Laia is nervous because the Three Kings haven't arrived in Catalonia yet, and she's been waiting for them for quite some time. Like every year, she and her brother will greet Their Majesties from the top of a ladder so as not to miss a thing, but this time they're bundled up in scarves and wool hats to protect themselves from the low temperatures that have characterized this year's festivities. "They'll come, they always come. The Kings are magical and will live forever," her older brother reassures her, having witnessed several parades before and knowing what he's talking about. Hours before the arrival of Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, it snowed in different parts of the country, but in the major cities, the snow that fell between dawn and mid-morning on Monday didn't last long and melted by the afternoon. At higher elevations, however, there was a whitewashed parade, a very unusual sight in Catalonia.

Once again, the Three Kings will arrive in Tarragona by boat on January 5th. Their Majesties will disembark in the Serrallo maritime district, and their arrival will not go unnoticed. To welcome Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, the sirens of Tarragona's boats and ships will sound. A 21-gun salute will also be fired to celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings in the city, scheduled for 6:15 p.m. To ensure the safety of the Three Kings and the thousands of children who will accompany them during the parade, the Tarragona City Police will close the streets along the procession route. The first disruptions will be in the Serrallo district, shortly before the arrival of the Three Kings. After delivering a short speech from the balcony of the Teatret del Serrallo to greet the children and begin throwing the first sweets, Their Majesties will be taken to Plaça de la Font in a parade that will pass through the city center streets and involve road closures. The Guardia Urbana (local police) will close and reopen streets as the royal procession advances.

The Three Kings' Day parade in the city of Lleida will affect, albeit in different ways, the three central bridges that cross the Segre River during the five hours the event lasts on January 5th. Although the parade doesn't officially start until 6:00 PM, the three central bridges will be closed to traffic from 4:00 PM. The parade on the eve of Three Kings' Day will cover a two-kilometer route. The Three Kings, who as always will arrive by train at the Lleida-Pirineus station, will set foot in the city at 5:30 PM. However, the parade itself won't begin until 6:00 PM, and will proceed along Plaça Ramon Berenguer IV; Rambla Ferran; Avinguda Francesc Macià, Avinguda Blondel, and Avinguda Madrid; Plaça Espanya; and again Avinguda Blondel, until reaching the Paeria building around 8:00 PM.

Christmas has passed. Christmas and Boxing Day. These two holidays in our country carry a special weight of family, tenderness, and often a touch of the mundane. Now, the Christmas festivities have become commercialized, contaminated with foreign traditions. We have decorated fir trees, gifts under the tree, we have Santa Clauses and reindeer and sleighs, we have sweaters embroidered with all this colorful imagery. Our nougat is now joined by the ubiquitous panettone., Someone on the radio the other day was already looking for a Catalan translation. One person suggested panettone; another, even, panotReferring to the tiles that pave the sidewalks of Barcelona. I would leave it in Italian, so we're not mistaken about its origin. Our prickly holly—our forbidden holly—has also been replaced by Mexican poinsettias, or Christmas flowers, as they call them, cultivated in enormous greenhouses. And moss is protected too. You can no longer go to the forest to collect it. I bought some from a florist, and she told me it came from Soria. Without moss, how will we make the nativity scene? Perhaps I should say: how will they make it? Perhaps they won't make it anymore. Traditions develop little by little. And they end quickly. Or perhaps they are slowly lost. I don't know. The fact is that I still made a nativity scene this year, smaller than in other years, but with everything it should have.

Rehearsal RoomThe Palau de la Música Catalana's music and thought videopodcast brings us a space for reflection this Christmas season on how we experience the holidays through music. The episode A musical Christmas in CatalanWith David Carabén (Mishima) and Joan Magrané, the episode explores the rituals we repeat, what we sing, what we've stopped singing, and what identifies us as a country.

