CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES
Gran Canaria's Christmas festivities are centred on its popular, traditional Nativity scenes and cribs. In towns and villages throughout the island the streets are adorned with Christmas lights and in recent years, other traditions such as Christmas trees and the presence of Santa Claus have become popular.
Some Christmas celebrations are: the Live Nativity plays, Three Kings plays and the traditional Christmas classical and Canarian music concerts. Some of these events are open-air in squares and parks.
	Everybody talks about Las Canteras beach at Christmas time because of the Gigantic Sand Crib made out of sand sculptures which represents passages from the Bible as the Annunciation to the Birth of Christ in the manger, the visit of the Three kings, etc.
Between the 2 nd and 5 th of January, there is a popular Handicraft Fair in the San Telmo Park. Gran Canarian craftmen gather together here to promote and sell their over 30 different types of products. Some students and teachers at our school decorate it and the last day before Christmas holidays we have workhops and a meal usually prepared by their parents.
We have holidays from 22 nd December to 8 th January. On these exciting days we eat, drink, rest, buy presents, give and receive them, have parties, decorate our houses with Christmas trees and cribs, spend more time with our families and friends, sing Christmas carols, children write letters to the Three Wise Men asking for presents,…
	On 24 th December, we have a special dinner. Families meet to eat and drink because it's Christmas Eve. We eat lamb, roasted pork legs, cured ham, meat, turkey, chicken, prawns, shellfish, seafood soup, caviar, salmon, Canary boiled potatoes with peel with canary spicy sauce (“mojo picón”), marzipan, very dry Spanish sweets of a floury consistency (“polvorones”), nougat (“turrón”). Every family decides what to eat and drink. At midnight there is a special Mass called “la misa del gallo” where people sing Christmas carols and play musical instruments.
On 25 th December, we celebrate Jesus' birth because most of us are Christians but among us there is an atheist and two people who believe in another religion and they don't celebrate Christmas at all or do everything as the rest of us. For the Christian church, the Christmas season begins this day and ends 12 days later, with the feast of the Epiphany. Some people give and receive presents this day although Father Christmas is not a Spanish tradition but a tradition from northern European countries.
	On 31 st December, we celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the New one. Some people wear red underclothes to welcome the New Year and be lucky. First, we have dinner with our families. At midnight, we eat 12 grapes because they symbolize the 12 months of the New Year and we hope those months are very good. Then we go out with friends to parties and drink and dance. Old people stay at home watching special TV programmes.
On 5 th January there is an extremely popular procession with the Three Wise Men on their camels and a lot of allegoric cars, especially dedicated to children, where people throw sweets from to the crowds on the pavements. The Kings stop to collect the letters from children to know what presents to deliver late that night. Before going to bed early, children put their shoes in their balconies and leave the Kings and camels something to drink and eat. This parade starts at about 5:00 in the port area at the Castillo de la Luz , near our high school and finishes near the Pérez Galdós theatre, on the other side of Las Palmas city. If we can't get to see it, we can watch it on TV.
On 6 th January, the Epiphany, we get up early, full of excitement, eager to open the presents. We go to our relatives' houses to give and collect presents too. We do this because it is a tradition and a time to share. It is a way to remember that the Three Wise Men of the East gave presents to Jesus in Bethlehem . We usually eat the ring-shaped cake filled with cream (“roscón de reyes”). It is divided into equal parts for all the people in the family and if there is a bean in your piece of cake you will have to pay for it. It is the culmination of the Christmas festivities.