Doctors, ministers, and landlords receive their yearly gifts of
turkeys, cakes, and produce from their dependents, but the love of
presenting dainty Christmas gifts has not reached the land of the
three C's--the Cid, Cervantes, and Columbus.

[Illustration: CHRISTMAS FESTIVITY IN SEVILLE.]

Do you know what you would probably do if you were a dark-cheeked
Spanish lad named Miguel, or a bright-eyed, light-hearted Spanish
maiden named Dolores?

If you were Miguel you would don your black jacket and brown trousers,
knot your gayest kerchief around your neck, and with your guitar in
hand you would hasten forth to enjoy the fun that prevails in every
street of every town in Spain on Christmas Eve, or, as it is known
there, the _Noche-buena._

If you were pretty Dolores you would surely wear your red or yellow
skirt, or else of striped red and yellow, your best embroidered velvet
jacket,--handed down from mother to daughter, and a wonderful sample
of the handiwork that once made the country famous,--your numerous
necklaces and other ornaments. You would carefully braid your heavy
dark tresses and bedeck your shapely head with bright flowers, then
with your _panderetta_ or tambourine in hand, you too would join the
merry throng that fill the air with mirthful songs and music on
_Noche-buena_; for remember,

"This is the eve of Christmas,
No sleep from now till morn."