Feliz Navidad

"Feliz Navidad" (Spanish: [feˈlis naβiˈða(ð)]; lit. transl. "Merry Christmas") is a Christmas song written and first recorded in 1970 by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple, heartfelt lyrics—the traditional Spanish Christmas/New Year greeting "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad" ("Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness"), followed by text in English words "I wanna wish you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart"—, it has become a Christmas classic and has gained popularity around the world.

In 2010, Feliciano's original recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2026, "Feliz Navidad" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation's recorded sound heritage."

Background and composition

Feliciano wrote "Feliz Navidad" while feeling homesick at Christmas, missing his family in New York City and his extended family further afield as he sat in a studio in Los Angeles. He remembered celebrating Christmas Eve with his brothers, eating traditional Puerto Rican foods, drinking rum, and going caroling. "It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely", he told NPR in December 2020. "I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene."

The song was recorded in 10 minutes at RCA Studios on Sunset Boulevard with producer, Rick Jarrard. "That's why it's the simplest song ever written. 19 words to it", Feliciano told The New Yorker. "I wanted a song that belonged to the masses. If you know where your song is going to go, you don't have to fuck around with it too much. I used to say to myself, 'Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck!'"