Christmas, family time with lots of food, and celebrations. It is a unique moment in the year, where the purposes of the year are usually made and enjoy the family that you have not been able to see during the year.
The sport in these tends to stop, soccer or basketball stop the domestic leagues, and they decide not to carry out sports days.
However, there are traditions of deprivation with many years of history that are carried out, and transport us to the essence of the birth of sport as a way of leisure and fun.
Today we are going to talk about two of them.
La COPA NADAL and the SAN SILVESTRE:
La COPA NADAL, also known in Spanish as COPA DE NAVIDAD, is a traditional swimming competition, held in Barcelona every December 25, Christmas Day, consisting of swimming through 200 meters of open water in the Old Port of Barcelona. It was created in 1907, which makes it the first swimming competition held in Spain and one of the oldest sports events in Barcelona and Europe.
The particularity of the test is that it takes place in the middle of winter, and when the temperatures are lower in Barcelona. On multiple occasions the test has been carried out in the rain and even under the snow. It is common to see many swimmers doing the test dressed up with Christmas motifs. The event, organized by the CLUB NATACIÓ BARCELONA, is popular and free to register, and is open to people of all ages, who compete in different categories depending on their age.
The San Silvestre is a popular race held at the end of the year where thousands of citizens say goodbye to the year in a healthy way doing sports. It is not just a competition, it is a moment of joy and company that has become very traditional.
Barcelona has celebrated its own San Silvestre Barcelonesa since 1991, with a 10k urban tour that in 2004 changed its name to Cursa dels Nassos (Run of the Nose) in reference to a popular character from Catalan folklore (also from other places such as Aragon, La Rioja, Navarra, Álava, Burgos), the man with the noses (in Catalan, home dels nassos).
This mythological being has as many noses as the remaining days of the year – that is, each day that passes he loses a nose – therefore only his face can be seen well, his true face, at the end of the year, on the 31st from December. Many people run it with clown noses and, as in other races to say goodbye to the year, with confetti, wigs, makeup and the most ingenious costumes.
And about you, do you have something that prevents you from doing sports at any time of the year?
