Christmas in Latin America: Spanish words and phrases

The shared vocabulary is small, and the differences are in the nouns: the same nativity scene is a pesebre here, a nacimiento in Mexico and a belén in Spain. Knowing which word a country uses is the quickest way to sound as if you have been there before.

Who brings the presents changes from country to country, so the question ¿qué te trajo? stays the same and only the name after it moves. It is a useful habit with Spanish across countries: keep the frame and swap the local word.

Plans use the present tense for the future, as in ¿hacemos un asado?, shall we have a barbecue? It is how Spanish speakers everywhere make arrangements, and it saves you a whole future tense until you need it.

Signs here are often written to usted, the polite you, as in encargue su pan de pascua, order your pan de pascua. Recognising the usted command ending helps you read any notice that tells you to do something.

On the night of 7 December, el Día de las Velitas, Colombians put candles and paper lanterns along windows, balconies and pavements. It is the eve of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December and it opens the Christmas season.

In Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay, Christmas falls in the summer holidays. Expect cold dishes, cider, ice cream and a midnight toast with fireworks rather than a roast by the fire. In Chile, cola de mono, a coffee and milk drink with spirits, is the Christmas drink.

At midnight on the 31st many families eat twelve grapes, a custom from Spain. Others wear yellow underwear for luck, and in Colombia and Ecuador some walk round the block with an empty suitcase to travel in the new year. In Ecuador a stuffed figure of the old year, el año viejo, is burned.