Spain: Magi King Parades and January Sales

After I returned back to Don Benito from Chipiona for New Years, I still had five or six days left of christmas vacation to enjoy. Plus, for the Spaniards Christmas doesn't end until January 6th. That's when the three Magi kings bring all the good little Spanish children gifts. They are really lucky because Santa Claus brings them something and then a fortnight later they get even more gifts. I talked with all my students about what gifts they received and they got mostly clothes, money, and a videogame system. Some of them only got money though which was interesting.

On the night of the 6th there was a parade all through Don Benito with themed floats. The themes varied, Toy Story, Cinderella etc. In total there was about fifteen and the whole town showed up to see them slowly make their way down the avenida. The best thing for me was that they were tossing candy at the bystanders so everyone was scrambling to pick up the candy off of the sidewalk. Some people even brought umbrellas to catch the candy with. My favorite float was the techno dragon that some of my students were on. Pretty creative.


One of the Magi kings throwing candy to onlookers with his helpers


Cinderella

After the parade went by us we decided to try a 'caña tour'. The cafes here all give you something to munch on when you order a drink and some of the food is quite good. This one bar on the plaza gives you fried chicken wings or calamari. The first two cafes we went to gave us chips, and the third gave us peanuts. We didn't start off very well, but finally struck gold with El Diamante where they gave us some sort of green bean casserole. It was so good we stayed for another caña. Each time you order a round they give you something different usually. We finished the tour at the plaza where we sampled the calamari at La Candela.

The day after "Reyes" is the official start to rebajas (sales) season. Every store participates and the discounts can be pretty steep. The stores started with smaller discounts like 20% off and then in February they kicked it up a notch and now have some pretty nice bargains. Rebajas will go on until the end of February and then prices will go back to normal, until August when they have the summer sales.

Another thing that changed with the new year is the law regarding smoking indoors. Before January 2nd, 2011, people could smoke in bars, clubs, restaurants etc. But now they have to go outside and it is so much better. At first it was kind of quaint and different that they smoke inside here, but after a few times out I just wanted to come home without smelling like an ashtray and with my eyes burning. I used to stay away from certain places because the ventilation was so bad, but now it doesn't matter. A lot of Spaniards complained about losing their 'rights' to smoke indoors, but what's more important, the right to smoke inside, or the right to breathe fresh air? It's not as if this is Siberia, going outside isn't that big of a deal.