THE FAST-CHANGING CHRISTMAS IN ULTRA-TRADITIONAL SPAIN

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by Nathan Collins
Photos: Rose Maramba, taken in Madrid early November 2024,
unless noted otherwise

No sooner had Halloween (yes, Halloween, that festival which has all but obsolesced the Día de Todos Los Santos or Difuntos with the “spookier” witches riding wildly on the broom and werewolves howling their heads off) been done than Christmas lights sprouted around cities, stealing a march on the commercial frenzy of Black Friday by about three record-breaking weeks.

This is quite unusual for Spain. It used to be that expatriates like myself (mostly happy and contended ones; Spain is a live-and-let-live country now that the Spanish Inquisition has finally been sent packing), were almost a basket case for the long wait before any sign of Christmas in homes and out in the streets made their solemn appearance. (Quick, please, before nothing is left of Christmas and I topple over the edge!)

It is as though to celebrate early was blasphemous, turning the sacred celebration of Jesus’ birthday into a three-ring-circus.

Catholic Spaniards probably thought a Navidad that started too early did the soul no good, being the stuff that metaphysical gluttony, one of the deadly sins, is made of. And so, as late as last year, the streets remained shrouded in the meteorological gloom of December unrelieved by festive decor until just a day or two prior to Christmas Eve.

But this year, suddenly, as though rousing from a deep slumber, the Spaniards have scrambled up with characteristic zest at the beginning of November, hanging garlands of light, mostly gold though the good old greens and reds and blues refuse to be elbowed out. And if the fact that the Little Drummer Boy came rather too early smacks of commercialism – could there be a dirtier word? – so what? ’Tis the Season to be Jolly, as the Anglo-Saxons have been saying all along, so take it any way you want to. It’s undeniable that the spirit of Christmas comes with every crisp euro bill  going into the till. So just greet the Baby in the Manger. Joyfully, needless to say. The earlier the happier. Forget solemnity. It doesn’t go with the festivity.

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Featured image (GUIDEPOST montage): Running girl/Alan 9187; AI-generated Xmas tree/Alan Frijns. From Pixabay.Edited.