{"id":5085,"date":"2025-12-18T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T11:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2025-12-09T20:09:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T20:09:36","slug":"christmas-in-the-basque-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/christmas-in-the-basque-country\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTMAS IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christmas means many things in the Basque Country: family, celebration, and for some, religion. But it is also about culture, tradition and identity\u2014especially for those who choose to spend these days away from home. The connection between Christmas and each place\u2019s customs is undeniable, and we would love to share a few traditions that show how we celebrate it here in the Basque Country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Santo Tom\u00e1s Market (December 21):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This festive day dates back to the Middle Ages, when farmers and shepherds gathered to give thanks for the harvest and celebrate the end of the agricultural cycle. Today people dress in rural Basque attire and head to the Old Town to enjoy the typical regional products sold at the market. The stars of the celebration are the traditional <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">talo<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> flatbreads made for Santo Tom\u00e1s Day and Basque cider.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Olentzero\u2019s Descent (December 22\u201324):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Olentzero is a character from Basque mythology: a charcoal-burner who brings gifts to children on the night of December 24. From December 22 onwards, some neighbourhoods celebrate the descent of Olentzero and Mari Domingi (another character who helps him during this season). It is a heartfelt and emotional celebration, particularly for families. The official city-wide descent takes place on the 24th at 12:00 noon along the Urumea River.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Nativity Scene in Gipuzkoa Square:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> First displayed in the 1950s, it has become a true Donostia tradition. The nativity scene features nearly 150 figures, each about one metre tall. Through them, Christmas scenes are portrayed in a unique way throughout the square\u2019s gardens. Until January 6 you\u2019ll find everything here: the Three Wise Men, the Nativity, the angel, the baker, the market, the Flight into Egypt\u2026 and even Olentzero.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From <\/span><b>Hotel Parma<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we invite you to stay with us\u2014close to everything happening in our neighbourhood. Come and discover our essence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Image: Usoz, El Diario Vasco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas means many things in the Basque Country: family, celebration, and for some, religion. But it is also about culture, tradition and identity\u2014especially for those who choose to spend these days away from home. The connection between Christmas and each place\u2019s customs is undeniable, and we would love to share a few traditions that show [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-categories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5105,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions\/5105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotelparma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}