indiscriminately termed _Siexes_, appear before the altar clad in the
costume of Seventeenth-Century pages, and reverently and with great
earnestness sing and dance an old-time minuet, with castanet
accompaniment, of course. The opening song is in honor of the Virgin,
beginning:

"Hail, O Virgin, most pure and beautiful."

Among the ancients dancing was a part of religious services, but it is
now seldom seen in churches. This Christmas dance, given in a
beautiful cathedral just at the close of day, is a very impressive
ceremony and forms a fitting close to the Spanish Christmas, which is
so largely made up of customs peculiar to ancient and modern races.

In every part of Spain song and dance form an important part of the
festivities of Yule-tide, which lasts two weeks, although the laboring
class observe but two days of pleasure. At the palace the King holds a
reception on New Year's, not for the public generally, but for the
diplomats and grandees.

The higher circles of society observe New Year as a time of exchanging
calls and visiting, feasting and merrymaking. At the banquets of the
wealthy every possible delicacy in the way of food is temptingly
displayed, and great elegance in dress indulged in by the ladies, who
wear their finest gowns and adorn themselves in priceless jewels and
rare laces. But there is so much etiquette to be observed among this
class of Spaniards that one looks for the real enjoyment of the season
among the common classes.

In some parts of Spain bull-fights are given as late as December, but