“Until the body holds up, let’s see who’s having dinner.”

Around noon this Wednesday, December 24, the early risers have already started to show up. Weak a completely clear skylow temperatures (8ºC) are barely noticed. Dressed in coats, jackets or blazers, the first inhabitants of the Santa María de Benquerencia district arrived in the bars of Paseo Federico García Lorca, the usual setting for this occasion.

There, the bar owners were finalizing their preparations while several groups were already demanding the first round. The tradition is to ask pints of beer, accompanied by a plate of crumbs.

Inés Marcelina Pérez is the it is the first time that she experiences this practice as a worker and as a neighbor. As a Colombian, she told ABC she found it “a cool thing because it’s not done anywhere else and you work as a team and enjoy each other’s company.”

His bar, located on the aforementioned Paseo, has prepared 50 kilos of crumbs. Other people in the area also dared tripe and mush in its beginnings as a hotel establishment. “We go with everything, 12 kilos of tripe, 9 of porridge, 30 of crumbs and even 500 liters of beerdetailed Edu, the local manager.

Toñi is a neighbor of Polígono who has been participating in this event for six years. A day that he describes as “very special” because he finds himself with his friends and family and “there is a very good atmosphere”.

“They serve beers, they give you crumbs and I “What I like most, without a doubt, is beer.”he says with a laugh, to which he adds “we’ll stay here until we have to go make dinner.”

At the other end of the city, near the Arms Factory Campus, is Santa Teresa, “the youth district”, which today becomes one of the key points of the city.

Most of Toledo’s young people are concentrated here. Moreover, some people take their audio system into their car to brighten up the day. There, several boys pointed out to ABC that “it’s a day of reunion with many friends who go to study or work.

“In the morning we meet friends and in the evening we each meet our families. It’s a tradition”, explains one of them who, when asked how the day will end, replies “until the body holds up, then let’s see who’s having dinner..

And of course, the historic center put aside tourism for a day and regained its neighborhood essence with the crumbs. Some tourists stopped to look at Google Maps when they saw the bars on the streets and so many people in the squares.but what was seen the most were the inhabitants of the old quarter. People who continue to celebrate a tradition that dates back to the 80s and who get together year after year with their loved ones and lifelong friends.

The tradition is more alive than ever and, as long as the weather is good, like this year, the images of these neighborhoods on Christmas Eve will continue to be a constant in the city: the people, the joy and the gastronomy. SO, Between beers, crumbs and music, the people of Toledo went to take a “break” for Christmas, while waiting for the second part of this “meeting of the crumbs” on December 31..