Fascinating Facts - Fact 3

DIY Andalucian Christmas

By Fiona Flores Watson

To make your house look like a real, traditional, with-bells-on Andalucian Christmas home, you need the following: a belen (nativity scene, see Fact 4); a pointsettia, a small red plant (also known as flor de pascua, Easter flower, and estrella de navedad, Christmas star); a jamon, ideally pata negra if your crisis-embattled budget can manage it; various sweet biscuits such as the shortbread-like mantecados (veggie alert! main ingredient is pork lard) and polvorones, preferably from Estepa in Seville; turron (nougat); and roscos navideños, sweet ring-shaped bread flavoured with fruit and spices. Once you've got all that, you just need a horde of noisy, boisterous, tipsy relatives.

• Fact 1 - Christmas carols Andaluz style. Seasonal songs;Villancicos, zambombas, and other musical offerings.
• Fact 2 - Grapes of Nocheviej. Midnight express; an unmissable fruity New Year's Eve tradition in Spain.
• Fact 3 - DIY Andalucian Christmas. Everything you need to make your house into a genuine seasonal Andaluz home.
• Fact 4 - Baby Jesus in a manger. Belen (not Esteban): The holy family, the animals, the shepherds - and the man having a poop.
• Fact 5 - Fire festivals burning bright: Festive fire festivals in Andalucia.
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