Christmas time in Granada: most important traditions

 

In this article, you will find Christmas traditions in Granada, delicious food, and lots of light and color. In this guide, I list local traditions, key dates in the Spanish Festive Calendar and my family traditions.

 

Christmas is a very special time for people all around the world. Many cities change the colors of the streets on those dates, and Granada is not far behind with its Christmas traditions.

 

Festivities in Spain and Granada 

 

Granada Christmas festivities begin around the 1st of December and end on the 6th of January.

 

According to Spanish tradition, the big celebrations are on the 24th and 25th of December, the new eve year, and the night of the three kings bringing gifts on January 6th.

 

So the Spanish Christmas has plenty to offer with a whole month of activities.

 

I hope you will enjoy this article and find it useful if you are thinking of visiting Granada at christmas time.

 

Calendar of Granada in Christmas time

 

• 2nd December Christmas lights and decorations around the city come on. They will be on until 6th January 2023.

• 14th December until 6th January.  The most typical thing for a Granada Christmas is taking a walk around the Nativity Scenes in Granada. In Spanish, it’s called the Ruta de Belenes. You can see lots of them all around the city.

 

Typical traditions of Christmas time in Spain

 

Spain is a country full of unique traditions, and some of them may surprise you.

 

At the beginning of December there are two national holidays included in the work calendar.

 

From December 6 that is the day of the Constitution while December 8 that is the day of the Immaculate Conception.

 

It’s the start of a month full of typical traditions in Spain.

 

Lottery day on 22th of december

 

One of the Spanish Christmas traditions is the Christmas Lottery: “La Lotería de Navidad” (the biggest of the year). It is drawn on 22nd December and usually people follow the event on TV, or on the radio if they are working. It’s a classic.

 

Spain holds its breath and hopes for ‘’the Gordo’’.

 

There is always an air of great excitement and anticipation in Spain on 22 December, because it is the day of the Christmas Lottery, known as ‘’El Gordo’’ that means ‘’the fat one’’, although the nickname refers to the first prize rather than the lottery itself.

 

This is the biggest lottery in the world in terms of prize money, so do not hesitate to but at least one number if you come to visit Granada at Christmas time!

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Christmas Eve on 24th of december

 

Christmas Eve or ‘’Nochebuena’’ in Spanish is generally a family affair. The members of the extended family meet around a feast of meat, sea food, beer, wine, typical foods that are not normally consumed at other times of the year.

 

Every family could have his own typical food for this day, but the meal rounded off with a typically Christmas sweet called ‘’turrón’’ which is a nougat made of toasted sweet almonds, flour and sugar.

 

Cava and champagne would be the chosen drink for Christmas though plenty of fine Spanish wines will also be consumed with the meal.

Christmas on 25th of december

 

According to Christian tradition, Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in honor of the day Jesus was born.

 

Children may receive a small gift on Nochebuena or this morning thanks to Santa Claus but the day for presents in Spain is 6th January, Epiphany, when the Three Kings bring gifts for the children.

 

Christmas Day is a national holiday in Spain so shops and restaurants are closed  and rather a calm day when people go out for a walk.

 

Another large family meal at lunchtime is common in the families as a tradition.

 

Holy Innocents on 28th of december

 

This is the day of ‘’Santos Inocentes’’ . It is not a holiday day in Spain but its common that people play practical jokes on one another.

 

Often, the national media include a nonsense story in their broadcasts.

 

New Year’s Eve on 31th of december

 

New Year’s Eve is known as ‘’Nochevieja’’.

 

It is a big celebration all over the country with street parties and special nights in hotels and clubs everywhere. Until midnight people tend to stay at home with a huge dinner and on the stroke of midnight it is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each stroke of the clock to bring good luck for the new year.

 

In Granada it is tradition to do it in front of the city Hall.

 

After eating 12 grapes, the most enthusiastic people go to have a big party in pubs and nightclubs.

 

The day after, the first day of the year is a low key public holiday. Everything is usually closed in Granada that day, so I keep in mind if you are in town.

5th of december, the magic night

 

In the Three Kings night the are processions all over Spain where sweets are thrown from the floats to all the people who come out to watch it.

 

Every town has its own variation and its a magical night for kids to see the Three Kings coming to the city to bring them a lot of presents.

 

It’s a typical tradition also to leave food for the Three Kings and their animals, because they have a very long night to visit all the children in the cities all over the world.

 

6th of december, the Feast of the Epiphany

 

‘’Día de los Reyes Magos’’, when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. For Spanish children this is the most important day of the year, when they wake up to find that the Three Kings have left gifts for them in their house.

 

This is a magical day for the kids, they spend the day receiving gifts (sometimes also from their families, where the Three Kings also visited) and having a big meal together with the whole family.

 

In this lunch, is also typical to eat ‘’roscón de reyes’’, that is a traditional cake with two figures inside: a bean and a king.

Familiar traditions

 

In our house, Christmas time is full of important events for the whole family. And today, I want to do a tribute to the most typical Christmas traditions in our family.

 

1. Table calendar. 

 

With 13 photos chosen from the previous year, I put each day of the month the birthday dates of each member of the family.

 

The photos are chosen, and an album is created with the dates of the relatives’ birthdays.

 

It is a common project every Christmas. At the end of December to distribute them among relatives.

2. Make a 24-day advent calendar.

 

With my daughter, we prepared a Christmas tree made of plush with numbers and hung it in the kitchen. Every day there is a surprise; a candy, a game, and a verse from the bible referring to the birth of Jesus or some nice word of inspiration for your life.

 

24 surprises. Sometimes we give clues and hide our surprise around the house.

 

The custom is that in the morning or at noon, he opens it, but the three members of the family have to be there to open it. She cannot open it by herself, and it is a family activity.

 

Since she was born on December 26, Christmas is extremely special.

 

My daughter lives it intensely.

3. Three Kings Day.

 

On Three Kings Day we usually prepare a box for each one and we put grass on it. We put it behind the front door at night on the 5th. There is always a little present the next day for the 3 of us.

4. Food traditions.

 

On the 24th, we had dinner with my husband’s family. We got together with almost 30 people, and the next day we eat everything that was leftover from the previous day.

 

After eating we dance and do games and activities.

 

On the 1st of January or the Three Kings’ Day we make a special meal as a family, Puerto Rican food. At home, we eat Mediterranean food every day, but we eat typical Puerto Rican food on special days.

 

Do you want to read more about typical food, cuisine and gastronomy of Grannada? Read this other article to know which amazing food is waiting for you in the city!

 

5. More romantic tradition.

 

Every year we prepare 10 postcards and mail them to friends and close people of my daughter.

 

It is exciting to open the mailbox and find a Christmas letter.

 

6. Christmas decoration.

 

We put the Christmas tree on the bridge from December 6 to 8. We also put decorations in the hallways and every room in the house.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article about the most popular Christmas traditions in Granada.

 

If you have the chance, I totally recommend you to visit Granada during Christmas time, because the city dresses up with colored lights and lots of activities to do.

 

I also invite you to click the link below to download my free Ebook with all you need to know before visiting Granada.