CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 14, 14 December 1932, Page 11

CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN.

The SpaYiisli children enjoy Christmas just as much as you do, but they celebrate the season in a different way. Before the bells ring for the midnight Mass, on Nochebuenn, or Christmas Eve, they hasten to do some good deed for others. They may have to leave the gay crowd, with its joyous mixture of castanets, dancing and singing. They may have to take off their best red, yellow and black velvet jackets in order to do the good deed, but do it they must. When it is done and when the tapers are lighted before the image of the Virgin, they are free to mingle with tire crowds. They see the markets crowded with turkeys, pigs, sheep, cheeses, flowers and, oh, such beautiful toys, waiting to be purchased on Nocliebuena. The crowds keep up the dancing and the singing all night. Breakfast is served at mid-day on Christmas. There are chickens, garlic, sweetmeats, fruits and always the best chestnuts you ever tasted. Men, wearing broad brimmed sombreros, lean up against their carts in tire streets offering chestnuts for sale. Perhaps the most beautiful Christmas custom in Spain is the ancient dance. It is devoutly and earnestly given before the altar of the cathedral, to the accompaniment of castanets.