Today is December 31^st. We are just few hours away from closing this year and welcoming the new one with our arms wide open. Fireworks, gala dinners, champagne, and parties will be the protagonists of this evening all around the globe.

Spain and Latin American countries have some deep-rooted traditions for this special evening. In this post, we invite you to discover some of them. If you prefer to continue reading about New Year’s Eve in Spanish, click here. What are you up to tonight?

Spain

In Spain, New Year’s Eve is the most festive moment of all the holiday celebrations. Normally, families gather to have dinner and wait for the bells to ring. Here is when one of the most popular traditions takes place: the grapes time.

Every December 31^st at midnight, Spaniards stay tuned to television. From the Puerta del Sol, in Madrid, they broadcast the clock bells striking twelve times before the new year begins. With every bell sound, they eat one grape, until they have had the twelve of them. After this ritual is over, family members wish each other a Happy New Year and they celebrate together.

This practice finds its origin in a grape production surplus, around 1900. It usually involves playing around with cotillones as well. These are festive bags that contain ornamental pieces, costumes, toys, confetti, and party horns.

To attract good luck, besides the grapes ceremony, it is customary to wear red underwear and, sometimes, soak a ring in a champagne or cava glass to toast for the new year. From midnight, most houses and bars throw special parties. Before finishing the night out, it is very common to have the typical chocolate con churros (hot chocolate and churros).

Latin America

Piñatas are the protagonists of New Year’s Eve in Mexico. Traditionally, they were made of mud. Nowadays, they are usually made of colored paper and small lights that attract good luck for the coming year.

In addition to grapes and red underwear, there are a couple more singular traditions. For economic prosperity, Mexicans wear yellow underwear. If they want a travel-intensive year, they take their suitcases out. Something similar happens in Ecuador. Over there, many people walk around the neighborhood as fast as they can, carrying their luggage with them. This favors future trips.

One of the most distinctive traditions for New Year’s Eve in Colombia is the puppets burning. Before midnight, Colombians prepare figures that represent mostly popular characters. After that, they stuff them with fireworks and set them off right at 12 a.m. This way, puppets burn and the skies spark with the remains of last year’s bad things.

This puppets custom is very popular in Peru as well. In this country, they burn old pieces of fabric, journals, and wood. Very often, the figures they light up represent unpopular characters, such as politicians and other celebrities.

One of the most well-known New Year practices in Venezuela involves throwing a handful of lentils at the end of the countdown. This way, bad luck goes away. In Argentina, good weather makes for colorful summer parties.

We hope you have learned something new about the different New Year’s Eve traditions around the Spanish-speaking countries. Tonight, we encourage you to pick one of them and participate with your friends and family. Happy New Year!

What’s the most typical Spanish food?

Tortilla de patatas!

Today we’re sharing a recipe to help you bring Spanish flavors to your table. So get ready, step into the kitchen, and…it’s tortilla time!

Read this article in Spanish

Before we begin, let’s run through the ingredients we’re going to need:

• 700 g (about 25 oz) potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 6 medium/large eggs
• Olive oil
• Salt

Now that we have the ingredients handy, we can get started.

First, peel and wash the onion and potatoes. Dice the onion and cut the potatoes into thin slices.

When you’ve got that ready, pour a thick layer of oil into a frying pan and heat it up on the stove. Once the oil is hot, turn the heat down to low and fry the potatoes with a bit of salt. This way they will get cooked all the way through without burning. Be patient, this may take 25-30 minutes, depending on how thick you cut the potato slices.

Before the potatoes are done, when they’re just starting to turn golden, add the onion to the frying pan. That way you can cook everything at the same time without burning the onion.

After you add the onion and everything is frying, crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt, and beat the eggs.

When the potatoes and onion are done frying, take them out of the oil, let the excess oil drain off, and add them to the bowl with the eggs, along with a bit more salt.

Mix everything together and let the mixture sit for a few minutes to give the potatoes time to absorb the eggs.

