocabulary by St Aiden’s Homeschool
Thank you once again!
Edwina Moody
Familytreeclimber@Yahoo.com
As always, your posts are perfect. I love the CHOCOLATE nativity! Also, I like the ideas for art project to tie the celebrations together. 🙂 Thanks!
I learned about the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight on new years and making a wish for each. It’s great learning about all these different countries and traditions.
I had not heard of the Three Kings Day tradition, but I thought that was wonderful. I like that the gift giving is transferred to Epiphany that way, leaving the Christmas focus on the birth. Thanks for the great blog!
The one thing I’ve envied about some other Christian faiths–attending church on Christmas. As an adult I’ve appreciated those Christmases that fall on Sunday.
I’m curious as to what you kept from your heritage and what new you embraced for Christmas traditions.
I love the Spanish traditions! And a chocolate nativity? Wowee!!!
Sasha (sashtak@digis.net)
I learned that Three Kings Day and Epiphany were the same thing… I also learned more detail about it, for example, it is celebrated instead of the Santa Clause tradition. Thank you for all the wonderful information!
Kelly tkschmidt630@gmail.com
I learned a ton about Spain. Thank you for sharing. We also celebrate Epiphany by exchanging our gifts to each other on that day. The nativities are wonderful in Spain, thank you for posting the pictures.
My blog is eph4v29.wordpress.com
I found it interesting that it is the 3 Kings that deliver gifts to the children and not a spanish version of Santa Claus
This is a great post with lots of information. It is interesting to read about the feasting all night – how do they do that with children?
ohh – sorry – if you need to contact me it is sandra.smith@nau.edu
I did not know that they celebrated the Immaculate Conception (w/ a feast).
I lived in Granada which is super close to all of the places you talked about in your post! My husband served his mission in Argentina, but we have yet to teach our kids any Spanish! Need to get on that!
I love hearing about the tradition of Dia de los Reyes. I have never known those before today!
I served a mission in Spain. it was fun to remember some of these things. One thing that really isn’t Christmas, just winter, is that they have roasted chestnuts. We sing about them but how many Americans have ever eaten them? They are delicious!
I miss Spain!
Thanks for linking up to this fun project about Christmas around the world!
I like the idea of twelve grapes at the strike of midnight. Now if I could actually stay awake until midnight :).
Love the choir piece – thanks for all the information! I hope everyone is feeling better at your house!
Wow–this was an amazing amount of information and a fun study on Spanish Christmas traditions
It was such a joy to read
We will definitely have our shoes out to feed the Three Wise Men’s camels on Epiphany–something I did many years ago as a child and had forgotten about
The idea of a life sized chocolate nativity scene has me wanting to head to Spain for the holidays!
lizardella@aol.com
I didn’t know there was no Santa in Spain, I should move there, we don’t do Santa either. I spent a few hours in Barcelona-I’d LOVE to go back! It was amazing.
Thanks for your post! Everything about celebrating Christmas in Spain is new for me – I like the way you celebrate it – from bonfires and candles, to the church bells and the Mass. Sounds like it is not commercialized like here, in North America.
I had never heard about Epiphany Eve…very interesting.
I had no idea “Fum, fum, fum” was from Spain! I love that song!! Every time I hear it I feel like a little kid listening to my dad sing along to his cd of it:)
Who wouldn’t love a chocolate nativity???
Thanks for your wonderful article about Christmas in Spain. We loved it!
I learned that Santa does not go to Spain!!!
Thank you for sharing so much about Christmas in Spain. I did not know any of this! The chocolate nativity is amazing. I did not know you had no Santa or Saint Nicholas to deliver gifts. It is great that the night of Jesus’ birth is set aside as special and children receive gifts on Three Kings Day or Epiphany. I love that tradition and am thinking it would be wonderful to do in my family. I don’t know where we’d find hay for the camels!
I have always loved the carol “Fum, Fum, Fum,” but I had no idea that the carol came from Spain!
ruthaw_1974@yahoo.com