50 Fun Facts About Spanish Christmas

What is the Spanish name for Christmas Eve, the night of the big family dinner?

The name literally means "Good Night", and in most regions it is the night of the biggest meal of the season.

Which feast marks the traditional end of the Spanish Christmas season?

The day of the Three Kings is when Spanish children have traditionally received their presents.

What is the Spanish word for the nativity scene displayed in homes, schools and shops?

The word is simply the Spanish name for Bethlehem, and it is also used in the Philippines.

Which saint's day is celebrated in Catalonia on 26 December with another family gathering?

Sant Esteve gives Catalans a second day of feasting after Christmas Day.

Traditionally, who brought Spanish children their presents on the night of 5 January?

Christmas Day gifts from Papá Noel are a recent, imported addition in most of Spain.

What is the Spanish name for New Year's Eve?

After the family feast, young people head out to a cotillón in the bars and dance until morning.

What is traditionally eaten for breakfast after a Spanish New Year's Eve party?

The cotillón in bars and pubs runs until the next morning, when the churros come out.

What do Spanish children put out on the night of 5 January to receive presents from the Three Wise Men?

They leave the shoes on a balcony or window, along with sweets for the Kings and water for the camels.

What is the Spanish name for the Three Kings parade held on the evening of 5 January?

The parades pass through practically every city and village and are often televised.

Where was the oldest documented Three Kings cavalcade held, in 1855?

The longest-running one is in Alcoi, in the Valencia region, first documented in 1866 and held every year since 1885.

Since what year has Televisión Española broadcast the great cavalcade of Madrid live?

Regional channels broadcast their own parades, and Poland took up the custom in Warsaw in 2009.

How do the Magi enter Spanish children's homes, according to the tradition?

Children leave sweets and a drink for the Kings and a bucket of water for their camels.

By what measure is the Spanish Christmas Lottery considered the biggest lottery draw in the world?

In 2026 the maximum available for all prizes was €4.1 billion, seventy per cent of ticket sales.

What is the nickname of the first prize in the Spanish Christmas Lottery?

The name means "the fat one" and is actually used for the top prize of any Spanish lottery.

Who sings out the winning numbers of the Spanish Christmas Lottery draw?

The school was formerly reserved for orphans of public servants, and only boys took part until 1984.

Where has the Spanish Christmas Lottery draw been held since 2012?

Earlier draws took place at the lottery headquarters and, in 2010 and 2011, at the Palacio de Congresos.

In what year was the first Lotería Nacional draw held at Christmas, in Cádiz?

The winning number that first year was 03604; the name Sorteo de Navidad was not official until 1897.

What is a décimo in the Spanish Christmas Lottery?

A full ticket costs €200, so it is sold as a perforated sheet of ten €20 fractions.

Who became the first girl to sing the lottery results, in 1984?

Until then only boys from San Ildefonso had taken part in the draw.

In 2011 the entire El Gordo prize was sold in Grañén, a town in which province?

The town of about 2,000 people held all 180 series of the number 58268.

What do Spaniards eat with each of the twelve midnight bell strikes on New Year's Eve?

Each grape stands for one of the coming twelve months and is supposed to bring good luck.

Growers from which region popularised Spain's midnight New Year's grape custom in 1909 to shift a bumper harvest?

The custom is recorded from at least 1895, but the surplus of 1909 turned it into a national habit.

Which Madrid square's clock marks the twelve strokes of the New Year on national television?

The square is also Spain's kilometre zero, the point from which all radial roads are measured.

In what year did television broadcasts of the Madrid New Year's chimes begin?

Televisión Española carried the first broadcast, and the chimes are now shown on every major network.

What is hidden inside a Spanish roscón de reyes that obliges the finder to pay for the cake?

A figurine of one of the Three Wise Men is also baked in, and finding that one brings luck rather than the bill.

What is the roscón de reyes dough flavoured with in Spain?

It is a sweet brioche decorated with candied fruit and often filled with cream or almond paste.