Meanwhile, prepare a frying pan to continue with the second part of the tortilla making process. You can use the same pan as before, just pour out almost all of the olive oil. If you prefer, you can use a clean frying pan and add a tablespoon of oil, moving the pan around so the bottom is completely coated.

Put the frying pan on low heat and pour in the mixture of eggs, potatoes, and onion.

Little by little, you’ll see the egg start to cook and the tortilla will begin to take shape. Make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan by using a spatula around the edges and base of the tortilla. It will probably start sticking to the pan.

Before the egg cooks completely, put a large, flat plate (big enough to cover all or almost all of the frying pan) over the tortilla and flip the pan upside down with the plate underneath. Lift the frying pan off the plate and put it back on the stove, then slide the tortilla (cooked-side up) off the plate and into the frying pan to let the other side cook a few more minutes.

When the tortilla is as cooked or as runny as you like it, turn off the burner and flip the tortilla out of the frying pan once more.

Your tortilla de patatas is ready!

In the middle of the lively tourist center of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is perhaps the craziest and most interesting market in South America: the "Mercado de Hechicería," or Witch's Market. This famous market is located between Sagamaga and Santa Cruz in Calle Jimenez. Dozens of vendors line the streets selling their fascinating and unusual products.

• The Witch's Market sells many crazy products, but the strangest is dead llamas and their fetuses. The idea is that the fetuses will be buried under a cornerstone near a newly built house and that is supposed to bring good luck.
• Wealthier Bolivians often sacrifice a live llama at a new-build house, said to bring more good luck.
• Another interesting market close to the Witch Market is the "Merca Negro," here they really offer everything: fruits, clothes, fireworks and electronics.

The market sells various products that Bolivian vendors and locals consider magical. Herbs, stones, figurines and... yes, also fetuses of llamas and dried frogs, turtles and snakes. These crazy products are all sold at the Witch Market and each has a magical side effect such as bringing good luck or curing disease. The products are mostly used by traditional Bolivian healers to influence good and evil spirits. In addition, the market is very popular to visit while on vacation in Bolivia.

The goodies are often packaged very nicely by the vendors, in cozy and colorful bags. These bags of products are still offered daily to Pachamama, the Mother of the Earth. This is an old-fashioned ritual that is still performed every day by the inhabitants of Bolivia. Indeed, according to tradition, it brings good luck if you bury a llama fetus under the cornerstone of your newly built house.

Besides dead llamas and dried frogs, some normal goodies are sold such as amulets with different images that stand for different things. For example, the sun stands for energy, the cougar for strength, the snake for cunning and wisdom, the condor for travel and change and the llama for health. You may also encounter a real traditional Yatari during your visit to the Witch Market. This is a medicine man who wears a large tall black hat. Yataris can predict the future but unfortunately do this mainly for the locals.

The Witches Market in La Paz is one of the most colorful and interesting markets in South America and well worth a visit during your trip through Bolivia. Not only are there weird souvenirs for sale, but the market also showcases much of Bolivia's faith and culture. And it's something different to take home a llama fetus as a souvenir instead of a magnet, right?

Chile's National Independence Day

On Sept. 18, 1810, Chile declared independence from Spain. After an eight-year war, the Diechiocho, is now Chile's National Independence Day every year. This holiday, also called "Fiestas Patrias de Chile," is celebrated throughout the country with many festivities. Chile celebrates its independence with parades, parties, food, drink and music. Dance floors are laid out in large marquees, also called Ramadas, and a wide variety of Chilean traditional food is served in the so-called Fondas. Sept. 19 is also an important day for Chileans. Known as the "Day of the Glories of the Army," this day is celebrated at O'Higgens Park in Santiago de Chile. On this day is Chile's big military parade that attracts as many as millions of viewers.

• On Sept. 18 and 19, Chileans celebrate their independence with parades, parties, food, drink, music and a large military parade at O'Higgens Park in Santiago de Chile.
• Ramadas (large party tents) are set up with dance floors and Fondas (decorated tents) where Chilean cuisine is served.
• Chilean cuisine is very important during these holidays. The Chilean Empanada is the traditional dish: a kind of bread with a filling of pino, a mixture of minced meat, onions, boiled eggs raisins and olives.

