Christmas on the Costa Blanca: what there is to do, and why 6 January is the main day

Anyone spending their first Christmas here usually misses half of it. Not because little happens, but because it happens on different days from the ones you know. The evening that counts is 24 December, the day the presents arrive is 6 January, and the two days in between that you really should not miss appear in no guidebook: 22 and 28 December. Below is the whole calendar, what happens on each day, and how to find your own town’s dates without relying on out-of-date lists.

The Christmas calendar here, in one view

Put these dates in your diary. They are the same every year.

8 December, Inmaculada. A public holiday. In practice the starting gun: this is the weekend the lights go on and the nativity scene is unveiled.
22 December, the Christmas lottery. Not a day off, but half the country is watching.
24 December, Nochebuena. This is the big family dinner, in the evening.
25 December, Navidad. A public holiday, but quieter than you would expect.
28 December, Santos Inocentes. Spain’s April Fools, and in one town a pitched battle.
31 December, Nochevieja. Twelve grapes on the chimes.
5 January, the Cabalgata de Reyes. Parades everywhere, in the evening.
6 January, Reyes. A holiday, and the day of the presents.

That is eight, not six. Which is exactly the point: Christmas here lasts longer than the two days you are used to, and the weight of it falls at the end.

What the weather does in those weeks and what else is open is in our piece on the Costa Blanca in December. This one is only about what happens.

22 December: El Gordo, and why the country stops

The Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad always falls on 22 December and is not an ordinary lottery.

The draw runs for hours and is broadcast live. Pupils from the San Ildefonso school sing out the numbers and the prizes, two at a time, in a chant everyone here recognises. It is on in the bars. It is on in the office.

The top prize is El Gordo, the fat one. And its defining quirk is how it is shared: tickets are cut into tenths, décimos, and those are split within a family, a street, a football club or an office. Which is why the top prize often lands in a single town at once, across dozens of people.

What to do with that: if you live here, buy décimos through the groups you belong to, not in a random shop. That is social, not strategic. Going in with your bar’s peña is a way of belonging here.

Nochebuena is the feast, not 25 December

This is the mistake almost every newcomer makes once: planning a big dinner for 25 December.

The main meal is on the evening of 24 December. That is Nochebuena, and it runs late. Restaurants that open have a set menu and are full, often booked weeks ahead. Turn up wanting to eat at eight and you will be eating alone.

25 December is a public holiday, but the day itself feels more like a long Sunday: a late start, a long lunch, and a lot that is closed.

Papá Noel has made his way here too and brings a present on 25 December, especially in younger families. But the real pile arrives on 6 January, and that is no small detail if you have children.

28 December: the town that buries itself in flour

Santos Inocentes is Spain’s April Fools. Newspapers run fake stories, friends play tricks. And in Ibi, an hour inland from Alicante, it gets completely out of hand.

There, Els Enfarinats take over the town’s mock government that morning. They are married men in old uniforms, and they issue absurd decrees and fine anyone who disobeys. Against them stands the Oposició, which revolts. Then the flour, the eggs and the gunpowder start.

By the end the square lies under a white layer, as in the photo above.

Nobody knows exactly how old it is. Some sources say at least since 1797, others put it in the seventeenth century, and most settle carefully on “more than two hundred years”. What is certain is that it died out in the 1950s and came back in its present form in 1981. The anthropologist Julio Caro Baroja linked it to the Roman saturnalia and to carnival: the people taking power for a day.

Practical: go early, park outside the centre and wear clothes you can throw away. This is not a spectacle you watch tidily from the side.

New Year: twelve grapes, and why it goes wrong

At midnight the whole of Spain eats twelve grapes, one on each chime. Twelve hits means a good year.

It sounds easy. It is not. The chimes come faster than you think, and anyone doing it for the first time is halfway through with a full mouth.

Two things the locals know and you do not yet. There are four preparatory chimes, the cuartos, before the twelve real ones begin; start eating on those and you have already lost. And from mid-December every supermarket sells tins of twelve peeled, seedless grapes. That is not cheating, that is what half of Spain does.

After that people head out into the street or to a party, and it runs well past sunrise. The churros con chocolate at six in the morning are part of it.

5 January: the Cabalgata de Reyes

This is the evening children here spend the whole year waiting for, and often the biggest surprise for newcomers.

In every town and nearly every village a procession moves through the streets in the evening with the three kings on floats, attended by pages. From those floats sweets are thrown into the crowd, by the handful. Children stand ready with upturned umbrellas and bags.

The arrival differs by place and that is the best part. On the coast the kings often come into the harbour by boat, and the parade starts from there. Inland they arrive by road.

Afterwards children go to bed and put their shoes out. Sometimes with water and bread for the camels.

Practical: be there an hour early, because the good spots along the route will already be taken. Bring a bag for the sweets. And expect crowds in the narrow streets of the old villages.

