Since no festival of any interest takes place between summer and this
season, it is already time to conclude these notes with the expiring
year.
It was the custom, thirty or forty years since, among families
of fortune, to prepare, for an almost public exhibition, one or
two rooms of the house, where, upon a clumsy imitation of rocks
and mountains, a great number of baby-houses and clay figures,
representing the commonest actions of life, were placed amidst a
multitude of lamps and tapers. A half ruined stable, surrounded by
sheep and cattle, was seen in the front of the room, with the figures
of Joseph, Mary, and some shepherds, kneeling in adoration of the
child in the manger--an act which an ass and an ox imitated with the
greatest composure. This collection of puppets, called _Nacimiento_,
is still, though seldom intended for show, set up in many houses,
both for the amusement and the religious gratification of the family
and their more intimate friends.
At the period which I have just mentioned, the _Nacimientos_ were
made a pretext for collecting a large party, and passing several
nights in dancing, and some of the national amusements described
in the article of _Carnival_. The rooms being illuminated after
sunset, not only the friends of the family were entitled to enjoy
the festivities of the evening, but any gentleman giving his name
at the door, might introduce one or more ladies, who, if but known
by sight to the master of the house, would be requested to join in
the amusements which followed. These were singing, dancing, and
not unfrequently, speeches, taken from the old Spanish plays, and
known by the name of _Relaciones_. Recitation was considered till
lately as an accomplishment both in males and females; and persons
who were known to be skilled in that art, stood up at the request
of the company to deliver a speech with all the gesticulation of
our old school of acting, just as others gratified their friends by
performing upon an instrument. A slight refreshment of the Christmas
cakes, called _Oxaldres_, and sweet wines or home-made _liqueurs_,
was enough to free the house from the imputation of meanness: thus
mirth and society were obtained at a moderate expense. But the
present _Nacimientos_ seldom afford amusement to strangers; and with
the exception of singing carols to the sound of the _zambomba_,
little remains of the old festivities.
I must not, however, omit a description of the noisy instrument whose
no less sounding name I have just mentioned. It is general in most
parts of Spain at this season, though never used at any other. A
slender shoot of reed (Arundo Donax) is fixed in the centre of a
piece of parchment, without perforating the skin, which, softened
by moisture, is tied, like a drum-head, round the mouth of a large
earthen jar. The parchment, when dry, acquires a great tension, and
the reed being slightly covered with wax, allows the clenched hand to
glide up and down, producing a deep hollow sound of the same kind as
that which proceeds from the tambourine when rubbed with the middle
finger.
The church service on Christmas Eve begins at ten in the night, and
lasts till five in the morning. This custom is observed at every
church in the town; nor does their number, or the unseasonableness
of the hour, leave the service unattended in any. The music at the
Cathedral is excellent. It is at present confined to part of the
Latin prayers, but was, till within a few years, used in a species of
dramatic interludes in the vulgar tongue, which were sung, not acted,
at certain intervals of the service. These pieces had the name of
_Villancicos_, from _Villano_, a clown; shepherds and shepherdesses
being the interlocutors in these pastorals. The words, printed at the
expense of the Chapter, were distributed to the public, who still
regret the loss of the wit and humour of the Swains of Bethlehem.
The custom of the country requires a formal call between Christmas
and Twelfth-day, on all one’s acquaintance; and tables are placed
in the house squares, or _Patios_, to receive the cards of the
visiters. Presents of sweetmeats are common between friends;
and patients send to their medical attendants the established
acknowledgment of a turkey; so that Doctors in great practice open
a kind of public market for the disposal of their poultry. These
turkeys are driven in flocks by gipseys, who patiently walk in
the rear of the ungovernable phalanxes, from several parts of Old
Castile, and chiefly from Salamanca. The march which they perform is
of no less than four hundred miles, and lasts about one half of the
year. The turkeys, which are bought from the farmers mere chickens,
acquire their full growth, like your fashionables, in travelling, and
seeing the world.