The celebration of the Fiestas Patrias is an expression of Chilean culture. Festivities organized during these days include the Chilean rodeo, various street parties, the performance of the traditional dance the Cucea, visiting Fondas and Ramadas and barbecues. There is also a Catholic ceremony in the Plaza de Armas, led by the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile.

During the Fiestas Patrias, Chilean cuisine is very important. The favorite traditional Chilean drink during this festivity is the Chicha, a light alcoholic drink made from grapes, kind of like wine. In southern Chile, the preference is more for the apple Chicha. Chile's other national drink, Pisco is also very popular during these celebrations. This drink is also made from grapes but has a higher percentage of alcohol and tends more toward a brandy-like drink. Consuming traditional Chilean food is one of the most important activities during the Fiestas Patrias. Chileans prepare the food at home or in the so-called fondas, tents specially set up and decorated for this annual event. The predominant food is Chilean empanadas, which are baked from a type of bread. The filling consists of pino, a mixture of minced meat, onions, boiled eggs, raisins and olives. The barbecue is also very popular and as much as 50 million Dollars worth of meat is sold, during the Fiestas Patrias. The typical Chilean dessert not to be skipped is the Alfajor, the traditional cookie with a filling of caramelized milk.

No matter where you are in Chile during the independence celebrations, everywhere you will hear ¡Viva Chile! Going on vacation to Chile in September is highly recommended! Enjoy the spring-like weather, festivals, Chilean cuisine and of course the country itself.

Cuba is best known for its rum and cigars. Cuba is the number one country when it comes to cigar production. Rum and cigars are one of the island's main export products.

Cuban cigars

There are 180 million cigars produced in Cuba. Cigars have been produced in Cuba since the 15th century. The word cigar is derived from the Spanish verb turn "girar." Being one of the island's main exports, Cuban cigars are still very important to the Cuban economy today. There are 40 types of Cuban cigars and the most famous of them is Cohiba. Pinar del Río province is one of the most beautiful areas of the island and also the center of the Cuban tobacco industry. A cigar roller is called a "torcedor. A torcedor rolls an average of 120 cigars a day. While working, cigar rollers are allowed to smoke as many cigars as they want, are read to to combat boredom, and are allowed to take home two cigars each day.

Tobacco Plants

To make cigars, one needs tobacco plants. First, the tobacco plants are sown on a special bed where they must remain for 6 weeks. Then they are put in a field where they are given the opportunity to grow and after about 3 months the tobacco leaves have the right size and the leaves are picked. After these leaves are picked they are hung on long sticks for a period of about 7 weeks to dry. The final process is letting the leaves ferment in a dark room. Here, among other things, they are selected for color and packed per 25 leaves for the cigar factory. To this day, all work on the tobacco plantations is maintained manually, this is what makes Cuban cigars of good quality. It was a Cuban tradition to give cigars as business gifts. Only since the 1980s have cigars been available for sale to everyone.

Cuban rum

Columbus discovered Cuba. Already on his second voyage to the island, he brought sugar cane with him. The African slaves who were in Cuba had their own drink, "guarapo." When Columbus brought sugar cane to the island they started applying the same process to the sugar cane. This created the first Cuban rum. It wasn't until the 19th century that Cuban rum became a high-quality product.

There are three types of Cuban rum. The youngest type is the white rum, it is mostly used for making cocktails such as the mojito. The amber rum is about 3 years old and is usually drunk pure or used for exclusive cocktails. The oldest rum is the dark brown rum. This rum is as much as 7 years old and is almost always drunk pure or with a little ice, which ensures that the flavor is better released. The rum brand "Havana Club" is one of the most famous rum brands and dates back to 1878, the brand was nationalized in 1959.

Photo by artofmanliness.com

Argentine cuisine is known for being mostly meat-based. Residents of Argentina eat an average of 65 kg of meat per person per year. Besides the delicious cuts of meat, there is much more food and drink available in Argentine cuisine.

