Christmas in Barcelona!!!
Genta
Hi everybody!
The preparations for Christmas have started here in Barcelona. “Las Ramblas” and “Plaza Cataluña” are adorned with decorations and lights and we are already thinking about the Christmas gifts 
… Why not give a gift to yourself and experience Christmas and New Year in Barcelona 
?
Barcelona really comes to life during the festive period, with colourful Christmas markets, fascinating local traditions, and best of all, a wonderful Christmas spirit!
The best way to celebrate Christmas and New Year is to enjoy the Christmas activities that we have prepared for you as you learn Spanish at the same time, the fantastic Christmas atmosphere in Barcelona will do the rest!
Our Christmas course of 1 or 2 weeks starts on 22nd December and is designed for all levels, from complete beginners to advanced! 
You learn a lot about Spanish culture and enjoy the celebrations.
Our Christmas programme is full of activities that will help you to make the most of the festivities in Barcelona. Here you can see last year’s activity programme.
Last year was my first Christmas here in Barcelona; I enjoyed it a lot and recommend it to you all. The Catalan traditions are very different from the usual ones that we see in Christmas movies, very special and funny. The Catalans do not usually have a Christmas tree! In their tradition the equivalent to the Christmas tree is a log (a mythological Catalan character) which is called “El tio de Nadal” or “el Cagatio” (the picture up on the right). Starting from the day of Immaculate, the children give food every day to the log and cover it with a red blanket during the night so it does not have cold (this is sweet 
). Then the fun and the strange part come… on the Christmas day the children sing a song and hit the log with a stick so it poops!!! The song is in Catalan and what the Cagatio poops are gifts for the kids!!!
Check the video below just to have an idea of the Cagatio tradition: 
Well… the “poop” tradition continues… because the Cagatio is not the only one! We have “El Caganer” too (the picture up on the left). This is the most representative figure of Cataluña since the eighteen century in the Nativity Scenes specially prepared during Christmas, because at that time people used to say that his fertile deposits bring luck and good health! It symbolizes the Earth fertility; it means prosperity for next year!
The figure of Caganer has developed and now any famous person can be converted into a ‘Caganer’! Can you imagine the President of your country in that funny position? Well, this year it looks like Barack Obama will be the Caganer of the year! .
Well, we hope this gives you an idea of what Catalans do on Christmas. We recommend you to stay in one of our host families so that you get the most of your Christmas time in Barcelona!
On a coming post I will describe you how they celebrate New Year…
See you on next blog
Take care,
Genta
