To welcome 2011, Christina and I travelled to Madrid to spend New Year’s Eve, known in Spain as Nochevieja. We followed the Spanish traditions to bring you luck for the new year. You must wear new red underwear and you must eat 12 grapes on the stroke of midnight, one on each stroke of the clock.
Puerta del sol in New Year's eve
At midnight all the Spanish families are watching television and all the channels broadcast the same thing: The belltower on the Square of Sol in Madrid. Those who live in Madrid congregate in Puerta del Sol and eat the grapes before going partying until after sunrise. When I was a little child I always ate the grapes at home watching the people having fun in the Square of Sol. A couple of years ago I started to eat the grapes at weird times. At 18:00 in the afternoon when I was in Canada and early in the morning when I was in Beijing. But this year I was going to do it right. We went to Sol to have the grapes in the place where you are supposed to eat them.
It was quite an experience. A lot of people, yes, 20000 souls according to the newspapers. I’m quite used to that now that I’m living in Shanghai. Fortunately the people was not drunk and it didn’t look dangerous at all. Most of the people were foreigners but I could hear some Spanish voices. Maybe tourists as well. I doubt there are many Madrileños celebrating Nochevieja here, most of them prefer to have the grapes at home with their families.
The next night we went to a must-do tourist activity in Madrid. A Flamenco show. This was my second time in a Flamenco show and I must recognize I like it. This is a video you can see to have an idea of what Flamenco is about, but you need to be there to feel the waves and the special energy that the dancers and singers transmit to the public.
Related posts:
