Every time
when I travel to Spain I surprise how many different cultures and traditions
this one country contains. Not only their language and traditions are different
but also the people of that region believe that they should be independent from
each other. This time I had a chance to get to know more of the Christmas and
New Year’s Eve traditions in the Basque country and the Catalonia.
The Basque
country is much different from the other parts of Spain. Not only the Euskara language
is the oldest in Europe but it’s also unique from other languages. The Basque
country also has their autonomy which separates the region from the other parts
of Spain. Even though Basques are strong in their nationalist habits, they are
curios to get to know foreigners and are generally very welcoming people.
Basque
country has probably the best food in the whole Spain. The tiny city of San
Sebastian has more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere else in the world.
The Basque version of tapas is called pintxos and these little bites don’t only
taste good but also look like pieces of art. Also because located on the coast,
Basque country is famous from their seafood. Therefore, also the Christmas
dinner mostly contained seafood treats such as squid, oysters, crab and local
fish. Different but delicious!
The funniest
Christmas traditions what I’ve ever seen is the Catalonian pooping figures.
Caganer, which is a pooping boy, symbolizes down to earth people while a
pooping log, known as cagatio, is found in every family of Catalonia. One end
of the log has a face painted on it. Near Christmas this log with a face
painted on one end is draped over with a blanket and on the Christmas Eve kids
beat it with sticks and exhort it to defecate. When they lift away the blanket,
they find treats hidden beneath – treats, their parents tell them, that the log
has pooped out. The Catalonian saying explains about this tradition: “The king poops, the Pope poops. Nobody
can escape it.”
