LIFE IN SPAIN: Christmas markets are everywhere once again – but what can their subtle differences teach us about Spanish history and culture, asks FIONA GOVAN |
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LIFE IN SPAIN: Christmas markets are everywhere once again – but what can their subtle differences teach us about Spanish history and culture, asks FIONA GOVAN
THE streets are ablaze with colourful lights, Nativity scenes have appeared in plazas and the scent of roasted chestnuts is filling the air: it must be December and that means Christmas markets…everywhere!
While globalisation has led us to expect a certain homogeneity on the high street – especially at this time of year when we can’t escape Jingle Bells as a soundtrack and Santa Claus as a motif – at the Christmas markets that pop up across Spain you’ll still find clues to long treasured traditions that are quintessentially Spanish.
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Nowhere is this more apparent than at the annual Mercado de la Navidad in Spain’s capital where little wooden huts transform the cobbled square of Plaza Mayor into a veritable Santa’s grotto that won’t just get you into the Christmas spirit but provide a deep insight into Spanish traditions around the holiday season.
During the late 1800s when it was first held in the Plaza Mayor, merchants from across Spain brought their luxury goods to the Christmas market.
Once upon a time live turkeys were marched up the Calle Mayor in a cabalgata on Christmas eve when they would be slaughtered for the feast – until a municipal ban in 1894 forbade livestock in the city centre.
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Nowadays turkey isn’t considered much of a Christmas treat in Spain and families usually dine on seafood and roasted suckling meats on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve).
Bakers and confectioners from across Spain would bring regional specialities to sell at Christmas; crunchy almond turrón from Alicante, crumbly cinnamon-dusted mantecado from Antequera, delicate marzipan made by cloistered nuns in Toledo and powdery polvorones wrapped in brightly coloured paper.
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Such dishes remain as much of a Christmas staple in Spain today as Quality Street chocolates are in a British home and in markets across the country you’ll still find stalls dedicated to their sale.
Back then while their parents would shop for food,........