#or maybe it's just the language and culture i'm most fluent in besides my own. who can know

[guillemelgat]

GUILLEMELGAT’S CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD | Catalunya (Catalonia)

A stall at Santa Llúcia’s Fair in Barcelona (source). The Fira de Santa Llúcia is a Christmas fair set up around the Barcelona Cathedral, starting in late November and ending right before Christmas. Vendors sell Christmas decorations of all kinds, as well as other crafts. The oldest reference to the fair is almost 300 years ago, making it a very long-running tradition.

A traditional Nativity scene at a shop in San Cugat (source). Like many of the other Christmas traditions we’ll look at, Catalans enjoy making large and detailed Nativity dioramas, often taking up entire displays in shop windows or in homes. It’s also common to go around and look at neighbors’ scenes, especially with all the hidden figures in each!

The traditional caganer figurine (source). One of the most (in)famous figures in the Catalan Nativity scene, the caganer (’pooper’) is traditionally tucked away in a corner for viewers to try to find. Traditional caganers are made to look like a Catalan peasant man, in farmer’s clothes and a red barretina hat. In recent years, however, caganers of public figures such as politicians or celebrities have become very popular as well.

A plate of Christmas stew (source). The traditional first dish of the Christmas meal in Catalonia is escudella de Nadal, a hearty soup made of large shell pasta (galets) with a meatball filling.

The Sybil’s Chant being performed in Mallorca (source). Sung at the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, this haunting Gregorian Chant was traditionally performed all across Southern Europe before being pushed away by the Church in the 16th century. The tradition only remained in Mallorca and Alguer (Sardinia), and in the late 20th century it began to be revived in Catalonia and the Valencian Country as well. Historically a young boy performed as the sybil, dressed in luxurious clothes and carrying a sword in front of them; now, it is also performed by girls as well as adults (the singer Maria del Mar Bonet in particular is known for her version).

A stall selling Christmas logs (source). A key part of Catalan Christmas celebrations is the Tió de Nadal, a log which is usually decorated with a cartoonish painted face, two legs to prop it up, and a barretina hat. The log is brought out in early December, and children feed it every day and cover it with a blanket to keep it warm. Then, on Christmas, all the children in the house take turns hitting the tió with sticks while singing a song to make it “shit” presents. Typically, these are sweets to be shared or other small gifts; larger presents are given on Three Kings’ Day.

A plate of neules, traditional Catalan Christmas cookies (source). After Christmas dinner, one of the traditional desserts in Catalonia are neules, thin, rolled-up wafer cookies, usually eaten dipped in cava (Catalan sparkling wine). The other common dessert is a type of nougat-based sweet called torró.

The St. Stephen’s Day concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana (source). The Orfeó Català, resident choir at the Palau de la Música Catalana, hosts a concert every year on the day after Christmas. The music selection typically includes tradtional Christmas carols, classical pieces, and new works for the occasion. It usually fills the entire concert hall, and is also broadcast on public television.

A plate of canelons, typically eaten on St. Stephen’s Day (source). The day after Christmas, the traditional meal is canelons, made from meat or fish rolled in sheets of pasta and covered with cheese. The filling is usually leftovers from Christmas dinner, and the tradition arose as a way to make use of them.

[lazy-sixteen]

Hiii it's me again, the one who asked about your HDM au, i just wanna ask a few questions. first ever since i read your AU, i immediately fell in love with the concept of DCST characters having Daemons, and was also the sole reason i gave the HBO series a watch (season 1 was great! Season 2 was pretty good) and is now a fan of the show, thanks to you!

Second, because i love the concept so much, I can't help but make my own version of it! But one problem, i have never ever wrote a fic before, im thinking of doing a simple oneshot first, but like i said, i have never wrote a story (at least in English) besides for school work. So where do i start? What should be my priorities? Will people really read this? Does it even HAVE to be a fic? First POV or Character POV? Or third party POV?

I have an idea in mind, where the setting is, the characters that are gonna interact, etc, I'm just really clueless on starting it. Can you help? Like maybe showing the thought process you went through writing the AU? Sorry if I ask to much, first time asking advice on something i normally don't do hehe

Hello again!!

I'm so glad you got into the whole his Dark Materials Universe (i still haven't seen the HBO series bc I promised someone I'd watch with them and we still havent gotten around to it, rip)!!

Second (and I'll preface this by saying, i write as a hobby, I'm def not an authority in the field), I think it's an awesome idea to try writing a fic and/or creating your own au!!

For me, the easiest way to start creating is to focus on what part I like the most. So like for the DCST au, it was thinking about what characters got what daemons and how the universe would change if crossed over with HDM. Or it's a fic with a plot, what scene came to me first. I feel like the hardest part of writing is starting, so it's best to just start with whatever idea is most vivid.

I have a bit of a weird writing process, in that I spend a lot of time just kinda daydreaming about my AUs, then I'll usually write down some very rough notes on them (like for this au, what daemons people had and how the culture would change, or for a fic with an original plot some scenes I want to include), and then I jump straight into writing a rough-draft that's pretty close to the final version.

I know a lot of people like writing kinda of a bullet point list of what scenes and plots they like -> rough draft -> edits -> final version.

Also, I think the priority when creating fan content is just do what makes you happy! Like fandoms have trends, so a fic might get more hits/kudos if it's the fandoms's OTP instead of a rarepair and most people like 3rd person POV best, etc but I always get the most enjoyment from people interacting with the fics that I enjoyed writing the most, even if they aren't as popular (aka all my DCST fics, lol).

So I'd say write whatever type of fic you want! Or don't, and just do some world-building of who has what daemons! Whether your content gets super popular or just a few people read it is kinda just luck of the draw, so don't stress about it.

Also just wanted to add that your English reads as really natural and fluent to me! (sorry I don't have any advice for writing in a second language, I'm a mere monolingual)

Thanks so much for asking, and hope I was able to help some! I for one really look forward to seeing anything you'll create (feel free to drop a link my inbox to whatever you make if you want)!