¡Feliz Navidad,! or Our First Spanish Christmas

¡Feliz Navidad, y'all!

Celebrating major holidays in another country is a bittersweet experience. There are new customs, new foods. New music, even new traditions.

But as you are making memories, there are many things you miss about your own country, your family, your culture. 

As many of my friends do while living abroad, we celebrate with old and new traditions. We can't be with our friends and family back home, so we celebrate with our friends abroad. We are lucky to have friends here who both embrace our new country's customs, and continue to celebrate our very American traditions (Christmas trees, goofy sweaters, and Santa). A healthy balance of the two helps me feel less homesick this time of year, and makes me realize how lucky we are to have the opportunity to experience daily life in another country. 

Christmas in Spain is first and foremost a Christian holiday (and Spain is a very Catholic country), so many decorations center on that fact that 'tis the season to celebrate Baby Jesus. It is not a commercial holiday like in the United States. Instead of Santa visiting your house on Christmas Eve, the Three Kings come to see you on the eve of Epiphany (January 6). Some families celebrate with children getting one gift for Navidad, but the best is yet to come. 

Unless you are visiting American housing on base, you don't see many houses with light displays on the outside, and an even rarer sight is a house with a wreath on the door or a tree in the front window. Those probably belong to Americans who, like us, live out in the community. 

So how do you know it's Christmas in Spain? 

It's festive city light displays, sneaky little men climbing onto the balcony, and figurines of farmers pooping---yes, pooping---in the nativity scene. 

AS SEEN IN SPAIN

Amongst purses and women's clothes, a nativity: 

It's not Santa; it's one of the Three Kings: 

More 3 Kings, this time for a bakery: 

I can't manage to get a decent picture, but trust me---you see a lot of these little dolls climbing a ladder onto people's balconies. Sometimes you see Santa, but in our neighborhood, it's more often the Three Wise Men. 

One of the strangest Navidad traditions comes from Catalonia. The Caganer ("the crapper") is a small figure, usually a peasant, who is doing just that---copping a squat and pooping. I read all I could about it online, and there is no one explanation. Most articles I researched say the caganer is usually found in the back corner of the nativity so it is not considered disrespectful (the holy scene is always front and center), and in some families, it's a game for children to find it. Some articles say it symbolizes fertility and gives good luck; others say it is supposed to show that we are all equal and that during a normal day in a normal circumstance, the holy king was born. Well. . . I'm not sure what is what, but it's a little disconcerting---and a little funny---to see. Can you find the caganer in the display of nativity characters in a store window? 

Belen vivientes, or living nativity scenes (literally "living Bethlehem") are all over the town. Schools and churches celebrate this way, and in Rota, the largest living nativity was by the Castilla de Luna in the main square downtown. 

Celebrations for the 3 Kings includes a Rosca, or what we in the South call a King Cake. Like a King Cake in Lousiana, a Spanish Rosca is made of brioche and is decorated with icing, candied fruits, and/or nuts, with no filling, fruit filling, cream filling, or nut filling. Our grocery stores (as well as local bakeries) sell them in many sizes. 

We celebrated Christmas/Festivus and a friend's birthday with tapas, wine, and we tried a rosca. Our oldest kid, who is home from college, got the prize hidden within the cake---a fava bean! Some Mardi Gras king cakes also have beans, although most have plastic babies. Whoever finds the fava bean is supposed to pay for the next cake. 

Sales circulars don't include mentions of Santa, but instead a template to write a letter to the Three Kings. 

The city is vibrant with light displays. In Rota, the lights are quite a spectacular as Madrid, but considering the town is a fraction of the size of Spain's largest city, it's still very impressive. 

Merry Christmas to our friends and family all over the world!