What are the main ingredients of turrón, the nougat eaten across Spain at Christmas?

It comes as a hard rectangular tablet or a soft round cake, and Italy's torrone is a close cousin.

Jijona, the town that has made turrón since at least the 15th century, was formerly known by what name?

Its name is still printed on the boxes of the soft variety of the nougat.

Which Spanish city's marzipan, first documented in 1512, holds EU protected status alongside Lübeck's?

Elsewhere in Spain mazapán is a Christmas sweet, but in Toledo it is eaten all year round.

Polvorones, the crumbly Christmas shortbread, are mostly produced in which Spanish region?

About 70 factories there belong to a syndicate that makes polvorones and mantecados; the name comes from polvo, meaning dust.

What is the Tió de Nadal, the Catalan Christmas character?

Children feed it from 8 December, cover it with a blanket and then hit it with sticks on Christmas Day while singing.

From which feast day do Catalan children start feeding the Tió de Nadal each night?

The larger gifts still come from the Three Wise Men; the log drops sweets, nuts, torrons and small toys.

What is the caganer found in Catalan nativity scenes doing?

Traditionally he is a peasant in a red cap, and children are set the task of finding him in the scene.

What is the traditional red Catalan cap worn by the caganer called?

The figure has been part of nativity scenes since at least the 18th century.

In which region of Spain does Olentzero bring children their presents on 24 December?

In some versions of the legend he is the last survivor of a race of giants who lived in the Pyrenees.

What trade does Olentzero follow in the most common version of his legend?

He carves wooden toys and carries them in his charcoal bag to the village children.

Día de los Santos Inocentes on 28 December is Spain's equivalent of which day elsewhere?

The pranks are called inocentadas and their victims inocentes.

The Els Enfarinats festival held in Ibi on 28 December features a mock battle fought with what?

The Valencian town's costumed brawl is one of the most famous Holy Innocents traditions.

Misa de Gallo, the Spanish name for Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, literally refers to which animal?

In Spain the night starts with families lighting small oil lamps before going to church.

The Spanish word villancico, now used for Christmas carols, originally described what?

The form dates from the 15th century and religious villancicos took over from secular ones in the 1500s.

Which dessert, made of honey, egg and almonds, is the classic finish to the Christmas Eve spread?

Other typical dishes are shellfish, roast lamb, marzipan and turkey with truffles.

Who organised the first live-actor nativity scene in 1223, the root of Spain's belén?

It was staged in a cave near Greccio in central Italy after Francis visited the Holy Land.

On which date is the Spanish Christmas Lottery's extraordinary draw held every year?

The draw is the biggest and most popular of the Spanish year, and its Lotería Nacional is the world's second-oldest continuous lottery after the Dutch Staatsloterij.

In the Spanish Christmas Lottery, what share of ticket sales is paid out as prizes?

Each five-digit number is printed in many series, so in 2025 there were 198 series of 100,000 tickets at 200 euros each.

Which Spanish city gives its name to the hard, whole-almond variety of turrón?

The hard block is about 60 per cent almonds, whereas the soft Jijona variety grinds the nuts into a paste.

The name turrón is thought to derive from a Latin verb meaning what?

The confection may descend from a Muslim recipe called turun that was eaten in Islamic Spain, or even from an ancient Greek one.

Since 1994, the Basque gift-bringer Olentzero has been accompanied by which female character?

She is shown in medieval Basque dress and had earlier appeared in a Basque Christmas carol.

In one Basque legend, Olentzero is the last survivor of which race of mythical beings?

The giants of the Pyrenees tripped and died on the way to throwing an old man off a cliff, leaving Olentzero to embrace Christianity.

The Spanish roscón de reyes recipe derives from a crown-shaped cake from which country?

The southern French gâteau des rois reached Portugal when Confeitaria Nacional became the monarchy's official bakery in 1829.

In the Catalan Christmas tradition, what are children told the beaten tió log will produce?

Children warm their sticks by a fire, sing 'Caga, tió!' and then someone reaches under the blanket to pull out a gift.