TRADITIONS+Spain

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media type="youtube" key="gWUk--FXj28?hl=es" height="344" width="425" __**CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS IN SPAIN**__ 24th and 25th on December.The tradition in Spain consists on having dinner in company of the family.The meal consists of a major dish of meat or seafood,such as lamb, cod,shelfish, which varies according to the region or the family´s preferences.Nowadays, children wait for Santa Claus. In the past, people used to go to church to attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve. On the following day, children receive gifts from Santa Claus and celebrate Jesu's birth having lunch in family. 31st on December :New year's Eve.Spanish people celebrate the last day of the year having dinner in family and the arrival of the new year eating twelve grapes with every strike of the clock at midnight. A tradition introduced in the early 20th century, it's said to bring good luck if at each stroke of the bells at midnight you take one grape and make one wish, for the New Year. 6th on January. Another important date is the three kings Day.Spanish children receive gifts on 6th of January by the three wise Men.On the previous evening, they leave their shoes outside and fill them with straw, barley and some food so that the kings and camels can eat and drink and find that it is gone by the morning and are replaced by presents for them instead.Shoes may be kept in doorways, windowsills ,balconies or under the christmas trees where the wise men can find them easily. This tradition is more important than Santa Claus day. We have another good luck custom and consists on eating the famous "Roscón de Reyes" .It is a sweet bread roll that has an amulet inside wich will bring you good luck. __**THE TRADITIONAL PIG SLAUGHTER**__
 * __NEW YEAR'S EVE__**
 * __THE THREE WISE MEN__**
 * This event maintains an ancestral tradition that is deep-rooted in many rural areas of Spain, where whole families come together around a table to slaughter a pig. This age-old ritual for the traditional production of ham, blood pudding, chorizo sausage, pork loin and other cured meats is also a convival day of neighbourliness and community spirit.**
 * The annual ritual of the pig slaughter is of capital importance in the social history, as well as the culinary history, of Spain.For a rural population living permanently on the cusp of poverty, in which every calorie had to be worked for, the pig killing had an importance difficult to overestimate. This was where people found the proteins and fats their bodies needed fot their lives of hard physical labour.**
 * At some point along the historical time line, however, obligation began to be replaced by free will and this moment is the beginning of the history of gastronomy. The consume of our time can choose from a range of meats, yet pork will always occupy a special place in Spanish hearts.**