Why Christmas Lasts Longer in Spain

My first Christmas after moving to Spain, back in winter 2018/2019. I noticed something odd. Through the first days of January, Christmas music was still blasting in all the shops and restaurants I visited — whether it was English classics like Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Last Christmas, and The Little Drummer Boy or Spanish favorites like El Burrito Sabanero. (Which I had only just managed to get out of my head after listening to my third-grade class practice it for weeks before school let out for Christmas break).

And it turned out it wasn’t a case of the shops being too lazy to change their playlists. I was pretty confused at first — for Americans, Christmas ended at 12:00 a.m. on December 26. But in Spain, and some other countries in Europe, Christmas lasts almost two weeks longer.

On January 6 every year, which is also known as Epiphany, Spaniards celebrate King’s Day, El Día de los Reyes. The aforementioned kings are the three kings who brought gifts to the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Traditionally, rather than receiving gifts from Santa on December 25, the children receive their gifts from the three kings on January 6. However, this has started to change as cultural traditions spread across the globe — now kids frequently get presents from Santa on the 25th as well as from the three kings on the 6th. But children don’t write letters to Santa, they write letters to the three kings.

My First Spanish Christmas: Madrid, January 2019

On the evening of January 5, many cities and towns host parades celebrating the arrival of the three kings. These cabalgatas draw enormous crowds and are broadcast on Spanish television. That first year in Madrid, I went with my friend Sarah to see the local parade.

It was a huge affair. It lasted about an hour and a half, and members of the parade would throw huge handfuls of candy to the crowd. Children and adults alike scrambled to catch it or pick it up off the ground. Everyone was holding fold out signs: “Me he portado muy bien!” — “I have behaved very well!” Something I’d never seen at a parade before was an abundance of stepstools and ladders — many, many families brought these ladders to help their children secure a better view from the back of the crowd.

After seeing the parade, families return home; in some families, children will leave their shoes out for the kings to fill with gifts. They also may leave treats for the kings and their camels, to help them recover from their long journey. Just like in American Christmas tradition, children who have been naughty throughout the year can expect to receive a lump of coal rather than gifts.

On January 6, children awake and excitedly rush to see what the three kings have brought them. At some point during the day, most families enjoy a Roscón de Reyes, or King’s Cake. It’s a cake baked in a circle with candied fruit on top and cream inside. You can find them in bakeries and grocery stores throughout all of December and January until the 6th. In many of the cakes, hidden inside is a small figure of baby Jesus — whoever finds it is the King or Queen of the day’s celebration. A small bean is sometimes baked into the cake as well — whoever finds that is supposed to buy the Roscón de Reyes the next year.

My Second Spanish/Catalan Christmas: Barcelona, January 2023

While I’d moved back to the U.S. in the years since, my whole family had the opportunity to celebrate January 6th in Barcelona in 2023! The first year I was living in Spain, my parents and sister had hosted a foreign exchange student named Gemma from Barcelona at their home in the U.S., and her family invited us all to come spend Christmas with them.

Matt and I arrived a day before the rest of my family, and we had the opportunity to go to the King’s Day Parade in Barcelona on the evening of the 5th. It was pretty similar to what I remembered from Madrid several years before.

Here’s a video Matt made about the Three Kings Day Parade in Barcelona.

And the next day, we got to take part in Catalan Christmas with Gemma’s extended family — including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins! It was pretty cool to have a family to celebrate with, instead of just sitting in my apartment alone in Madrid like I’d done my first year. 😉 I’ll never forget the loooong table, for like 25 people, and the massive spread of food! My favorite part was when everyone took turns drinking wine from the porrón while everyone else cheered.

Another nice thing about the Christmas season not officially ending until King’s Day is that children don’t have return to school until the 7th or 8th of January. That’s a hefty 2-and-a-half-week break, compared to the average of 10 days that students in American public schools have off. With how much Spain loves holidays, that isn’t surprising. But I think that’s a post for another day… 🙂

 

Do you wish Christmas lasted longer in the U.S. or where you live? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

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Originally Published on January 7, 2019.