Feeling the Christmas spirit isn't always well-received, especially if you live surrounded by GrinchesBut at one point or another, we've all ended up watching a Christmas movie snuggled under a blanket, alone or with family. Streaming platforms have long known that Christmas products... included seriesThey're a goldmine for keeping viewers hooked to their service. Turn on the Christmas lights, put on some comfy clothes, and sift through and choose from the selection of the best Christmas-themed movies you can find on the platforms (don't worry, We have avoided the two thousand five hundred proposals that Netflix produces each year)

"Whether or not I'm the oldest person in Spain makes no difference to me," says Carme Noguera. historical nurse At 111 years old, she doesn't place much importance on the title of oldest person in the State, which was recently taken from her by a 112-year-old neighbor from León. Although she remains the oldest in Catalonia, there's another recognition she's recently received that excites her even more: becoming a great-grandmother. When asked about it, she smiles and confesses that "he's been a very bright child since he was born, and being a great-grandmother is wonderful," and she can't resist sharing a few anecdotes about the boy. In fact, Carme is a very family-oriented woman, and as every year, she plans to celebrate Christmas with her loved ones. "I don't organize anything; my daughter is being looked after now," she says, but she acknowledges that there are some traditions that are essential for her during this special time of year. "Every year we eat cannelloni for Saint Stephen's Day, we make the Tió de Nadal (a traditional Catalan Christmas log) 'poop,' and we receive a visit from the Three Kings," she says. However, Carme confesses that what she likes most is the galets stew with a meatball, so they must prepare it year after year without fail. Christmas is a special time for this centenarian, and when Dolors, her daughter, reminds her of the highlight of these days, her face lights up: "Núria, my eldest granddaughter, is coming back from Brussels! We love each other very much." She explains that she has been living away for a long time and, as happens in many homes, these days are also a time for reunions, which is what Carme is most looking forward to. A Christmas with new traditions

The daughter takes out her phone and starts playing a video. It shows a group of elderly people singing a Christmas carol together. The mother's boyAnd in the foreground appears Carmen, wearing a necklace and a blouse perfect for the occasion. It seems, then, that it's never too late to adopt new Christmas traditions. "It was her first concert with the residence choir," explains Dolors. The residents meet once a week to rehearse, but this was Carmen's first performance in front of an audience. "I really enjoyed it, and I wasn't nervous at all," she says proudly.

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Is it truly a unique bird in the world? Is it bred at the North Pole? Does it grow up in nests high in the trees? Or is it a laboratory creature that doesn't even have any feathers? All sorts of legends have surrounded one of the most ubiquitous dishes on Brazilian Christmas tables for the past 30 years. There, many have heard stories about the origin of this super-chicken, the Chester, always shrouded in mystery that has given rise to the most outlandish theories (like the one about the beast without any feathers). Few can claim to have ever seen a live specimen, and that's why, when journalist Vitor Hugo Brandalise Junior, sitting among friends in a bar, blurts out, "My uncle was one of the inventors of the Chester," he knows he'll have the audience's full attention.

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Is it possible to save money at Christmas? Campaigns like Caprabo's make that challenge a reality. How? By filling a shopping cart with a full complement of Christmas products—including fresh produce, sweets, and staples—for under €70, with enough to prepare several meals without exceeding your budget.

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The hedgehog is a creature that naturally tends to curl up into itself and make its navel the sole object of its interest. It finds nothing external more appealing. For this reason, Saint Augustine saw in the hedgehog the sad image of narcissistic man, incapable of loving anything that doesn't reflect his own image. This man loves reflexively. incurvatus in se...curled up in self-indulgence. Such love, says Saint Augustine, betrays the true nature of love, which is altruistic. The essence of love is to love the image of the beloved in myself, not my own image in the beloved. Love is the self-transcendence of the lover in the beloved. To love is, in a certain way, to become the one who loves. It is necessary, therefore, to look at what we love, because that is what we are.

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I've been pondering for some time whether one of the main moral characteristics of our country isn't irreverence. I say this in general terms, but when the Christmas holidays arrive, everything I see confirms it. To be more precise: we are irreverent with tradition, with the past, and with everything that identifies us as a historical nation. And, at the same time, reverential with the new, with intellectual trends, and with everything that comes from abroad. It's a distinctive trait of the Catalan character. Or, at least, of the dominant thought, even if it remains relatively disconnected from what guides genuine individual lifestyles.

