FIVE-YEAR-OLD Natcha Jiminez of Barcelona, Spain, admires the Christmas tree at her grandparents’ home in Courtland, as her parents, Angel and Joan Jiminez, and her brother, Nunyo, look on. This is the children’s first American Christmas.(Photo by Ron Grieser)

Joan Walter Jimenez returned to her home in Courtland with her husband and two children to celebrate their first American Christmas together.

Christmas in Spain is celebrated much as the American Christmas, usually with dinners, family gatherings and church services. Christmas trees are becoming popular now in Spain, an indication of American influence.

She left for Spain in 1964 as a student from Clark University in Iowa for a year’s study in Madrid. She met her husband, Angel Jimenez, there, and was married in Spain. She returned to the United States before her marriage, and has not been home since.

She met her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Walter, in Canada, when she and her husband were there on a business trip.

Angel Jimenez is a wallpaper distributor in Barcelona, where they live in a furnished apartment.

There is a great deal of American influence, she said. “Spaniards are becoming a consuming society,” much as she feels the American people have become.

There is a good sized middle class in Barcelona, she said, because of industrialization. Many Spaniards buy homes and spend their lives paying for it. “There seems to be a strong feeling of security in the land.

In Spain there is a move now to keep people in the rural areas, on the land, she added. Just as in this country, there was a strong move to the urban areas of the country, leaving abandoned farms to be taken over by the larger landowners.

The cities are growing tremendously, said Mrs. Jiminez, and the villages are left to the old and the very young. The younger generation is moving to the cities where there are more job opportunities.

When she first returned to the United States in November she was again amazed at the amount of space we have here, “The wide open spaces, people can move about.” Spain has open areas, some of it not tillable, almost a wasteland.

The topography is varied in Spain, she explained, which makes the country popular with American moviemakers.

She found there is an ingrown love of the land, among the Spanish, and in some sections of the country the tiny farm plots are carefully and painstakingly cultivated.

In the southern part of Spain, the large landowners have vineyards or graze bulls for the bullfights on vast acres of land, land which is left idle for all practical purposes.

According to Mrs. Jiminez, the government and the church wield a great deal of power over the press. Censorship is commonplace.

Sometimes certain issues of American newspapers fail to appear on the newsstands, because of articles that may be critical of the Franco government. Censorship of movies is also very stringent. Some American movies are shown, but most of the current ones have been cut. For example “The Graduate” was quite severely trimmed for the Spanish viewers. Many foreign films never are shown in Spain though more than 50 per cent of the movies shown are American-made,she added.

The influence of the Catholic Church in Spain is still very powerful, according to Mrs. Jiminez. At one time during the papacy of John XXIII, some attempts were made at liberal movements in the church, but for the most part, the church is still much as it was for centuries.

The influence of the Church also accounts in part for the strong family life in Spain. She feels that “Spanish men are very devoted fathers and husbands, and miss their families terribly when they are separated. Spanish men are also very attentive to women, lighting their cigarettes, helping them on with their coats and opening doors.”

Through a translation from his wife, Jiminez said he thought American women were more open, less reserved, than Spanish women, but ventured that American women seem less mature.

The feminist movement in Spain is almost non-existent except for some activity by the university women. Jiminez said he felt that an egalitarian society would be impossible to achieve, at least the way American feminists advocate. “The basic sexual differences are too difficult to overcome.”

Most Spanish housewives shop in open markets, and do without some appliances, the couple said. In Barcelona, there are a few supermarkets, but many of the women still prefer to do their shopping in the smaller markets.

One of the exciting facets of living in Spain is the ease of travel to many other European countries, said Mrs. Jiminez. “We used to travel to more in the earlier years of our marriage but now it becomes more difficult with the children.”

Occasionally they attend the favorite national spectator sport, bullfighting. “Bullfighting is repugnant to many people, but in Spain it is looked upon as not only a sport but as an art form.” There is almost a religious aura about the bullfights.

“When I saw my first bullfight, all I could see was the blood and the color. Later I studied the intricacies and significance of the different movements and the danger these men in the arena are facing.”

The Jiminez family plan to return to Spain on Dec. 28.

New Ulm Daily Journal, Dec. 17, 1972