Although Father Christmas does visit Spanish children, he’s a new arrival. Traditionally the presents arrive on the morning of January 6th, when the three kings visit baby Jesus. (The sales don’t normally start this early, because Christmas isn’t over here.) And on the evening of the 5th, their majesties ride in procession through most of the major towns and villages in Spain. In previous years we’ve usually gone to…
Tall_ships_2014 The Tall Ships are back! They used to hold an annual meet-up in Santa Cruz de la Palma for Christmas, but last year’s was cancelled. Luckily, they’re back. The ships will arrive on December 24th and leave on the 26th. As usual, there’ll be a market in the port area from 9 am to 6pm, which gives you a chance for last-minute present shopping (or good-and-early shopping for January…
Christmas trees are a newish thing here, although probably most houses have one now. The main traditional decoration is nativity scenes. Some just show the stable, but some public ones are so elaborate that they include the whole village, and it’s always a Canarian village. Obviously that’s historically inaccurate, but no more so than all the English nativity scenes where Mary and Jesus are blond. This one was on display…
Have a wonderful Christmas, (or whatever else you celebrate). I hope 2014 brings you whatever you most hope for.
Have a wonderful Christmas, (or whatever else you celebrate). I hope 2014 brings you whatever you most hope for.
If you were shopping in Santa Cruz last week, you might have seen a road train full of infants, grinning and waving, and shouting out “¡Feliz Navidad!” The road train belongs to the local bus company. It’s available for hire all year, but it seems to be pretty solidly booked in the last week of school term. The school where I used to work had a regular routine. We put…