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Catalonia is kicking off a Christmas season that, for the first time in many years, will be quite eventful and decidedly wintry. After a brief respite on Wednesday, rain will once again spread across the region on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The days will be overcast and drenched, with potentially heavy accumulations in northeastern areas. Drivers should be cautious on the roads, as there will be a lot of traffic. And be aware of the snow level, as it will fluctuate considerably depending on the day and location, but in some southern and inland areas, snow is already falling down to 500 meters or even below. Therefore, some towns could experience the idyllic white Christmas landscape we're used to seeing in movies.

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When December 25th arrives and we dress up for Christmas dinner, there's a custom many of us take for granted: wearing something new, be it a dress, a shirt, or, in the most minimalist gesture possible, a pair of underwear or socks. Catalan sayings as eloquent as "At Christmas, whoever wears nothing new is worthless" or "Whoever doesn't wear something new at Christmas is worthless" remind us of this. If we consider the current experience of the holidays, marked by rampant consumerism that has often erased any trace of religious meaning, it's easy to interpret this practice as just another expression of Christmas consumerism. However, the fact that these sayings from Catalan oral tradition were documented in writing as early as the 19th century suggests a very different reality: that of a much older social norm, probably rooted in the Ancien Régime or, at the very least, in a pre-industrial domestic economy.

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Long meals, abundant portions, and a feeling of overindulgence that often lingers well beyond the official holidays. This is the recurring theme year after year at Christmas, but the problem isn't so much what we eat on December 24th, 25th, or 26th, but rather how we approach the entire Christmas period. "We have this idea that it's three weeks of eating a lot, when in reality, special meals are occasional," reminds nutritionist Bárbara Romano. The risk, she says, is accumulating leftover nougat, constant snacking, and a routine that deviates from our usual eating habits.

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Catalan Christmas cuisine is much more than a collection of dishes associated with this time of year. It's a shared history of essential recipes that spans centuries, territories, and families, many of which weren't learned from books or cooking schools, but at home, by observing. Watching a grandmother stir a pot without a clock or a mother know the roast is ready just by the smell.

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The market isn't just for buying; it's also for asking questions, comparing prices, and making decisions. At a time of year often marked by overindulgence, market vendors become key influencers for cooking with purpose, respecting tradition, and staying within budget without sacrificing quality.

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A dear friend who lost his wife this year told me that he could bear the loneliness but was finding it very difficult to overcome her absence. He said he knew how to manage on his own, that he could successfully cope with both an unexpected Wi-Fi outage and a recipe for fricandó, but that he was saddened by not being able to argue with her or ask for her opinion. The fact that what had once been constant exchanges had turned into silence was what he found hardest of all.

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I don't want a perfume and a body spray from the same brand that come in a transparent case bigger than the bottles themselves. I don't want the cardboard, plastic, and wrapping paper scraps to be bigger than the gift. I don't want an "experience" bought in haste now and only valid in February. I don't want a scarf or gloves, I don't want anything with a receipt "in case it needs to be exchanged." I don't want to exchange anything. I don't want anything delivered by an Amazon delivery person, I don't want anything bought in a rush and under stress, I don't want it wrapped hastily and carelessly. I don't want anything. usefulSomething I can use for housework, like an air fryer. I don't want anything that costs pennies. Anything that costs pennies (wine, clothes, flowers to plant, oil, a restaurant), when I can, I'll treat myself to. The gift doesn't have to be now. Let it be another day, an unexpected day.

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From the heart of the Penedès region, Segura Viudas invites you to enjoy the holidays with three of its most emblematic cavas: Reserva Heredad, Rosé Vintage, and Brut Reserva. Each reflects the winery's philosophy, based on respect for its roots, sustainability, and winemaking excellence, making them the perfect companion for Christmas celebrations.

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"Who's bringing the cava?" It's one of the key questions at any Christmas lunch or dinner in Catalonia. Because cava is essential for celebrating these holidays. And because, while it's an honor to be the one to bring it, forgetting it is also a bit of a disaster. That's why, seeing this same question illuminated on Aragó Street in Barcelona, ​​the answer is clear: if anyone can deliver cava to every home, it's Freixenet.

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