Christmas in Pamplona and Euskalherria: A different Santa Claus
During this time of the year every single child in Spain is waiting for Santa Claus to come into their homes, eat cookies and leave some presents. Some say that Santa Claus was born in Finland but no one is sure. The one thing that we are certain of is that the Santa Claus of today is a roly-poly jolly chubby old man with a white beard, blue eyes and is always wearing red. Did you know that Coca-Cola company invented this image?
More importantly apart from this Santa Claus image, there is a more special Santa Claus that is awaited every year in Pamplona and Euskalherria. We are talking about the famous Olentzero.
Olentzero is a intelligent coal working man that loves wine and good food. The legend goes that this man had been working in the fields when he heard about the birth of Jesus and immediately went into town filled with gifts to give to other children in order to tell the good news. In reality Olentzero is a distant remembrance of the celebration of the winter solstice which has been renamed by the Catholic Church as Christmas.
Every single 24th of December at sunset there are beautiful, colorful parades were this special type of Santa Claus is a part of. He walks around greeting people with a big smile.
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Fecha: December 10, 2008 at 3:47 pm
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Fecha: April 17, 2009 at 5:49 pm
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