The second Christmas

On December 26, when the whole of Spain has celebrated Catholic Christmas and everyone goes to work, Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia are still off. They settled down well thanks to St. Stephen, the first martyr in the history of Christianity who shed blood for Christ, for preaching Christianity in Jerusalem around 33-36 A.D. In Orthodoxy we commemorate him on December 27, in Catholicism – on the 26th. He is revered in many countries, but in Spain especially in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Why is that?

In the 9th century, Catalonia was under the empire of Charlemagne, so it depended on the bishopric of Narbonne. The rest of the peninsula was Christian and dependent on the bishopric of Toledo. The main difference between them was that for the Carolingians, the concept of family was so important that during big holidays, all family members, no matter how many of them there were, had to gather at the ancestral home. Accordingly, when there was no transport other than carts, it took a long time to get home after the festivities in their cities, so the day after Christmas became a day off, thus remains to this day. Unlike all other holidays, this day is purely family time.

Gastronomically St. Stephen's Day (Sant Esteve in Catalan, Dia de San Esteban in Spanish) does not stand out much. On December 26, canelones (the same as Italian cannelloni) are served on the table with the remains of minced meat from the Escudella Christmas soup (also a Catalan dish and one of the first known soups in Europe in general). And also for dessert there will be neulas - waffle tubes with Catalan custard, sweet as an extra day off in the year.