By Irina, Núria and Laura

CHRISTMAS

“Caga tió” Hit de log

The “Tió de Nadal”, also known as “Tió” or “Caga tió”.

in many Catalan homes during the Christmas holidays,

people put a log. The children of the house give food to

it because the “Tió” gives presents for them. When

they hit it on Christmas day

the children sing a special song for “Caga tió”, they hit the log

with a stick.

Here is a song of the “caga tió”

“Popping log,

poop Christmas sweets

hazelnuts and cheese

if you don’t poop well

I’ll hit you with a stick

popping log!”

NEW YEAR EVEOn the New Year Eve there is a great festival with fireworks and rockets. In Catalonia the

people praise the new year meeting friends or family usually in their own homes or

restaurants or in the centre of the city. Here, everybody eats twelve grapes, one for each stroke of the clock and when everyone ends the grapes, the people open their drinks and

start a great party and a new year. Some people eat olives or mandarin grains instead of

grapes. Also is typical of Catalonia that the girls wear a red piece of underwear.

 

The three magic kings

The magic kings are three men, “Gaspar, Melchor and Baltasar “, they bring presents to children on the 6th of January. Before this day, a royal page boy arrives in the town and children give the list of presents they want. On the 5th, at night, the magic kings parade on their coaches and give sweets to people. On the next morning everybody has many presents!

FESTA MAJOR!FESTA MAJOR!

The “festa major” is a festival celebrated in every town of Spain once a year.

THE HUMAN TOWERS  A “casteller” is a person

that is a member of a group called“colla castellera”. Each group competes with another group or "collas". This person wears  typical clothes: shirt with a shield, white jeans, strip and a hanky. The groups or "collas" build human towers. It is a typical tradition but only in Catalonia and it is created by a popular dance called: “Balls de Valencia”. Actually, the castles or towers are complex buildings of people that are organized to create structures of nine and ten floors.   

 

“BASTONERS” AND “SARDANES”

The dance called “bastoners” is a popular dance of many places in Catalonia. Nowadays there are more than 90 groups here. The history says that formerly this dance represented  two grups fighting, because they are dancing with a stick. They are always dancing with “gralles” and drumms.

The “Sardana” is a popular and nacional dance in Catalonia. A “Sardana” always is companied of the “cobal” that is a typical band with 12 instruments.  There are about 25.000 compositions of “Sardanes” and there are many different types. Many dancers form a circle and everybody gets the hands of other dancers and dance to right and left, this is a slowl dance.

GIANTS, “GRALLES” AND DRUMS

The giant is a monster that appears in many cultures. One of the features is that it is a human but bigger and higher. The origin comes usually from the stories of typical fairies in Europe.

The music of “grallers”accompanies the building of the human tower. In the band there are "grallers" and drummers. The songs that the band plays during the building of the castle is called: ” Toc de Castells”.

The “correfoc” The “correfoc” means “fire run” and it is a

tradition of Catalonia. Some people wear devil’s clothes and they play with fire and with the people. The devils dance to the

sound of the drums and the “gralla”.

ESCALDARIUM!

Escaldarium is a tipical festival of Caldes. This festival is celebrated in a famous square of

Caldes, “the square of lion”.

This consist of seven dances, four of fire and three of water, alternated. During the dances

they play the music. (see the video)

BREAD WITH TOMATO

• Bread with tomato is a typical food from Catalonia. You have to rub one slice of bread, previously toasted, or not, with red tomato. Also you add salt and olive oil. If you want, after toasting the bread and before rubbing the tomato, some people rub garlic to give it a spicy flavour.

PAELA

• Paela is a typical dish in Spain. In Paela there are rice, pepper, mussels, prowns, peas, rabbit, chicken, onion.... It is the favouite dish of tourists when they come here.