As 2022 winds down to a close, Christmas moves in and out faster than I can pay attention to it.
For the small Southern Spanish City of La Línea de la Concepción, the celebrations take to the streets.
The majority of people in this area celebrate a holiday called Día de Los Reyes, for us in the United States, we would call it The Three Wisemen Day. Christmas day and Christmas Eve are not celebrated quite as strongly as we do back home, as most people prefer to celebrate Dia de Los Reyes which falls on January 6th. They do celebrate, just not in the traditional way that we do back home by exchanging gifts for Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, it is the tradition for people to take to the streets for an evening out, before heading home to eat dinner with family, followed by drinks in to the early morning hours. My friend Ishma told me that most years on Christmas Eve, he goes out to meet his friends and cousins for a couple drinks in the downtown area. I met with some friends in the center of town for a small street party around 5 pm.
The mood was excited, everyone was out in the street listening to music, dancing, and talking. The people here are very lively. Spain is typically a late culture, so this was an early start. Most of the time, a night out means beginning the night at 10 or after (and that's considered early). But on Christmas Eve we went out during the evening, so everyone could be at home with their respective families to eat Christmas Eve dinner.
After a few beers, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the 60 degree temps, we all parted ways and headed home to prepare for dinner. I had to put some fresh bread in the oven. Since we weren't eating until 10 pm I had to time to bake the bread and head over to some of my family's house here in La Línea.
As someone who is from a cold US winter climate, to be out on Christmas Eve having beers at a street party is quite unusual. Most Christmases and Christmas Eve's I would be bundled up sitting tight at home, but here, it's more about going out and meeting up with friends. Southern Spain has a very vibrant and social culture.
After dinner, the party didn't stop. My neighbor Teddy had previously invited me over for an after party with her family. It was such a great time and great experience getting to see and conversate with locals. Some people here speak a little English, but my conversations were entirely in Spanish. It's an exciting experience immersed in the culture and the people here. Learning how they celebrate the holidays and what their customs are all about.
After a long night of meeting with friends, dinner, and drinks, it was time to head home at about 3am. It had been a very long but fun Christmas Eve. The culture here is definitely centered around family, conversation, and having a good time when it comes to Christmas Eve. Most everyone has a Christmas Eve dinner, and depending, there is an party after. A lot of the people here stay up very late into the night, and then surprisingly are up bright and early the next morning.
In speaking with several of my friends here, gifts on Christmas Day are not as common as they are for us back in the US. Christmas Day is our big day, its when we give our gifts. Here it's not like that. Most of the people I talked to here, exchange gifts on Dia de los Reyes. That's the night that the Three Wise Men bring gifts for the children.
Christmas Even 2022 was a lot of fun, being surrounded by lots of friends in the South of Spain. It's interesting to learn the culture of the people here and a lot of fun.
My friend Ishma also celebrates his birthday on Christmas Day, and I was invited to go to his birthday party. It was a mix of all of us 38 year olds, and his parents, aunts and uncles. All of us in this friend group seem to be all the same age.
The birthday party started with some singing, followed by tea or coffee, birthday cake, and Ishma opening his different gifts. Here is a short video of that celebration.
The week of Christmas through to The New Year and further to the 6th of January, Dia de los Reyes, is full of celebrations here in the South of Spain. There is no shortage of people to visit, places to eat, and things to do. Christmas here might not be celebrated exactly like it is back in the US, but it's certainly a celebration of connecting with family and friends over food and drinks.
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