PatK1000

Hi There

Spending Christmas Hols solo in Barcelona this year - never been there before - Christmas Day - planning a late start then a nice Christmas lunch somewhere and a lazy afternoon. Had booked to go on a Winery Cruise on Boxing Day but just had an email from Trip Advisor saying it cancelled due to the fact its Bank Holiday

Just wondering will nmost places be shut and does anyone have any suggestion of anything similar to do.

Thanks



Pat

Heimdall

I guess it’s because Christmas Day falls on Sunday this year and Monday is the public holiday. Your post had me wondering if Spain really celebrates Boxing Day. 🤔

Besalu

Hello! Indeed, on December 26 in Catalonia we celebrate San Esteban and everything is closed. In fact there are no newspapers. I think that a good idea is to take the train and visit some other city or natural environment thinking that the closed areas will not be visitable. At night there are towns that have live nativity scenes. The San Esteban concert, which is held in several cities, is also typical. And if you are in the Girona area, it is very typical to go to the quinas in the afternoon, which are a kind of bingos but very rural, to which people of all ages go. As you can see, it is a day that offers you more possibilities to experience it as a local than as a tourist...

mikelg

It´s only in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands -to my knowledge- that it´s a public holiday, as they celebrate San Esteban (Sant Esteve - St Stephen), a very important familiar day in those regions. In fact, to many catalans it´s more important than Christmas day. And the typical food that day is meat cannellonni (or foie, or any other leftovers from Xmas day meal). Yes, most places will be closed...as said, it´s family what matters that day.

Spain has many different festivities and not all are celebrated in all regions. We are probably (one of) the most heterogeneous country in Europe in terms of customs, food, landscapes, climates, politics, languages...

Christina

boxing day is a British term, it shouldn't be used for other countries.

EnricM

In Catalonia, we celebrate the main Xmas event on the 25th with a family lunch. In the afternoon/evening is traditional either to go for a stroll in the city or to the movies (cinema). The next day, Boxing Day is also festive in Catalonia. Modern tradition dictates that we're going to the in-laws for lunch -or the other way around if Xmas was already at the in-laws, LOL!

On Xmas day there are several tourist places open in the city, from Sagrada Familia to Casa Batlló or La Pedrera among others, but they're only open until 2pm.

In the past, Xmas lunch was celebrated at home, but in recent years, a lot of people celebrate the family lunch at restaurants, therefore there are many open -albeit you might find a lot of them are pre-booked.

Given that we have both a large community of Catalans of Spanish ancestry and a lot of Spaniards and Latin Americans living in Catalonia, for a lot of people, the main Xmas event is the dinner on the evening of the 24th instead. Note that quite a number of uninformed websites still wrongly insist that "the main Christmas meal in Catalonia is the dinner on the 24th".... not so, it's the family lunch of the 25th, as it has been for hundreds of years!

In Catalonia, on the eve of Xmas -that is the evening of the 24th- the tradition is that the inhabitants of each town meet to celebrate mass (the Missa del Gall), and when is over, they return home and make a "ressopó" (light dinner). Then the children's ritual of the "tió de Nadal" is celebrated in which children sing songs to a wood log (tió) and make it "shit" (yes, shit!) small presents. Since I suppose this last statement needs further explanation, LOL!, here it goes: https://www.catalannews.com/culture/...ns-involve-poo and also as seen from abroad https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2...ristmas-custom

A bit more of Catalan Xmas traditions: https://www.barcelona.cat/nadal/en/t...mas-traditions

For the foodies... what the typical (traditional) Catalan Xmas lunch looks like: https://devourtours.com/blog/typical...-foods/?cnt=ES

And finally for a bit of British humour on the account of our traditions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-LVmbe6Wg ))

Enjoy!

mikelg

And as Spain is culturally so different from region to region, the "Tió de Nadal" in Catalonia has its counterpart in the Basque Country, the "Olentzero" (coming from Onen zaro, Good Time in Basque), a coal maker that lives up in the mountains, smokes in a pipe and drinks cider (go imagine this alcohol and smoking figure in the US or other countries...), and originally gave "coal" to the bad kids...and now with all this "disneyzation" of Xmas it´s the one that gives the presents on the night of Dec 24. https://olentzerok.com/olentzero/ , a centuries old tradition.

What really unites all regions in Spain is the Three Wise Men or Three Magic Kings, that arrive in all Spanish homes on the night of Jan 5 so we can all open our presents on Jan 6. In many regions we open presents twice, on Dec 24 and Jan 6. Santa Claus is not part of our culture, we call him Papá Noel and he does not arrive with raindeers or any other Santa´s particularities.

Maribel

EnricM,
Does your family traditionally eat escudella I Carn d'Olla for Christmas Day lunch, as I've read?

EnricM

Yes, tradition dictates. In fact it's the only day in the year you'd eat escudella and carn d'olla. During the winter, some restaurants will offer these dishes in their menus and some people will eat them but they're nothing like home-cooked escudella and carn d'olla.... especially mum's. LOL!

Maribel

Thanks,EnricM. I love all the different varieties of Spanish stews but can only eat them once a year and always in winter.

Besalu

Hey, that's not entirely true! I'm 37 years old and I make escudella and carn d'olla once a week.And like me many of the people I know. Of course it's also possible to eat it in restaurants or buy it made at cooked food places, but it's so easy to make it at home that it's almost not worth it.

EnricM

Hi Besalú... I guess this is a city rat speaking to a country bumpkin, LOL! O com diem al nostre petit país: un pixapins parlant amb de comarques, eh?, hahaha! Yes, Besalú is probably right, I was speaking from a 'city perspective'

northie

the term is used in Australia and New Zealand.

If you are still in Barcelona on January 6 the 3 kings come into the city on camels -children everywhere , special pastries too in shops.Its beautful

Besalu

To see the parades is on the eve of Three Kings Day, that is, on January 5 at night. Day 6 is when the kings have left gifts (or coal )