• The large group of immigrants has allowed Italian, Indian, French and Spanish cuisine to have a major influence on Argentine cuisine.
• Argentina is among the top five countries in the world with the largest wine production.
• In Argentina, eating is a social event; eating alone or on the road on a bus or train does not happen at all.

Argentine cuisine consists of influences from all over the world. Immigrants who came to Argentina have had a great influence on Argentine cuisine. Influences from Spain, Italy and France, among others, are well reflected in the cuisine. In addition to these influences, Argentina uses many local products such as beans, zucchini, corn, peppers, squash and sweet potato.

Meat dishes

Argentina is the country for meat lovers. Per year, residents eat an average of 65 kilograms of meat. This mainly involves beef. Argentine food is often prepared on a barbecue or grill. Eating in Argentina is quite a social happening. Eating alone is rare, and eating while on the train or bus is completely out of the question. On Sundays, the whole family often gathers and barbecues on a huge barbecue. Some typical Argentine dishes include asado (food prepared on a large barbecue), milbrillo (jam made from cultured pears, which are similar to hard apples) and locro (a hearty stew).

Breakfast in Argentina is only a light meal, often nothing more than toast with some jam or a croissant with coffee or tea. Lunch is more substantial and can vary greatly. Often lunch consists of a hearty sandwich or a hot meal. Breakfast and lunch take place at about the same time as dinner in the Netherlands. However, dinner does not take place before 9 pm. At dinner a good piece of meat is the basis of a dish. On the coast or in other fish-rich areas, fish tops the menu.

To bridge the long period between lunch and dinner, Argentines often eat minutas. These are small snacks or meals that can be made quickly. Some examples of minutas are coripan (hot dog), tostada (sandwich) and a chivito (a hearty sandwich topped with a juicy piece of meat).

Maté tea

Food in Argentina is often shared. If a pizza is ordered, it is eaten by all. Maté is also shared. Maté is the national drink. It is a kind of tea made from yerba (spicy leaves). To drink maté you need a special cup, yerba leaves, hot water and a bamboo straw. Yerba is put into the cup, the straw is inserted into it and then hot water is added. The creator of the drink tries the drink first and then people alternate between drinking and enjoying this national drink.

The Spanish Tortilla

It is not called "Tortilla Española" for nothing: the tortilla de patatas is one of Spain's showpieces. In every tapas bar in Spain, you will come across a tortilla de patatas as standard. This is a kind of large omelet made of egg and potatoes and often with onion. Your visit to Spain is not complete without having tried this cake! It is also fun and delicious to prepare it yourself!

Other Spanish dishes that are also highly recommended in the local tapas bars:

Patatas bravas

Typical Spanish tapa, not really something special but oh-so-tasty! Deep fried potatoes with spicy salsa.

Gambas a la plancha

Fried shrimp with garlic and parsley on a piece of baguette. Especially delicious on the coastal areas, these areas are known for their good fish! By the way, these areas are also a very good place to eat Paella, another one of Spain's specialties.

Calamares a la romana

Deep-fried squid rings. Even if you normally don't really like fish, these are often still found tasty!

Chorizo

Tasty piece of sausage, usually also well seasoned with spicy paprika.

Lomo

This is the most delicious piece of meat from a pig. Not comparable to other pork!

Boquerones en vinagre

Sprat in vinegar. You must have tried this once.

Albóndigas

Small meatballs in sauce. Not like the Dutch meatballs, but very tasty!

Croquetas de jamón

These Spanish croquettes are nothing like our Dutch croquette. They are small and usually made of cheese, ham, shrimp or stockfish.

In Spanish cuisine, it is normal to eat these dishes with a piece of baguette. You often get a tapa, or also called a pincho, for free with a drink. There are many more tasty dishes, which you get to try for yourself in Spain!

The Spanish Christmas Lottery (la Lotería de Navidad) is the most widely played chance game and every Spaniard dreams of being rich at the end of December. It is another trademark of Christmas traditions that one must live the excitement whether “El Gordo” (the biggest prize) will touch him this time.

