Spain
Celebrations
Año Nuevo (New Year)
New Year in Spain is celebrated with friends and family. There are fireworks and very good parties. There is also the tradition of 12 grapes: the last 12 seconds of the year each person has to eat one grape per second – so 12 grapes in 12 seconds. This is very funny :D
Dia de los Reyes (Christmas) in January
Christmas is celebrated twice in Spain. First on the 25th of December in the morning. But this Christmas on the 25th is more the “American Version”. The "real" Spanish Christmas is on the 6th of January when the three Wise Men arrived and gave their presents to Jesus. That’s why Spanish children usually get presents on the 6th of January, although sometimes they get them on the 25th of December or they get presents twice. For this special day, we prepare a cake called Roscón de Reyes. It's made with a lot of dry fruits and nuts and there is a small present (like a 1ct coin) inside of the cake. Whoever gets the piece with the small present will be lucky for the entire year.
La Tamborrada de San Sebastian
La Tamborrada is a drum festival that is held in honor of Saint Sebastian, the name patron of the city. Usually, there is a huge drum ceremony and people go out to celebrate. It is celebrated on the 20th of January.
Carnaval (Carnival)
For Carnival season there are little parades on the streets in Spain. Usually, school children and also some dance schools perform different beautiful choreographies.
Semana Santa (Easter)
As Spain is a very catholic country for Easter there are a lot of processions in the cities, especially in the south of Spain.
Las Fallas de Valencia
The Fallas happen each year in March in Valencia. They consist of a week full of celebrations, music fireworks.
LA Feria de Abril De Sevilla
Las feria de abril is one of the biggest festivals in Spain. It happens in Sevilla in April. People dress in Spanish or Andalusian traditional clothes and dance traditional dances, like Flamenco. There are also different other activities and a lot of food.
San Fermines de Pamplona
San Fermines is known all around the world. It’s a festival in Pamplona where people run against bulls. In Spain fights with bulls have been a tradition for centuries. These fights take place in an arena and are called Toreos (toro means bull in Spanish). The Torero (a man who is specialized in fighting against bulls) has to fight against a bull and kill him in the end. Sometimes the Toreros also get hit. Unfortunately, these fights still take place even though we are in the 21st century and people love to go and watch. It's very sad in my opinion. The San Fermines is different from the Toreos. Here people only run and the bulls run after them. It’s a tradition to wear a red scarf for San Fermines because red is apparently a color that attracts the bulls. The Toreros also use red flags when they fight against the bulls.
Semana Grande (big week) in August
Each city or village in Spain has its own week of celebrations in honor of the city. Usually, these festival weeks take place in summer (mostly in August, but as you have read earlier some cities like Sevilla and Valencia have their festivities before). If you are clever enough you can spend your whole summer traveling around from city to city following the festivals. In San Sebastián (where my mom comes from) the festival week is always around the 15th of August. In Vitoria, where my aunt lives, it's around the 4th of August. In Bilbao, another big city nearby, it's at the end of August. For these festivals, there is a whole week of partying, games on the streets, dances, people dressing up in traditional clothes, fireworks in the evenings, and a lot of activities for children. I would like to mention three things that are a big part of the Semana grande in each city. First, there are the "gigantes" (giants). These are people dressed up as giants wandering around the city. The second thing is the "cabezudos". These are also people dressed up but they run around the city and try to catch you or hit you. I am always so scared of them haha When you see them you run and scream. The third thing is the "toros de fuego" (fire bulls). As already mentioned Spain has a huge tradition with bulls. The "toros de fuego" are people dressed up as bulls. They carry something on their head that spies fire. So at night they usually come out and follow a certain path in the city. You can go to watch them and also run away from them.
La Tomatina
The tomatina is very famous around the world. For this festival, people go on the streets and throw tomatoes at each other. It's very funny but also very dirty!
Food
Spain is very famous for its delicious food. Especially the Bask Country (where my mom is from) has very good cuisine and international restaurants. Here are some of my favorite foods you have to try when you are in Spain:
Tapas
Tapas are very famous in Spain. They can be considered little “starters” that you can get in almost every bar. People eat them while they also drink beer, wine, or sangria. Tapas can be made of everything: Chorizo (Spanish Salami), Jamón Serrano (Spanish ham), Tortilla, etc.
Tortilla
Tortilla is my favorite Spanish food. It has only a few ingredients, but is a little hard to make (I tried several times and it never worked). It contains potatoes, eggs, onion, oil, and salt. You have to make a little “cake” out of it.
Croquetas
Croquetas are also very typical Spanish Tapas. They are little balls filled with ham or cheese (on the left in the picture).
Gazpacho
Gazpacho is super delicious and very healthy. It's basically a cold soup made from fresh vegetables. You need tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, onion and garlic, oil, salt, and vinegar. You put it all into the mixer, wait for two minutes and then you have your Gazpacho.
Patatas Bravas
Patatas bravas are fried potatoes and they are usually eaten with a spicy sauce (bravo means angry in Spanish so this would be translated as angry potatoes because they are spicy).
Paella
Paella is probably the most famous Spanish dish. It's rice with vegetables, meat or fish. In my house, for example, we don’t eat it with fish, but with chicken or just vegetarian.
Bocadillos
Spanish people love to eat Bocadillos/Sandwiches. There are many types of Bocadillos. Some examples:
- Bocadillo de Tortilla (a Tortillas with bread)
- Bocadillo de Jamón Ibérico Mixto (Spanish ham and cheese)
Churros
Churros are my favorite Spanish sweet food. You can buy them in a lot of places on the street or some “churrerias” (bakeries specializing in churros). You can eat them with chocolate.
Polvorones and Nevaditos
Polvorones and Nevaditos are candies that we usually eat on Christmas (except me because I always go to Spain in summer and never for Christmas so I eat everything in summer). They are really delicious.
Turrón
Turrón is another famous sweet dish for Christmas. There are many different types of turrón. The three most popular ones are: Turrón de Alicante (hard), Turrón de Jijona (soft) and Turrón de Yema (also soft).
Wine and Calimocho
Spain is very popular for its wine. There are a lot of amazing wine regions throughout the country. Calimocho is a mix between wine and coca cola. People in Spain love it, especially young people who are making their first drinking experiences.
Sangria
Sangria is also one of the typical beverages, especially for summer. It's very refreshing.
Mosto
Mosto is the non-alcoholic version of wine. It's made with grape juice and it's very delicious.
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