When we first moved to Spain 12 years ago, Halloween passed by without us seeing a witch, ghost or monster or having “trick or treat” ers at our doorstep.

However in the last few years its popularity has gained momentum.

This is probably due to the growth in foreign residents in Manilva (40% of Manilva’s population are from a different country) and the influence of American and British television, but also because the Spanish love any excuse for a party!

This year has been the best Halloween in Spain yet.  When we heard that Manilva Town Hall Foreigners department were organising a Halloween party at Duquesa Castle (El Castillo de la Duquesa), we decided to invite some English and Spanish friends to meet at the Halloween Party at the castle and then when it got dark walk back to our house “trick or treat” ing on the way.

The headless horseman of La Duquesa!

When we arrived at the castle in La Duquesa I couldn’t believe my eyes at how many people had made the effort and dressed up.  The castle was full up with hundreds of witches, ghouls and monsters wandering around scaring each other.

Halloween monsters with the Mayoress of Manilva, Antonia Muñoz and councillors for the Foreign Residents Department,  Deigo Urieta and Valentina Radu

When the party was over and it was dark we made our way back home stopping at the urbanisations next to La Duquesa Golf Course on the way to “trick or treat”.

We knocked on the first few doors at Jardines del Golf and didn’t get a response.  The kids were starting to get a bit disappointed but luckily the next house we called at there was someone there and they gave them some sweets to share.  This was the boost they needed and they excitedly moved on to the next houses hoping that someone would answer.  Of about 50 houses in Jardines del Golf only 3 answered but the ones that did were generous.

High on sweets and adrenalin we decided to move on to the next urbanisation, Villas del Golf, to see what response we would get there.

Thankfully the residents of Villas del Golf were very welcoming and generous and weren’t overwhelmed by the sight of lots of little monsters at their doorstep.  The icing on the cake was the lovely couple at Villas del Golf who had hoped we would come as we had “trick or treated” there last year.  They had decorated their house with bats and pumpkins and had gone to the trouble of making 12 orange pouches full of sweets to give to each child.  The only problem was there was only 6 kids last year and this year the number had grown to 20 kids!  But that didn’t matter, they went in and got more sweets so that no child was left out.  My Spanish friends were amazed at their thoughtfulness and generosity and commented on how civilised the process was with them handing each child some sweets one by one.  She said the Spanish would just chuck the sweets out of a window for the kids to grab as many as they can – like they do at 3 kings.

Content with the amount of sweets collected we finished the evening off back at my house which we had had fun decorating as a haunted house earlier that day.  The kids ran off the rest of the sweet fuelled energy playing games in the garden.  After pizza and pumpkin ice-cream cake courtesy of Mercadona everyone left happy (including my kids to sleepovers) and I was left happy that a good time had been had by all.

There will be a Christmas Charity flea market  at  the Municipal Hall (next to Lidl) on Saturday 15th December from 12.00 to 19.00.

It is to raise money for AFIMA (Asociación de Fibromialgia de Manilva) who the town hall supports because they do some great social work within Manilva’s community and encourage the integration of all foreign residents of the municipality to participate in the activities that are organised.

Activities at the market will include sessions of yoga, sessions of Reiki, talks about Fibromyalgia, Santa Claus, Christmas sweets, decorations, etc. There will also be music, bouncy castles, face painting,  a postcard competition for the children and story telling.

The excitment is building for the the children in Spain and their letters to the 3 Kings will be written and sent over the next few days.

The 3 Kings tradition or Los Tres Reyes, is based around the 3 Wise Men who followed the star to the new King of Kings, baby Jesus and brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The children choose their favourite King to send their letter to, Melchor, Gaspar or Baltsar and  like the UK tradition, it is said that naughty children will only recieve a piece of coal! Somewhat like the UK tradition of Father Christmas, the children will be making sure they have been good boys and girls and will have written their wish list of gifts. The Kings will deliver the gifts on the night of the 5th January when the each child leaves some food for the Kings and a drink for the camels and a shoe by the door where their gifts will be left. The day of celebration will be the 6th of January which is a bank Holiday here in Spain, and families will gather together for a meal of celebration.

One of the highlights of this celebration is the calvacade of the 3 Kings on the evening of the 5th January. In towns throughout Spain the children will take to the streets to have sweets thrown for them by the 3 Kings.  This spectacle usually consists of 3 floats, each one carrying a King and his entourage; around the floats will be musicians and dancers and, as the cavalcade winds throughout the the streets the madness ensues with tons of sweets being thrown at the children (and adults) to collect.

The cavalcade for the Duquesa area usually starts in Castillo at approximately 5.30 pm, before moving to Sabinillas and ending the journey in Manilva town at about 8.30 pm.

Remember to take a bag for all the sweets you will collect!!

Happy Kings!!

The festive period will be celebrated  in Manilva again this year and the timetable of events has just been released.

There will a Christmas market held in Manilva town, beginning today at 5.30p.m and continuing through to Christmas Eve.

Also today at 6p.m there will be a choir concert in the church in Sabinillas.

On Friday 23rd  from 6p.m and continuing through the evening there will be all kinds of celebrations happening in Calle Mar in Manilva, including a living Nativity and Christmas Carol concert. The Manilva Town Band will performing in the Iglesia de Santa Ana church, Manilva from 8 pm.

Last but not least there will be a street party in Calle Mar in Manilva from midday until 3p.m on Christmas Eve.

Enjoy your local Christmas celebrations in Manilva and Sabinillas!!

I can’t believe a whole year has passed since I last blogged about the Christmas Fair in Monte Duquesa and here we are again!

The fair will be held on Friday the 16th December from 5p.m, in the same location of Monte Duquesa.

Monte Duquesa is located on the Duquesa Hillside, just 5 minutes walk from Duquesa Marina and is a lovely square of restaurants, bars and shops.

On Friday there will be mulled wine, mince pies and craft stalls and to really kick start the festive season carol singers will be entertaining the crowds.

Barrington Homes have many beautiful apartments in and around the Monte Duquqes area, including Duquesa Suites , Los Castillos and Las Brisas

I am sure that the local businesses had a collective sigh of relief when the Manilva townhall made recent announcements about the very popular Sunday market in Sabinillas

A few years ago the Sabinillas Sunday market was held on the Paseo in the town and was a hub of activity and a great source of income for the local bars and restaurants. It was then moved to the fairground area and was a great loss for these local businesses and the town of Sabinillas.
As of yesterday, Sunday 4th December and for a trial period up until May 27th 2012, 50 stalls will be relocated to the Sabinillas Paseo, in front of the La Noria development and the remaining stalls will retain their position at the Fairground. The sun was shining yesterday and I hope that the move was a huge success for all involved.

Barrington Homes and holidays have properties in La Noria for sale and rent.