# Christmas in Spain: from the sung El Gordo lottery to a roscón with a hidden bean > Christmas in Spain 2026/27: the El Gordo draw on 22 December, 12 grapes at the Puerta del Sol, the 5 January Cabalgata, Tió de Nadal, the caganer and what closes on the 25th and 6th. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/rizdvo-v-ispanii-tradytsii/ - Language: en - Published: 2026-11-13 - Categories: Travel, Culture, Spain, Food & Drinks, Events --- At nine in the morning on 22 December, schoolchildren from the Colegio de San Ildefonso walk onto the stage of Madrid's Teatro Real and start singing five-digit numbers and prize amounts, in a drawn-out chant every Spaniard recognises within a second. The Christmas lottery draw runs for several hours, it plays in bars, offices and taxis, and it is the moment the country switches into holiday mode. The season closes on 6 January, the Day of the Three Kings, so **Christmas in Spain** stretches over a good two weeks, and the easiest way to plan a trip is to pin it to one specific date inside that window. ## El Gordo: the lottery the whole country listens to El Gordo, "the fat one", is the top prize of the Christmas draw and the everyday name for the whole lottery. In 2026 the draw falls on Tuesday 22 December. The San Ildefonso pupils, from a school that has kept this tradition going for more than two hundred years, pull balls from two drums, one holding the number and the other the prize, and sing them out as a pair. Tickets are split into tenths called décimos, each costs 20 euros, and El Gordo pays 400,000 euros per décimo. Hardly anyone buys alone: whole offices, sports clubs and the regulars of a favourite bar club together, then spend the next six months working out who owes whom. Visitors can play too, through official kiosks and outlets of [Loterías y Apuestas del Estado](https://www.loteriasyapuestas.es/es). The most famous seller, Doña Manolita near the Puerta del Sol, draws a queue several blocks long in December, and an hour in line is considered normal. The morning of the 22nd is best spent in a café: the results are announced live, and when somebody in the room suddenly leaps up, everyone congratulates them. ## Nochebuena: the evening the streets suddenly empty On 24 December, a Thursday this time, Spaniards stay home. Dinner is late, Spanish style, closer to ten: prawns and langoustines, jamón, roast lamb or suckling pig in Castile, then turrón and crumbly polvorones. At midnight some families head to the Misa del Gallo, the "rooster's mass". What matters more for a traveller: shops close after lunch on the 24th, so do many restaurants, and those open in the evening serve a festive set menu at a noticeably higher price and only with a booking. 25 December, a Friday, is a public holiday. Most shops and quite a few museums are closed, transport runs a holiday timetable, and the day is best given over to a walk and a lunch booked in advance. Papá Noel now brings presents on the 25th as well, but the big date for children is still to come. Buy your turrón before the holidays. Its two classic styles both come from the province of Alicante: soft Jijona, made from ground almonds, and hard Alicante, with whole nuts set in honey. Both carry a protected geographical indication, so the name on the box does mean something. ## Don't trust the news on 28 December The Day of the Holy Innocents has become Spain's version of April Fools' Day. Newspapers and TV channels invent plausible scoops, and colleagues stick paper figures on each other's backs. If you read on the 28th that the Puerta del Sol has been sold off for a car park, turn the page. ## Twelve grapes to the chimes of the Puerta del Sol On 31 December all of Spain watches the clock on the Real Casa de Correos. You eat one grape for each of the twelve strokes, and whoever manages all twelve has secured a lucky year. The beginner's trap is an old one: before midnight the clock rings the quarters, double strikes, and tourists insist on starting to chew on those. Locals buy tins of peeled, seedless grapes precisely because seeds slow you down at that speed. Accounts of the custom's origin differ: the popular version says growers in Alicante used it to shift a surplus harvest in 1909, while researchers have found similar Madrid jokes from the 1880s. Access to the square itself is restricted on New Year's Eve, entry closes long before midnight, and the crowd is dense. Plenty of people see in the year at a bar with a TV instead, then go for churros and hot chocolate on the morning of 1 January. Red underwear for luck is popular here too, and in December even supermarkets sell it. Other options for the night across the continent are in our guide to [where to spend New Year's Eve in