Christmas, New Year and Three Kings in Sant Feliu de Guixols – what fun!
Christmas and New Year are great times in Catalunya – being a Catholic country which likes to celebrate, you couldn’t be in a better place!
In Sant Feliu de Guixols, for example, there is always a programme of events for Christmas and New Year. Some of the activities in years gone by have included:
- A children’s park and fair for tots to 14 year olds
- A Christmas concert at the fine old monastery
- Lots of fun things for kids such as lantern making, face painting etc
- “Els Pastorets” a theatrical enactment based on a mediaeval entertainment full of devils and angels and suchlike! This is usually based at Porta Ferrada near the Port
- The Feast of Steven (boxing day) Sant Feliu style…
- New year’s eve celebrations (including fireworks)
- The first swim of the year (!!!!!)
- Collection of children’s letters to the three kings by the Kings’ Royal Pages
Cavalcade of the Three Kings on 5 January – this is the biggest fiesta of the season when the children of Catalunya receive their gifts.
Just before Christmas itself, we have the Christmas Regatta in Palamos (about 20 minutes away). Over about five days there are boat races with medal races on the last day. Superb! It runs approximately from 18 to 22 December and both World and European Champions have taken part in the past… Click here to find out more about the Palamos Christmas Regatta…
From just before Christmas until just after Three Kings they set up a 600 square meter outdoor ice rink in Girona – great fun! There is also one in Palafrugell, involving a Christmas Fair too with lost of entertainments etc.
Also from just before Christmas until just after Three Kings in Castell d’Aro we have the oldest live Nativity Scene in Catalunya (running since 1959). It is not on every day and you can buy tickets in advance on the internet. We will send our guests more detailed information just before they arrive.
There is a fabulous Christmas market in Girona. Everything is decorated and the shops are very welcoming as you might imagine.
During this period the city is adorned with Christmas lights as it hosts open-air activities, fairs and street markets as well as many wonderful surprises
On 1 January, we follow Salvador Dali who always said that he lived where he could see the first sun in Spain. At 07.00 people congregate on the Cap de Creus, just next door to Port Lligat where you will find Dali’s house, to watch the first sun of the New Year in Spain. Sardanes are danced and there is hot chocolate to drink for everyone!
Running on from the Christmas festivities is the time of the celebration of Three Kings, when the Magi visited Jesus in his stable. This is a spectacular event on the Costa Brava! The three kings arrive on the evening of 5 January.
Children carry lanterns to help light their way.
The Kings sometimes arrive on horse, sometimes by sea, but it is always great to watch. They bring with them their attendants who may be on horseback and some perhaps on floats. Sweeties are thrown out to the crowds as the procession makes its way through the town. What a delight!
The festival goes on more or less all week in Sant Feliu de Guixols.
Everyone eats Three Kings Cake as shown in this picture. There are two items hidden in the cake… If you get the bean, then you have to pay for the cake. But if you get the golden figure, you get to wear the crown and be a King for the day!
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