Halloween is here once again, but even though this Anglo-Saxon tradition is gaining adherents every day in Spain, a different kind of tradition takes place here which is also celebrated and eagerly anticipated: the old Catholic feast of ‘All Saints Day’. On this day, people pay tribute to their deceased relatives, visit their graveyards, offer them flowers and clean their graves.
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We also have the tradition of gathering with family and friends, preparing ‘castanyes’ (roast chestnuts), ‘moniatos’ (roast sweet potatoes) and ‘panellets’ (small marzipan cookies made from almonds and covered in pine nuts). This festival is known in Catalonia as 'La Castanyada' and it is said to be linked to the old bell ringers’ tradition of spending ‘All Saints Day' ringing the bells of the parish churches and convents, all day nonstop, to remind people to pray for the dead. As ringing the bells throughout the day was very tiring, relatives and friends of the bell ringers brought them high energy foods, such as chestnuts, which were the seasonal fruit, and panellets, accompanied by dessert wine. Although there is no specific information concerning the origin of panellets, it is thought that they could have been introduced by the Arabs, from the time of the Arabic domination, when Spain was known as Al-Andalus. |