Europe](https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/de-zustrity-novyy-rik-v-yevropi/). ## The Three Kings: upside-down umbrellas and a roscón with a surprise On the evening of 5 January, a Tuesday, the **Cabalgata de Reyes** rolls through Spanish towns: Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar ride on floats and throw handfuls of sweets into the crowd. Seasoned parents bring open umbrellas held upside down and catch the sweets in them. In Madrid the parade traditionally ends at Plaza de Cibeles, while in Barcelona the kings arrive at the port by sea. Cities publish their 2027 routes closer to the holidays, and the Madrid programme is easiest to follow on the [official esMadrid tourism site](https://www.esmadrid.com/agenda-navidad-madrid). At night children put out their shoes and leave water and a snack for the camels. On the morning of 6 January the presents are by the shoes, and naughty children get coal made of sugar. That same morning the family eats **roscón de reyes**, a sweet bread ring flavoured with orange blossom water and topped with candied fruit. Two things are baked inside: a small figure that promises luck, and a dried bean, and whoever gets the bean buys next year's roscón. Bakeries have queues on the 5th. 6 January is a public holiday with shops closed, and after it Christmas is over: winter sales traditionally start on the 7th. ## Catalonia: the log that "poops" presents Catalonia has a character the rest of Spain regards with a grin. The **Tió de Nadal** is a log with a painted face and a red barretina cap. From 8 December children "feed" it and tuck it under a blanket, and on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day they beat it with sticks while singing a song that asks it to poop. Turrón and sweets then turn up under the blanket. The second Catalan hero, the caganer, squats in a corner of the nativity scene with his trousers down, and tradition says the scene is incomplete without him. Makers have long turned out caganers of politicians, footballers and royals, and the widest choice is at the Fira de Santa Llúcia in front of Barcelona Cathedral, a fair held since 1786. In 2026 it is expected from late November to 23 December. 26 December is an extra holiday in Catalonia, Sant Esteve, celebrated with cannelloni made from the Christmas leftovers. ## Belenes: nativity scenes the size of a village A Spanish nativity scene, a belén, often looks more like a model of an entire town: hundreds of figures, mills, a stream with real water, a market, shepherds with their flocks. Municipal belenes go up in town halls, cathedrals and banks, usually with free entry. Madrid traditionally opens one in the Real Casa de Correos on the Puerta del Sol, and the Plaza Mayor market, running from late November to 31 December, sells figures, moss and cork for home belenes. Smaller towns stage belenes vivientes, living nativity scenes with residents in costume, and their dates are worth checking with the local tourist office. ## Madrid, Barcelona or Vigo Madrid offers the full set: the lottery, the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and the biggest cabalgata. Barcelona is more interesting for its Catalan customs and the Santa Llúcia fair. Vigo, a port city in Galicia, competes every year for the title of Europe's brightest Christmas, and its mayor Abel Caballero makes no secret of measuring himself against New York. Installation of the 2026 lights began as early as 29 July, in a heatwave: more than 12 million LEDs across roughly 500 streets. They go on in November, and the mayor, as usual, keeps the exact day secret; last year it was 15 November. ## Table: Christmas in Spain 2026/27 day by day DateDayEventHow the city works22 DecemberTuesdayEl Gordo draw, Teatro Real from 9:00a normal working day with the radio on24 DecemberThursdayNochebuena, midnight massshops and many restaurants close after lunch25 DecemberFridayChristmas Day, public holidayshops and some museums closed26 DecemberSaturdaySant Esteve in Cataloniaholiday in Barcelona28 DecemberMondayDay of the Holy Innocents, prankseverything open except your trust in the news31 DecemberThursday12 grapes at midnightrestricted access to the Puerta del Sol1 JanuaryFridayNew Year's Dayalmost everything closed until lunch5 JanuaryTuesdayCabalgata de Reyescentre closed to traffic in the evening, queues at bakeries6 JanuaryWednesdaypresents and roscón de reyespublic holiday, shops closedWe checked these dates and details against official sites at the end of October 2026; parade routes and museum hours for 25 December and 6 January are worth a second look before you travel. Fares to Spain rise around these days, but the stretch from 22 December to 6 January is packed so tightly that even a short visit will almost certainly catch one of the main events.