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My cousins in Spain are devout Catholics.  I had long known this was the case, but it wasn’t until I went to visit them near Madrid one Christmas that I realized just how central their religion was to their lives.

Their home was fully done up in the spirit of the Christmas season.  I don’t mean in the commercial sense like Christians celebrate in the United States either.  No tinsel and the like.  Rather they had tasteful celebrations of the season.  Their meals for the week were served on beautiful dinnerware sets decorated with tasteful images of the nativity scene. It wasn’t garish, I wish I’d taken a picture, but it looked something like this image.

Not only did they serve on a beautiful Christmas themed dinnerware set, but they also followed certain dietary guidelines closely.  We had a fish dinner on Friday for example, something I haven’t seen done for many years.

Midnight mass on Christmas was also spectacular.  They attend a very traditional church, which is a lot different to what we are used to in the US. It was a very solemn affair with lots of ritual and ceremony.  At churches I have visited back home with my brother-in-law it sometimes feels like a party when we go to holiday services, so it was quite a shock to the system.

Don’t misunderstand me thought, it was very enjoyable.  And once service was over there was plenty of joy and happiness and fellowship amongst the congregation.  I actually found their service was quite touching, and may suggest to my Rabbi that some of the Catholic traditions are very pleasant.

They also follow a neat practice which is called the ‘Urn of Fate’.  Names are picked at random from a bowl and those people are supposed to be friends for the next year.  I don’t know how well this works in practice, but it seemed like a nice concept to me.

Overall my experience with a traditional European Catholic Christmas was very positive.  While I won’t be changing my religion any time soon, I may try to find me one of those beautiful dinnerware sets my cousins own for my Christian brother in law.  I think it would make a great talking point at his next holiday party.