Christmas in Spain: a traveller’s guide to festive traditions

Spain’s Christmas celebrations get going weeks before the big day, with festive illuminations and other celebrations running until January 6 when the feast of the Epiphany (also known as Three Kings Day or Dia de los Reyes) ends the season and children receive their main presents. Here are some of the highlights to expect.

Traditionally, Spain has never celebrated Father Christmas, so you won’t find any special events on St Nicholas’s Day on December 6 (a public holiday in Spain for Constitution Day) but there’s plenty of festive fun in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Festive lights and illuminations are common across the country, with bigger and more eye-catching displays in larger cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, which also have big Christmas markets, while Malaga and Vigo are also known for their lights. Seville also holds a Nativity Fair next to the Cathedral, with stalls selling tiny crafted pieces to make your own nativity scene.

You’ll find some other quirky traditions around the country, including Tio de Nadal, or the Christmas log, in Catalonia. From December 8, it’s covered in a small blanket and given food to ‘eat’ then on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, people sing special songs and hit the log until sweets, nuts and dried fruit drop out, giving it its alternative name of Caga tio or the pooping log.

For many in Spain, Christmas really begins with the ‘El Gordo’ National Christmas lottery on December 22, with children chanting the winning numbers – around 75% of the population takes part and you’ll often seen winners celebrating in the street.

Christmas Eve, or Nochebuena, is when celebrations with family and friends start, including lavish meals on the evening of December 24. You’ll find many restaurants and hotels offering these extensive menus as well, for both locals and tourists who want to join in the festivities. The meals normally include several starters, such as Iberico ham, seafood and local cheese, followed by soup and roast meat or fish, before dessert and sweet treats like turron, a type of nougat that’s particularly popular at Christmas.

The traditional Spanish Christmas dinner of turkey stuffed with truffles is less common these days, while you’ll find different dishes in some regions such as Galicia, where seafood is the most common main course at Christmas

After dinner, it’s traditional to go to Midnight Mass, also known as La Misa Del Gallo (the Mass of the Rooster), as legend says that a rooster crowed the night Jesus was born. In some areas, huge bonfires are lit afterwards to mark the beginning of Christmas Day.

In the Basque country, a magical man called Olentzero, who dresses like a Basque farmer, delivers children’s presents on Christmas Eve.

There’s more feasting on Christmas Day, although you’ll find fewer presents than elsewhere in Europe with most children getting gifts on January 6 instead. Like Christmas Eve, the meal traditionally begins with jamon and seafood, particularly prawns or crayfish, followed by soup, a main course which is often lamb, and a light dessert finishing with dried fruit or pan de higos, a fruity, nutty cake.

Life goes back to normal on December 26 unless you’re in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, where St Stephen’s Day is celebrated as an official holiday, including a traditional family meal of canelons, or Catalan-style cannelloni stuffed with leftovers from the Christmas dinner.

Spain’s equivalent of April Fool’s Day takes place on December 28, Dia de los Santos Innocentes, a day commemorating the babies killed on the orders of King Herod, when people try to trick each other into believing silly stories – if they fall for it, you’ll say ‘Innocente, innocente’.

And there’s another tradition to look out for on New Year’s Eve, known as Nochevieja in Spain, when you eat 12 grapes with the 12 chimes of midnight. Each represents a month of the upcoming year, and if you can swallow them all in time, it’s said to bring luck and success.

Three Kings Day

The end of the Christmas festivities is one of the biggest celebrations of all, with Epiphany on January 6. Also called Three Kings Day, Dia de los Reyes and Fiesta de los tres Reyes Magos, it marks the day when the three wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus, and it’s when most children in Spain get their presents – letters are written to the kings, with shoes left on windowsills and balconies or under a Christmas tree to be filled with presents. A glass of cognac is also left out for each king, along with a satsuma and walnuts, plus sometimes a bucket of water for the camels.

In bigger towns and cities, there are spectacular Epiphany Parades called cabalgata, with each king having a float shaped like a camel (and sometimes accompanied by real camels) before throwing sweets to the crowd.

There’s also a special cake eaten at Epiphany, called Roscón de Reyes. This ring-shaped sweet bread is decorated with candied fruit and sometimes filled with cream or chocolate, and traditionally hides a small figurine and a dried bean. Whoever finds the figure will have good luck in the coming year, while the person who gets the bean is supposed to pay for next year’s cake.

Yes, Christmas is a great time to visit Spain and a chance to see a very different side of the country than the usual sun, sea and sand. Despite the Christmas celebrations, December is generally considered off-peak so you can often enjoy a holiday for less, while the sun is still likely to shine more than in the UK. Temperatures on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca (such as Denia, Calpe and Albir) are still around 17-18C in December during the daytime, while in the Canary Islands it’s usually in the low 20Cs in Gran Canaria and Tenerife.

Although Christmas food can vary across Spain, with different regions having their own traditions, these dishes are all festive classics – enjoy with a glass of cava.

These plates of charcuterie are usually served at the start of Christmas meals, with jamon and chorizo among some of the favourite choices, often served alongside local cheese.

The most popular starter in Catalonia, this savoury soup can take up to 15 hours to make, and contains pasta shells which are sometimes stuffed with meat.

Often the highlight of the festive meal on Christmas Eve, cochinillo, or suckling pig, is most commonly eaten in the Castile and Leon regions, accompanied by potatoes and onions cooked in the meat’s juices.

Prawns or crayfish are another popular part of the Christmas meal, especially in the coastal areas of Spain – in Galicia, it’s traditional to eat seafood for the main course, but many areas will have gambas, or other seafood like lobster, as a starter.

No Christmas feast is complete without a few crumbly shortbread-style biscuits at the end of the meal. Polvorones use ground almonds and are dusted in flour, while mantecados are similar but often flavoured with cinnamon or aniseed. Or Roscos de Vino contain ground sesame seeds, an aniseed liqueur and lemon zest plus a dash of sweet wine, before being shaped into doughnut-style rings.

This nutty nougat is another Christmas treat, made using honey, sugar, almonds and egg whites, although you can also find dozens of different flavoured versions.

A cross between a sweet bread and a cake, this ring-shaped concoction is eaten on January 6 for the Epiphany celebrations (although you can also tuck into it before the New Year rolls around).

Although Christmas markets aren’t as big as in countries like Germany, you do find festive markets across Spain. Barcelona has one of the biggest, known as the Feria de Santa Lucia, with over 200 stalls next to the cathedral. You can find jewellery, accessories, decorations and ceramics, plus performances take place throughout the day.

Madrid is another of the best cities in Spain for Christmas markets, with over 100 stalls in the Plaza Mayor Square selling decorations, toys, musical instruments and souvenirs galore. Seville is another tempting option if you’re looking for Christmas items, especially Nativity figures.

Or in the main squares of Granada, there’s another large Christmas market with crafts, books and sweets on sale, while Santiago de Compostela in Galicia has creative workshops amid stalls selling woodwork, ceramics, glass, leather and jewellery.

Other towns to look out for are Malaga, where there’s a focus on food and crafts, San Sebastian, which is another foodie hotspot, Majorca and Valencia.

Discover our Christmas holidays, including a range of Spanish hotel holidays throughout December