La Nucia Town Hall greeting to residents

As everyone recovers from the aftermath of Christmas, many are now planning for New Years Eve. Boxing Day in Spain is a normal working day and I watched in bewilderment the scenes on the BBC of the first day of the sales. Many stores opened at 6am and shoppers queued from the early hours in order to "grab that bargain"... you would never believe that there was a recession with ladies fighting over items of sometimes questionable clothing or must have gadget! Even Harrods, who always traditionally started their sale on 6th January have moved to Boxing Day, having realized that no-one has any money left by the time theirs starts.

Sales, or "rebajas" as they are called in Spain normally start on 7th January here - the day after the "Three Kings" or "Los Reyes Magos", which falls on 6th January. On the night of the 5th, most Spanish towns will have a parade marking the arrival of the Three Kings. There will be grand float processions with sweets being thrown to the excited children - Benidorm usually has a very good one going through the main streets. After the parade the children go home and place their shoes on the windowsills filling them with straw, carrots and barley for the donkeys ... in much the same way that in the UK children leave a carrot for Rudolf. On the morning of the 6th the children will have received presents from the Three Kings... or if they have been bad, a sack of coal!

They are lucky in that they have 2 lots of present giving - well the children are, not so much the poor parents that have to buy them. You will notice that all the shops, in particular the toy shops will be jammed packed on the 5th January - hence why the sales do not start until after this date! On the 6th the family will also tuck into a "Roscon" - a sweet dough supposedly shaped like a crown and decorated with sugared peel and cherries. Within the roscon is a hidden lucky charm and whoever has it in their portion will have good luck for the entire year!

So after Christmas everyone is busy planning for what they will be doing on New Years Eve. One thing which is certain is the tradition of the twelve grapes! You will see them being sold at virtually every supermarket.... in bags or tins, ready peeled and deseeded - and grape for grape, as expensive as caviar! At the strike of midnight, the mad frenzy begins.... with every chime you have to eat one of the grapes! By the time the clock finishes you are suppose to have eaten all twelve and if you do, then you will have luck for the following 12 months! Very few actually manage to eat all of them on time and most will have a bulging mouthful, desperately trying to swallow!

This has been a tradition in Spain since 1909 thought up, unsurprisingly by the vine growers in the Alicante region! That year they had a bumper harvest and didn´t know what to do with them all and some bright spark came up with the 12 grapes at midnight idea, which has been carried on ever since.