Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar in Madrid 2011

So it's time again for the Scandinavian Christmas Bazaar in Madrid. The bazaar is always held on the first Sunday of Advent, this year on November 27, and the gates will open at 14:00.

The bazaar was started in the early 1950's by some women from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden formed the "el Comité de las Damas Escandinavas", a separate commission of the Scandinavian Club .

The basic idea of the bazaar was that through the preparation and sale of the Scandinavians, typical dishes, sweets and decorations to put together a net, which was then in full would go to relief organizations in Madrid. To arrange such a ceremony during the Franco regime in Spain was far away from a EU course, was not easy. There were disagreements between rich and poor, rural and urban areas. It was also a limited range in shops in order to develop a traditional Scandinavian Christmas dinner. An absolute requirement in the Commission's statutes, that the net gain would be submitted to the needy in Madrid, or "la Comunidad de Madrid", a guarantee to be certain that the money came in the right hands.

Today, it is obviously easier to find products to create a traditional Scandinavian Christmas bazaar and is a big stunt that attracts about 1,500 visitors annually. Still in the Statute that the net profit will go to charity and last year drew Bazaar slightly more than 30,000 euros, not bad. Let us hope that we get an equally good result in today's bazaar.

So if you are in Madrid on Sunday and want to experience a Scandinavian Christmas spirit, welcome to the Hotel Meliá Castilla, at Calle Capitán Haya, 43 (see map below A) in the Salón Los Tapices.

Hotel Meliá Castilla, Calle Capitán Haya, 43. Map from Google maps.