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Showing posts from October 30, 2015

Less Halloween, more Castanyada – Holidays in Barcelona

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Instead of chocolate and sweets, Barcelonian people cerebrate Halloween with something more special.  It´s still sweet and delicious, but maybe a bit healthier and a bit more farther from the Anglo-American habits. If you are in Barcelona and see people walking on the street eating something from a strange newspaper horn… that means the Castanyada had begun! What is Castanyada? Castanyada is a Catalan tradition at Halloween. It starts on the 1st of November and it means chestnut time. However Castanyada is only one day, it´s just the beginning of the chestnut period which lasts for the whole winter time. Apart from "castanyes" (roasted chestnuts) they also eat "moniatos" (sweet potatoes) and "panellets" (cakes), too and when they get thirsty they choose muscatel sweet wine. From November till February you can find chestnuts on almost every corner, where  “castanyers i castanyeres" roast them on charcoal grills. The sweat scent they