MICHAEL COY discusses some of the rituals associated with the winter festivities.
Just like with Hallowe’en, Spain has tended to go off half-cocked over Christmas.
There is a strong desire to “do” Christmas as it’s depicted in the movies, but you really have to be Anglo-Saxon to get all the nuances right.
For example, when have you ever heard a Spanish friend talking about Ebenezer Scrooge? Or holly?
If you were to visit a Spanish home for Christmas lunch, you’d be more likely to be served seafood than turkey – and don’t even think about mince pies!
The truth of the matter is, we’re living in a culture which values the Epiphany more than it treasures Christmas Day.
To get theological for a moment, Spaniards think that Christ’s birth is not the big deal – what matters is when the outside world (ie. us) got to hear that our Saviour had arrived.
So January 6 (Epiphany) is the real celebration. That’s the day when Spanish kids get their dolls and Meccano sets.
The three Wise Men were the first gentiles to meet Jesus. Accordingly, “Kings” (‘Reyes’) is traditionally the main winter festival in Spain.
The result is, a confused Christmas mishmash which (though a day off work) doesn’t quite deliver the goods. As the Spanish would say, Christmas is neither one nor the other – “ni fu ni fa”.
Spanish people certainly know all our familiar Christmas tunes. In shops, on buses, in the bank, you’ll hear ‘bowers of holly’ and ‘deep and crisp and even’ everywhere, all day, all the time.
You can also count on smatterings of Slade, George Michael and even The Pogues.
There are many, many Spanish Christmas carols (they are known as ‘villancicos’) but Spain has done a better job than we have of keeping its religious festival separate from the orgy of self-indulgence and brash commerciality that we’ve come to know.
However, there are two songs that you are sure to hear ad nauseam. José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” will be played a lot – indeed, because of its bilingual lyrics, bar and restaurant staff may well put it on specifically for you.
The other is the too-catchy “Marimorena”: too catchy because, as you will find, it ends up driving you crazy.
Spanish lyrics in general are not exactly Shakespearian in quality, but this one plumbs the depths.
The ‘Noche Buena’ is Christmas Eve, and a ‘marimorena’ can best be translated as a ‘knees-up’ ‘Ande’ is “let’s go”.
You’ll soon be singing along, because the song is not very sophisticated, and easy learn:
Ande, ande, ande,
la marimorena,
ande, ande, ande,
por la Noche Buena.
But there are some Christmas traditions that they do better than we ever could.
The ‘zambomba’ is a musical implement (more precisely, a percussion instrument) which is fun to try. It looks like a bongo drum, but it has a stick (‘palo’) poking through the drum’s membrane.
By sliding the stick up and down, the player generates a droning sound, a bit like a didgeridoo. It only ever sees the light of day at Christmas.
Head out for a drink at lunchtime on Christmas Eve. If you stop off at a bar patronised by Spanish customers, you’ll find several zambomba players, leading the communal singing.
It’s all great fun, and very amusing. After a couple of medicinal sherries, you’ll be playing the zambomba yourself!
The gypsy community gets a bad press. Yes, we know about the drugs and the petty crime, but one thing that must be said in their favour is, they are punctilious about observing the big religious festivals.
The gypsies know, by a kind of osmosis, where to gather.
They love to improvise a Christmas sing-song, which, oddly, is also called a ‘zambomba’. Should you be lucky enough to find one, join in. They’ll soon have you out of your seat, and dancing!
Another song gets it right, if only by accident. “Veinticinco de diciembre, fun fun fun”.
Clearly, it’s talking about the twenty-fifth of December. The Spanish word for ‘a good time’ is “juerga”, so ‘fun’ is used here as a useful but meaningless filler, kind of like ‘tralala’.
But Christmas in Spain is fun – so go out and enjoy yourself!
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
Is there some reason that the author of this article and two others today in the Olive Press has his own name in the title of the three articles?
Well spotted … and ‘no’ Michael is a good writer but not a celebrity one!
We occasionally add the name into the headline but not this often for sure !!!