While ghosts and carved pumpkins dominate somewhere else in the world, on October 31st/ November 1st Catalonia, and especially Barcelona, celebrates one of the region’s most characteristic All Saints’ Day traditions: “la Castanyada”. The chestnut – fall’s classic symbol – plays the leading role in this festival and Catalonia enjoys its most traditional and seasonal dishes: roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes, sweet (aged) wine and panellets , which are pictured below.



Panellets (Catalan for little breads , just wonderful for the waistline) are sweets a bit smaller than a golf ball and made out of ground almonds , sugar, and eggs. Pictured topping: pine nuts, which can be substituted for chopped almonds, shredded chocolate, shredded coconut, there are no limits set! They are supposedly a leftover from the days when offerings were placed in the graves with the dead, according to the net.
Globalization has brought a Halloween touch to Spain, but it is mostly limited to costume parties in clubs for young adults. If you happen to be in Barcelona, here is one party! I myself don't celebrate Halloween and I actually went trick-or-treating only once in my life my senior year in an American high school .. my friends decided that I had been deprived but I think they just found the perfect excuse to go out trick-or-treating again at age 17-18!

Last but not least, a low-cal Halloween treat :

Halloween Hangman created by The Dimension's Edge, Inc.