We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015
Christmas in Spain is lived in many different ways depending mainly of each family’s customs. What’s common is that we take the opportunity to be with the family . The Christmas Eve dinner , lunch on Christmas Day , New Year’s Eve dinner or snack of Epiphany(6th of January) are occasions for encounter.
From an anthropological point of view what is being celebrated is the change of station or rather , the Winter Solstice .
In most traditional Catholic families they live Christmas from a spiritual point of view focusing on celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. We build a Christmas scene at home.
Non-Catholics often consider these dates as a time to relax with family , make balance of the year and promises for the year .
From the gastronomic point of view the most marked meals are Christmas Eve dinner , Christmas lunch and dinner in New Years' Eve . Some examples of what we eat here in Spain:
For snacks : Iberian ham , cheese , cooked shrimp or other seafood , Galician empanada.
Starters : garlic soup , Castilian soup , migas or a salad.
Main Course: Sea Bream, roasted lamb , turkey , veal tenderloin , Iberian pork .
Side dishes of mashed potatoes , applesauce , rice , mushrooms such as chanterelles , etc.
Roasted lamb is very common for Christmas Eve in Spain
Usually these dinners are irrigated with red wines from Rioja , Ribera del Duero , Penedes, Toro, etc, for meat dishes or white wines like Albariño , Berdejos , Cavas , or Ciders with seafood and fish.
Cava is , for example, the wine to offer in New Year's Eve after the taking of the 12 grapes tradictional Grapes.
Reyes afternoon ( January 6 ) usually take the Rosçón de Reyes picnic with hot chocolate.
The Cava and the tradictional 12 grapes we eat in New Year's Eve
We have Roscón de Reyes on January 6th with hot chocolate
Thank you in advance for your contributions and comments.