The first contemporary lottery was created in 1812 in Cadiz to support the state revenue for public tax authority and in 1814 the first official drawing was held in Madrid which later has become the center and the day of 22^nd of December has been the official date for Christmas lottery, that is also acknowledged as the beginning of the holidays.  

The lottery tickets are official papers and counterfeiting is strongly prohibited. Each ticket is divided into series (195 series per number) and each series is divided into ten shares which is called decimos is at price of 20€. Since 2011 the number of series has been 100.000 started from 00000 to 99999. The biggest prize (the amount is 4.000.000€) is called el Gordo which literally means the fat one. It is not the biggest amount given considering the other lotteries though it is the most desired one among Spaniards even you should notice the phrase tocarle el gordo a alguien (to win el gordo) referring to get something you wish for with the help of luck. The winning numbers are chosen by randomly with two drums including boxwood balls on which the numbers are written with laser so as to keep the same weight. The first one contains 99.999 balls and the next drum is the prize drum that has all the 1807 balls determining the winners of the prizes. Since the beginning of the lottery, the students of San Ildefonso have the duty to sing out the winning numbers.

If you are staying in Spain during Christmas time, you should give a chance for el Gordo to touch you to start a prosperous year.  

Facts about the Spanish Christmas Lottery

It has been held every year without any cancellation not even during Civil War

The tickets are started to be sold in July

In 2002 the prizes are turned into Euro and the drawing took shorter 9 minutes less because it was not as long as the previous years when the prize was in pesetas.

The ticket ending with the number 1 is the unluckiest which has come out 8 times so far, the luckiest one is the number 5 coming 32 times.

When the rain and the first cold spells arrive, we feel like trying "comfort" recipes that can recharge our energy and fill our stomachs… and our spirits. Below, you'll find three of our favorite Spanish recipes, which can help you confront the rainy autumn and the cold winter. Keep on joining us on our blog - soon you will discover more traditional Spanish dishes of other Spanish regions.

Besugo al horno (Baked Sea Bream)

Ingredients

1 kilo sea bream, 4 potatoes, 1 green onion, 1 green pepper, 6 cloves of garlic, Spanish Olive oil, salt, chopped parsley, ½ guindilla pepper

Preparation
Cut 4 of the garlic cloves in slices, the green onion and the pepper in thin strips and the potatoes in thick slices. Cook it all in a pan on low heat. When it's almost done, transfer it to a cooking tray, covering the bottom surface. Put it in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes. Clean the bream, remove the head and the tail and save them. Separate the fillet meat, removing the spine. Salt as desired and place the bream fillet, with the skin side up, over the mattress of potatoes on the cooking tray. Also place the head and the tail here. Moisten with a little more oil and put the tray in the hot oven for 10 minutes. Serve in a serving dish with the skin side down. Chop the other two cloves of garlic into small cubes. Sauté them in a pan with oil and the guindilla pepper without the seeds (they're too spicy). Add some of the juice from the bream left in the cooking tray. Add the chopped parsley, mix well and pour the sauce of the fish.
Serve with the baked potatoes to one side and the fish with the skin side down.

Cocido madrileño (Madrilenian Stew)

Ingredients
250 g of garbanzo beans, 300 g of beef sirloin tip, ¼ chicken, 100 g of tocino entreverado (a type of bacon), 100 g of blood sausage, 100 g of chorizo sausage, 50 g of Serrano ham, 4 small beef marrow bones, 1 kg. of cabbage, 4 medium sized potatoes, 100 g of noodles for the soup, 2 carrots,  1 onion, 1 turnip, 1 clove of garlic, olive oil, salt

Preparation
Soak the garbanzo beans the night before in warm water and with a little bit of salt. In the morning, drain them. Place the meats, the tocino, the cleaned bones and the Serrano ham all in the pressure cooker and cover with water. Place it on the stove top and close it. When it starts to boil, the foam will rise to the surface. Remove the foam with a skimmer and add the garbanzos. When the water boils again, add the carrot, the onion and the turnip. Cook under pressure for 30 minutes to soften the garbanzos.
Open the cooker and add the potatoes (peeled and cut into pieces that aren't too small). Try it and salt to taste. Remove the vegetables and the garbanzos and put them to the side, leaving the broth to prepare the noodle soup. At the same time, in another cooking pot, cook the chopped cabbage for half an hour. Drain, and lightly fry with the garlic. Cook the chorizo sausage and the blood sausage in a separate pan so the color won't mix with the broth.

