IT’S nowhere closer to paradise than spending your two-week Christmas holiday here in Spain. Spain is after all a predominantly Catholic country and 90 percent of its inhabitants are religious. But that definitely doesn’t mean that all of the country is sober during Christmastime. For it’s not just the Christians who celebrate Christmas, even peoples of other faith celebrate the season in the commercial side of Christmas.
But let’s go first to the traditional part of it. All over Spain, people start celebrating Christmas four weeks before December 25. This is known as the Advent. On each Sunday which falls under Advent, a candle is lighted by one of the most prominent religious families of the parish signaling the number of weeks of their vigil in preparing themselves for the birthday celebration of the Messiah. The churches here in Spain are not just for worship purposes.
Most of them have been declared as world heritage sites by UNESCO. This may envy the other Catholic churches around the world but it is a fact that Spain has very adorable religious structures. It is not only because of its beautiful designs but also in its uniqueness. The design of Catholic churches is in such a way that it is Gothic and Islamic. The Gothic part of it was the idea of the archbishops in earlier times who were trying to entice the natives here to turn away from their pagan beliefs and come to Christianity instead. Thus, we can see today that Catholic churches here in Spain are decorated with images of mythical creatures.
On the other hand, there are also Islamic designs found in many Catholic churches here in the country. That sight is definitely not uncommon. This is true because the churches were once upon a time invaded by Moorish rulers and when the Moors were gone, the next set of archbishops had found the designs beautiful and retained them. UNESCO – the premier world body when it comes to cultural appreciation – has recognized this feature as significant in promoting intercultural awareness and tolerance and immediately called them as world heritage sites.
During the latter days of Advent are successive masses celebrated for the nine dawns lasting up to Christmas. After each mass, tourists and locals alike will encounter on the street sides in front of the churches people selling Spanish breakfast which may be in the form of hot cocoa and turron or any Spanish delicacy. After settling down some, people will then jog home and go back to their day-to-day work. In your case as a tourist, you can jog back to the hotel where you are staying.
Right now is the second week of November. It is not yet late to reserve a flight to Spain to spend the holidays there. Book round trip flights early as they may already be full even with smaller airlines such as RyanAir. Spain may not be as popular to Scandinavian and British tourists during winter than it is during summer but don’t let your guard down for there is a new generation of tourists who have slowly discovered the magnificence of a Christmas pastime here in Spain.