Christmas is a very important celebration in all Spanish-speaking countries. In this lesson, we will review some of the essential Christmas vocabulary in Spanish.
One of the most endearing traditions for Christmas in the Hispanic world is the installation of nativity scenes at home or in public places. They are called belenes or nacimientos:
Lo más tradicional
The most traditional [thing]
además del turrón, el champán y los Reyes Magos,
besides nougat candy, champagne and the Three Wise Men,
es montar el belén en casa.
is to put up a Nativity scene at home.
Captions 2-4, Europa Abierta - Joaquín Pérez - Escultor de belenes
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Another important tradition are villancicos which are the Spanish equivalent of Christmas carols. Lida and Cleer sing for us one of the most popular villancicos, El burrito de Belén (The Little Donkey from Bethlehem) also known as "El burrito sabanero" (The Little Donkey from the Savannah):
Con mi burrito sabanero voy camino de Belén
With my little savanna donkey I'm heading to Bethlehem
Caption 42, Lida y Cleer - Buñuelos
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You may want to learn a few villancicos if you happen to be in a Spanish speaking country around Christmas. Just in case you get invited to a Posada. The word posada means "lodging" or "accommodation." traditionally, posadas are neighborhood celebrations held during the nine days preceding Christmas. They have a religious nature and involve participating in a communal re-enactment of the arrival of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem who, according to legend, had to go door-by-door pidiendo posada (asking for a place to stay). These celebrations also involve praying, sharing food, and breaking a piñata in the shape of a Christmas star. By extension, the word posada also means "Christmas party" in many Latin American countries. For example, you can get invited to la posada de la oficina (the office Christmas party) or la posada del club de ajedrez (the chess club Christmas party).
Another important word for the Holidays is the word aguinaldo ("thirteen salary" or "Christmas bonus"):
¿Y... le han dado todos sus reglamentos de vacaciones,
And... have they given you all your statutory vacations,
aguinaldo, todo eso?
annual complementary salary, all that?
Caption 21, Doña Coco - La Vida De Una Cocinera
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Día de Reyes or día de los Reyes Magos (day of the three Wise Men) is another popular Christmas celebration in many Spanish-speaking countries. Sometimes people just call it Reyes (Kings). In Mexico this day marks the end of the so-called Guadalupe-Reyes marathon of winter festivities.
Y en los Reyes, va a venir aquí con tus niños.
And at Epiphany, she is going to come here with your children.
Caption 49, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa
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Finally, there's an important distinction to make. The Spanish word for Christmas is Navidad, while the equivalent of Christmas eve is called Nochebuena (Literally, "the Good Night").
Ha pasado otra Nochebuena solo, encerrado. -No, no.
You have spent another Christmas Eve alone, locked inside. -No, no.
Captions 23-24, Muñeca Brava - 30 Revelaciones
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Nochebuena is also one of the names given to the poinsettias flower, which is indigenous to Mexico and it's widely used in Christmas floral displays all around the world.
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Pues, no tan bien que se diga, pero más o menos me defiende un poco.
Well, not so good exactly but it more or less helps me a bit.
Caption 9, Doña Coco - La Vida De Una Cocinera
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Doña Coco is not earning enough money que se diga, which literally translates to something like "it might be said." However, que se diga (commonly expressed as que digamos) is in fact a colloquial expression which has approximately the same meaning as precisamente ("precisely" or "exactly"), and is often used to mitigate negative statements, as we see here.
No me siento muy bien que se diga.
I don't exactly feel good.
El pollo no está muy rico que digamos.
The chicken isn't exactly very tasty.
Note that if we add "ni" we get the expression "ni que se diga," which is the Spanish equivalent to "Let's not even go there."
Los alumnos de cuarto grado son ruidosos. Los de quinto, ni que se diga!
The fourth grade students are noisy. As for the fifth graders, let's not even go there!
Desempeñar is an interesting verb brought to us courtesy of our Nicaraguan friends Leonido and Doña Coco. It basically means "to do" but goes a little further than that.
¿Qué trabajo desempeña aquí?
What work do you carry out here?
-Eh... trabajo de cocinera.
-Eh... I work as a cook.
Captions 1-2, Doña Coco - La Vida De Una Cocinera
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Desempeñar implies a time progression, a job or role that is being done or carried out. "Desempeñarse como secretaria" would be "To hold a secretary position," and "Miguel desempeña un papel importante en el proyecto" is "Miguel plays an important part in the project."
Further, the word desempeñar points to obligations and responsibilities related to the role or job being accomplished. After all, desempeño is translated as "performance" and when you’re doing something con empeño (with diligence / with earnestness), it means that you’re putting great care and heart into it.
But beware! These words are used in another sense as well: Empeñar is "to pawn" which makes desempeñar the action of going to the pawnshop and getting back all your jewelry (to redeem it).
As a sidenote Yabla Spanish subscribers should go back and check out caption 4 of the song El Apostador by the band Control Machete:
Casa voy a empeñar
House I'm going to pawn
Amarro mi vida a una moneda que gira en el aire
I tie my life to a coin that spins in the air
Captions 4-5, Control Machete - El Apostador
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