he grace of a sylph, one
slippered foot just touching the floor, then click, click, sound the
castanets, as they have sounded for upwards of two thousand years and
are likely to do for two thousand more, for their inspiriting click
seems necessary to move Spanish feet and give grace to the uplifted
arms. At first she may favor you with the energetic _fandango_, or the
butterfly-like _bolero_, but on Christmas Eve the _Jota_ is the
universal favorite. It is danced and sung to music which has been
brought down to the present time unwritten, and which was passed from
mouth to mouth through many generations. Translated the words read:

"Of Jesus the Nativity is celebrated everywhere,
Everywhere reigns contentment, everywhere reigns pleasure,"

the audience joining in the refrain:

"Long live merrymaking, for this is a day of rejoicing,
And may the perfume of pleasure sweeten our existence."

It will probably be late into the morning before the singing,
dancing, thought-less crowd turns homeward to rest, and although it is
certainly a crowd intoxicated with pleasure, it is never in that
condition from liquor.

There are three masses on Christmas Day, and all devout Catholics
attend one of them at least, if not all. In some places Nativity plays
are given on Christmas Eve or else on Christmas Day. They are long
performances, but never tedious to the audiences, because the scenes
appeal to them with the force of absolute realism. On Christmas
morning the postmen, telegraph boys, and employees of various
vocations, present to their employers and others little leaflets
containing a verse appropriate to the day, or the single sentence "A
Happy Christmas," expecting to receive in return a Christmas box
filled with goodies of some kind.

While Spanish children do not have the Christmas tree to gather
around they do have the pretty _Nacimiento_, made of plaster and
representing the place of Christ's nativity, with the manger, tiny men
and women, trees, and animals, such as are supposed to have existed at
the time and place of the Nativity.

The _Nacimiento_ (meaning being born) is lighted with candles, and
little folks dance gayly around it to the music of tambourines and
their own sweet voices, joyously singing one of the pretty Nativity
songs. Groups of children go about the streets singing these songs of
which there are many.

In this pleasing custom of the _Nacimiento_ one sees a vestige of the
Saturna