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pleasures is to be able to walk around the many street
markets and simply marvel at the fantastic displays of fruit,
vegetables, a dentists nightmare display of sweet and sticky candies and, of
course, flowers.

A visit to the fish markets will amaze you with the range that is
available (fish being a major part of Spanish Christmas feasts).

Talking of feasts, visitors to Spain who cannot rid themselves of their

traditional bed times will not be too pleased when their Spanish
neighbours start Christmas dinner after attending midnight mass and follow up
a joyous and often rowdy meal with Christmas carols and hymns sung, I
might add, with mucho gusto and often in the streets (well, it is
probably almost daylight by then).

Christmas eve is often marked by the use of small oil lamps and, of
course, a great and joyous pealing of the church bells.

An old tradition, which can still be seen in some of the smaller and
quieter, traditional villages, is swinging'. I haven't been able to
discover the origin of this activity but it is not unusual to see courtyards
and open spaces occupied by swings with a large and jolly crowd singing
songs and having so much enjoyment from them that you get the
impression that they are satirical or risque or both. The nearest I have ever
come to an explanation is that it is all part of the pre Christian
traditions, maybe to encourage the sun to speed on its way back.

All in all, Christmas is a long and deeply religious festival and to
enjoy it at its best, you must get involved going to bed before midnight
at this time of year is not an option.

So, to the time table:-

8th December: This is the feast of The Immaculate Conception and
signals the start of the celebrations.

21st December: The winter solstice is celebrated with bonfires (see
above) and protection against illness in the coming year is sought by
those athletic enough to jump the fires.

22nd December: Not part of the religious festivities but an integral
part of the Spanish Christmas is the drawing of the winning numbers in El
Gordo a very popular national lottery with ginormous prizes. Many
Spaniards will be glued to their TVs as school children sing out the
numbers as they are drawn from the drums. The process takes many hours so
many children are needed to ensure no damage is done to young voices.
National News programmes will report the winning numbers and TV cameras
will be rapidly dispatched to winning towns and villages to record the
wild celebrations where El Gordo winners are to be found.

24th December: Nochebuena,

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