Xmas Traditions Patricia Bea.C.

Christmas

TraditionsTraditions

“El tió”• The Tió is a typical tradition of Catalonia. It’s the only place of Spain that

do it. • It consists of a chunk of trunk with a graceful face painted on it, (with the

characteristic red nose).• Children usually hit it with canes while they sing a song. Then, they go to

pray in another room while fathers and mums put the presents under The Tió. When the children come back, they find lots of presents under a blanket of wool (frequently the blanket is red with black stripes).

• A few days before The Tió celebration, children prepare some food for it.

The Lottery• In Spain has a very successful Christmas’s Lottery. • The drawing is on 22nd of December. Since about August people start to buy

the tickets to take part inf it. • The drawing is quite special because it is the children who sing the numbers. • All Spanish people watch the programme on TV or listen to it on the radio. • There are three important prizes.

(people buying tickets)

The Three Wise Men• In Spain The Three Wise Men are eagerly expected, all boys and girls are very

excited.• The celebration is usually on 5th of January’s eve; there’s a popular parade. In my

village, The Three Wise Men come by the river; they arrive in a big stone in the middle of it and they make a speech. Then, they go to the old town of the village by boat. When they’re there, they give out some sweets to children. Then, they pass through the avenue throwing sweets.

• Normally, parents give the presents to their children the day after that, on 6th of January, because it represents that The Three Wise Men bring them at night.

• The Three Wise Man have a story. That’s that at the day of Jesus Christ’s birth, they bring to him three nice presents. The story says they come from the East, following a special star.

The Nativity Scene• The nativity scene is a religious tradition, although lots of people that are

not religious have it at home.• In there, we put typical figures like Jesus Christ, his dad, his mum and two

animals. We can choose the rest of the components.

Christmas TreeAt Christmas, it is also very common to have a Christmas tree.

We put on it lots of ornaments of red, gold, green, blue or silver colours.

It is important to put at the top a yellow star.

Sometimes we also put some lights.

New Year’s Eve • We celebrate The NEW Year’s Eve on 31st of December. • Lots of people like it, because, that day, we do the biggest party of the Christmas

holiday. It begins with a dinner with the family at about nine or ten o’clock, and it continues with The Twelve Strokes. Many people, before the strokes, prepare the grapes (The Twelve Grapes); they peel them and they remove the pips. The strokes are emitted on TV from . Lots of people watch them on television from a famous clock in Madrid, in La Puerta Del Sol. After that, people usually stand there for an hour or two hours (or three!) talking and laughing.

• Then, some people go to different pavilions and some people go to bars, discotheques,…

• The party always finishes the next day, New Year’s Day.• It can end at five, six, seven in the morning. And sometimes it ends on the 2nd of

January! About thirty hours of party!!