Alcoi and the oldest cabalgata, with a caveat

One procession in this province gets singled out, and rightly: the one in Alcoi.

It has been held there without a break since 1885, with documentary antecedents going back to 1866. The plaque in the photo above was placed in January 1985 for the first centenary and confirms that date in stone.

The town council calls it “one of the oldest in Spain and possibly in the world”. But be straight about what sits around that: some historians give the title to Granada. We take no side. What stands is 1885, and that is plenty.

What really makes Alcoi different is the atmosphere: torches, a procession winding through a narrow old centre, and pages calling at the houses. It is busier than you expect, so come early or watch from a side street.

6 January: Reyes, the roscón and the bean

This is the day. Not 25 December.

In the morning the presents the kings have brought are opened. The day is a public holiday and almost everything is shut.

On the table comes the roscón de Reyes: a ring-shaped bread with candied fruit, usually filled with cream or chocolate. A paper crown comes in the box, as in the photo.

Two things are hidden inside the roscón, and that is the whole game. A small figurine: whoever finds it wears the crown. And a dry broad bean: whoever finds that pays for the roscón. So cut carefully and warn children there is something hard inside.

Order yours from your own baker a few days ahead. On 5 and 6 January the good ones are sold out and the supermarket version is what is left.

Belenes and lights: what happens in the villages

The belén, the nativity scene, matters more here than the Christmas tree.

Almost every village puts one up on the square or by the church, like the life-size version in our main photo. Alongside those, associations, shops and schools build their own. Some councils turn it into a route, with a map taking in ten or fifteen of them.

Two variants worth the trip. A belén viviente is a living nativity: residents act out the scenes, often with real animals, usually for one or two evenings around the holidays. And a few towns have monumental belenes with hundreds of figures.

The lights usually go on the weekend around 8 December and stay up past 6 January.

The turrón that goes with all this, and the Feria de Navidad in Jijona where it comes from, are covered in our December piece.

Why you find the wrong dates online

Search now for “Christmas market Denia” or “cabalgata Javea” and you will get lists full of dates. A fair share of them are wrong, and it helps to know why.

Previous editions get recycled. Many sites repost last year’s programme with a new year on top. A market held on a fixed Saturday falls on a different date next year.

The councils are late. December programmes here usually come out in the second half of November. Everything you read in October about markets and ice rinks is therefore a prediction.

Only the calendar dates are fixed. 22, 24, 25, 28 and 31 December and 5 and 6 January never move. Every other date can shift.

Where you do find it: on your own ayuntamiento’s site, under Agenda or Festes, and on their Facebook page, which is often faster than the site. The tourist offices of Alicante, Benidorm and Dénia usually publish at the end of November. If your town is not among them, the local library or community centre will have the programme on the wall.

Which is why there is no list of dates by village below. A wrong date is worse than no date.

What is open and what is shut

Briefly, because this is where most plans come apart.

8 December, 25 December and 6 January are holidays. Supermarkets shut or open briefly in the morning, banks shut, town halls shut.

24 and 31 December are ordinary working days, but shops often close around midday and restaurants run a set menu in the evening, by reservation.

1 January the whole country is flat. Do not count on finding breakfast anywhere.

Between 27 December and 5 January the villages are busy instead: schools are shut, families are home and the terraces are full.

If you need something from the council in these weeks, sort it before 20 December. How to register with that council is in our piece on the empadronamiento.

Frequently asked questions

When do children in Spain get their presents? On 6 January, from the three kings. Papá Noel often brings a small gift on 25 December, but the main day is 6 January.

Which day is the big Christmas dinner? The evening of 24 December, Nochebuena.

Is 6 January a day off? Yes, it is a public holiday across Spain.

What is El Gordo? The top prize in the Christmas lottery, always drawn on 22 December.

What are the twelve grapes? At midnight on New Year’s Eve you eat one grape on each chime. Watch out for the four preparatory chimes before them.

What is Els Enfarinats? A flour and egg battle in Ibi on 28 December, in which married men take over the mock town government.

When is the Cabalgata de Reyes? On the evening of 5 January, in almost every town and village.

Which cabalgata is the oldest? Alcoi has held it without a break since 1885 and is often called the oldest in Spain, though some historians give the title to Granada.

What is inside the roscón de Reyes? A figurine and a dry bean. Find the figurine and you get the crown; find the bean and you pay.

When do the Christmas lights go on? Usually the weekend around 8 December.

Where do I find my village’s programme? On the ayuntamiento site under Agenda or Festes, and on their Facebook. Usually not before the end of November.

Can I eat out on Christmas Day? Sometimes, but book weeks ahead. On the evening of 24 December there is more choice.

About the authorMilo Schuijt

Milo Schuijt is an entrepreneur and DJ on the Costa Blanca. He writes about the places where he lives, works and plays: from beach bars to the housing market.