Presentation: Cocido Madrileño is eaten in three steps. First, the noodle soup is served (noodles must be cooked in the broth for 5 minutes). Then, the garbanzos are served in a serving dish with the vegetables: the lightly fried cabbage, the carrot, and the sliced turnip (about 2 centimeters). The onion is added to the broth to give it flavor, but then it's removed. In the third step, serve the meats cut into pieces, the chorizo and the blood sausage, the tocino and the bones pieces. The marrow spread over toast is delicious.

Patatas a la riojana (Rioja style potatoes)

Ingredients

6 potatoes, 3 chorizo sausages, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 2 bell peppers, 1 head of garlic, Water, olive oil, salt, 2 bay leaves, 1 guindilla pepper (optional)

Preparation
Place the chopped onion and green pepper in a pressure cooker along with a little oil. Add the entire head of garlic, the bay leaves and the guindilla pepper (this is optional, depending on if you want it spicy or not). Add the sliced chorizo and the potatoes which must be broken into pieces using a knife and your hands (this makes the broth thicker). Cover with water and add salt. Cook for 5 minutes beginning from the time the cooker is pressurized. Soak the bell peppers in warm water after removing the seeds. When they've rehydrated, scrape off, chop up and save the pulp. Open the pressure cooker, take out the head of garlic and the guindilla pepper (if you added it). Add the bell peppers, stir and cook for two more minutes (so the flavors mix). Salt to taste.

Spaniards don't technically celebrate Halloween, but as with most commercial American holidays, every year the Halloween atmosphere grows in Spain, and you can see shops decorated in orange and black as well as some people/kids dressed up in costumes.

But it is not normal, not yet at least. This year, I, being the American I am and determined to maintain some of my holiday cheer, invited some Spanish friends over to my apartment in Salamanca to carve some pumpkins. The first feat was to find pumpkins.

Oh, you may ask yourself: "What? They have no pumkins?"

Of course they have pumpkins! But most are not the carving variety but rather the eating variety. Little do us Americans know that most of those yummy cans of canned pumpkin actually contain the eating variety of pumpkin rather than the carving variety. There are many varieties and most are not round and plump like a traditional carving pumkins but rather long and and skinny.

So, I invited people to come over and carve pumpkins (for the first time in their lives) on the 24th of October, they accepted, now I needed to find some pumpkins. I went to my husband's parent's village and after asking around we found someone who had pumpkins in a storage unit for feeding livestock. BINGO! They were round, well, at least most of them. Not the most beautiful pumpkins I have ever seen, but they were round, orange, and totally carvable. I chose some and we were on our way.

Next feat: Tools and Halloween carving designs! Yes, if we were going to do this I wanted to do it well! Luckily with the help of Facebook and a generous friend, I was able to get my hands on several sets of tools and pumpkin stencils.

It was fun, we only had one cut hand (my husband) several complaints ("What! I have to keep scraping!? Aggh!!"), one cut off set of horns ("I can't believe that after all that work to cut out the horns I just cut them off by accident!!!"), and an overall good result. They all hung out for awhile taking photos and commenting that they were, indeed, much more good-looking when the lights were out and the candles were burning brightly inside.

The seeds are still drying in my house and I fully intend to bake them tonight and distribute them among the Spanish participants tomorrow. I hope we can repeat it next year!

Spaniards, during this time, celebrate All Saints day on the 1st of November. It is the most closely related holiday to Halloween and likely has similar origins. Read about All Saint's Day in Spain. In Mexico, a simliar holiday is celebrated: read about the Day of the Dead.