lia, for during that festival small earthenware figures used to
be for sale for the pleasure of children. Although the Spanish race is
a mixed one and various peoples have been in power from time to time,
at one period the country was, with the exception of Basque, entirely
Romanized. It is interesting to note the lingering influence of this
mighty Roman nation and find in this century that some of the main
features of the great Roman feast are retained in the great Christian
feast at Yule-tide.

Southern races were always firm believers in Fate. The Mohammedans
reverenced the Tree of Fate, but the Romans held sacred the _urn_
containing the messages of Fate. So the Spaniards cling to the urn,
from which at Christmas gatherings of friends it is the custom to draw
the names of the men and women whom Fate ordains shall be devoted
friends during the year,--the men performing all the duties of lovers.
This drawing of one's Fate for the coming year creates great
merriment and often no little disappointment. But Fate is inexorable
and what is to be must be, so the Spanish maiden accepts graciously
the one Fate thus assigns her.

After the midday breakfast on Christmas morning the people usually
seek out-of-door pleasures. Among many of the old families only blood
relations are expected to eat and drink together on this holy day.

Ordinarily the Spaniard "may find perfect entertainment in a crust of
bread and a bit of garlic" as the proverb claims, but at Yule-tide his
stomach demands many delicacies peculiar to the season. The _Puchero
Olla_, the national dish for dinner, must have a few extra ingredients
added on this occasion. The usual compound of chickens, capons, bacon,
mutton, beef, pig's feet, lard, garlic, and everything else the
larder affords, is quite insufficient to be boiled together on this
occasion. However, if one has no relatives to invite him to a feast,
it is an easy matter to secure a Christmas dinner on the streets,
where men are ready to cook for him over their _braseros_ of charcoal
and venders are near at hand to offer preserved fruits, the famous
almond rock, almond soup, truffled turkey, or the most desirable of
the season's delicacies,--sea-bream, which is brought from Cadiz
especially for Christmas use, and which is eaten at Christmas in
accordance with the old-time custom. Nuts of all kinds are abundant.
By the side of the streets, venders of chestnuts--the finest in the
world--lean against the