Spain is taken from the Times of 26th of December, 1876

then the shops are all and streamers; with sausages; and red and petticoats, and cymbals, The chief sweetmeats

When Christmas Eve comes the two days' holyday commences; at 12 the labourers knock off work, repair home, and dress in their best; ablaze with lights, ribands, tempting fare of sweets and yellow serge to make warm drums, and zambombas. peculiar to Christmas, and bought alike by rich and poor (for Spain is the land of luscious sweetmeats), are the various kinds of preserved fruits, incrusted in sugar, and the famous turron. This last, which is of four kinds, and may be called in English phraseology "almond rock," is brought to your door, and buy it you must. A coarse kind is sold to the poor at a cheap rate. Other comestibles peculiar to Christmas, or, as here called, "the pascua," are the sopa de almendras, or almond soup, the pavo trufado, or truffled turkey, the roasted chestnuts, and nuts of every sort, and, if in Madrid, the stranger will wonder to see the Plaza Mayor thronged with people of all ranks, buying vesugo, or sea bream, which is sent in large quantities from Cadiz, &c., for the day. This is one of the few old customs still lingering in modernized, unspaniardized, Frenchified Madrid. These old customs of Christmas, Easter, and All Saints, are dying out in Madrid; but in such towns

as Valencia, at Easter, every family still makes and eats its cake, piled up with eggs and fruits, called there the mona, and in Malaga, hornazo, a piece of which is always sent to the cura of the parish.

Before the Noche-Vuena, or Christmas Eve, however, one or two good deeds have been done by the civil and military authorities. On the 23rd or 24th the custom is for the military governor to visit all the soldier prisoners, in company with their respective defensores or advocates, and, de officio, there and then, he liberates all who are only in gaol for light offences. This plan is also pursued in the civil prisons; and thus a beautiful custom is kept up in classic, romantic, Old World Spain, and a ray of hope enters into and illuminates even the bitter darkness of a Spanish prisoner's den.

It is Christmas Eve. The poor man has his relations round him, over his humble pucherro; the rich man likewise. Friends have not come, "for it is not the custom;" in Spain only blood relations eat and drink in the house as invited guests. Families meet as in England. Ten per cent. of the soldiers get a fortnight's leave of absence and a free pass, and there is joy in peasant homes over peasant charcoal pans. The dusky shades of evening are stealing over olive grove and withering vineyard; and every house lights up its tiny oil lamp; and every image of the Virgin is illuminated with a taper; in Northern Andalusia you hear the zambomba, a flower-pot perforated by a hollow reed

which, wetted and rubbed with the fingers, gives out a hollow, scraping, monotonous sound; in Southern Andalusia the pandereta, or tambourine, is the only instrument; it is wreathed with gaudy ribands and decked with bells, and beaten, shaken, and tossed in the air with graceful abandon to the strains of the Christmas Hymn :

66 Esta noche es noche buèna

"Y no es la noche de dormir,"

¿.e., "This night is the good night, and therefore is no night for rest;" or, perhaps, the church chant is sung, called

"Nacio el nino de Dios,"

i.e., "The Child of God was born." Then, also, men click the castaneta, or castanets, in wine-shop and cottage; and in such Old World towns as Ecija, near Cordova, where no railway has penetrated, the "Messeria," a breast-plate of eccentrically-strung bones, slung round the neck and played with sticks, is still seen and heard. From every house is heard the strain of music; every church is lit up ; every wineshop is full; every street smokes with chestnut stalls; every girl wears a gaudy red or yellow dress, for "the Child of God is born."

The turkeys have been slaughtered and are stewing on the fire; the night is drawing on, and now the meal is over. Twelve o'clock strikes, and, in one moment, every bell from every belfry clangs out its summons.

Poltroon were he who had gone to bed before 12 on Noche Buena. From every house the inmates hurry to the gaily lit church, and throng its aisles, a darkrobed crowd of worshippers. The organ peals out, the priests and choir chaunt, at this midnight hour, the Christmas chaunt; and, at last (in some out-of-way towns) the priests, in gaudiest robes, bring out from under the altar and expose aloft to the crowds in swathing bands of gold and white the Babe newborn, and all fall down and cross themselves in mute adoration. This service is universal, and is called the Misa del Gallo, or Cock-crow service; and even in Madrid it is customary to attend it; there are three Misas also on Christmas-day, and the church rule, strictly observed, is, that, if a man fail to attend this midnight Misa he must, to save his religion, attend all three on Christmas-day. In antique towns like Ecija, there are ten days' early service (called Misa de Luz) anterior to the Misa del Gallo, at 4 a.m., and in the raw morning the churches are thronged with rich and poor. In that strange unvisited town, also, the chief dame goes to the midnight Misa, all her manservants in procession. before her, each playing a different instrument.

Christmas eve is over. It is 1.30 a.m. on Christmas morning, and the crowds-orderly, decent, cheerful— are wending their ways home. Then all is hushed; all have sought repose; there are no drunken riots; the dark streets are lit by the tiny oil lamps; the

watchman's monotonous cry alone is heard:-" Ave Maria purissima; las dos; y sereno." On Christmas Day itself there are three Misas at the churches, all of joyous chaunting; then the poor come in to pay their rent of turkeys, pigs, olives, or what not, to their landlord, and he gives them a Christmas-box, such as a torta, or pie of salt fish, or money, or what may be. Then, when you enter your house, you will find on your table, with the heading "Felicitan al usted la Pascua,-i.e., "A Happy Christmas," a host of little leaflets printed, with verses. These are the petitions of the postman, scavenger, telegraph man, newsboy, &c., asking you for a Christmas-box; poor fellows, they get little enough, and a couple of francs is wellbestowed on them once a year. After mid-day breakfast or luncheon is over, rich and poor walk out and take the air, and a gaudy, joyous crowd they are, as a rule.

As regards presents at Christmas, the rule is, in primitive Spain, to send a present to the cura and the doctor. Many Spaniards pay a fixed sum to their medical man, and he attends all, including servants. His salary is sent to him at Christmas, with the addition of a turkey or a cake or some fine sweetmeats.

ST. STEPHEN'S DAY.

The 26th of December has been set apart to commemorate the death of St. Stephen, the first