Papa Noel y Año Viejo

Most of my friends and I traveled back to our home countries for Christmas. Before left Spain, in several of my classes at the instituto I gave presentations on Christmas in the US and we talked about the differences between that and Christmas in Spain. One of the main activities for Spanish families on and around Christmas is to make a belén, or nativity. The belenes are a very big deal here. One of my students even said that he and his family go to the beach and lug buckets of sand back to their house to make a belén the size of a kitchen table out of it. At all the little Christmas markets you can find nativity figurines.

When I asked most of my young students at the Instituto what they wanted Santa, or "Papa Noel," to get them for Christmas, an IPad was definitely the most desired item. Also, a lot of the older students at the instituto told me that they rented a house together as a class to stay and party at over the break with no supervision! These are 16 and 17 year-olds! My parents would have never let me do this at that age. Lucky kids. Although, it is not too surprising--I have found that, in general, there is a lot less adult supervision over kids and teens in Spain than there is in the US. Also, drinking isn't as taboo (if at all) in Spain as it is in the US--drinking accompanies every major religious holiday and celebration and 'underage' drinking isn't really a thing. Drinking is more publicly sanctioned and in the open, and therefore is not seen as a big deal like it is in the US.

New Years Eve is called "Año Viejo" (Old Year). I talked with one of my adult students at the academy about how he celebrates this in Spain. Most eat dinner with their family and then go to be with friends later in the night. No one really starts drinking until AFTER midnight, which obviously is a huge difference, as here in the US everyone is usually already trashed when the ball drops. In Spain when the bell tolls midnight there are 12 strokes. On each stroke you are supposed to put a grape in your mouth--so 12 grapes. I asked several people "why the grapes?" and each just said that it was tradition. My student said that by the end of the strokes everyone is usually in fits of laughter with their mouths full of grapes. The secretary at my school asked what tradition we usually uphold when the clock strikes midnight. I told her that by then everyone is usually drunk and it is tradition to make out with someone standing near you. Ah well haha. Merry Christmas from the family!