Sants Innocents, the Spanish April's Fools

If you are in a Spanish-speaking country today and play a joke on your friends and follow that up with a shout of "¡Tontos de abril!" chances are you'll get nothing but blank stares as a reaction. The minor holiday of April Fools' Day is little known in Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America, but there is a rough equivalent, el Día de los Santos Inocentes, observed on Dec. 28. That means TODAY! The day is observed in much the same way as April Fools' Day. And when the prankster is ready to reveal the joke, the saying is "¡Inocente, inocente!"

The Day of the Innocents has a dark history from the Gospel of Matthew and the Massacre of the Innocents by Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed King of the Jews. Herod ordered all infants under 2 years old in Bethlehem to be killed because he was afraid that the baby Jesus was the newborn King of the Jews as had been foreseen. The infant Jesus turned out to be in Egypt with Mary and Joseph so Herod had been tricked. This day became a day to trick your friends. and thus followed the tradition of tricking friends on that day.

In Catalonia, on of the most common pranks is the one that consists on placing a "llufa" on someone's back. A "llufa" is a man-shaped pieced of paper which is stung on the back of an "innocent". 

Go out and practice it. Have fun!!

Christmas

We have already lived (and survived) another Christmas Day. Nevertheless, we still have New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and in Spain we'll get the visit of The Three Wise Men.

In this post we include a link with information about this celebration, which is celebrated around the world, even in countries where the Christian is not the most widely spread religion. So if you are curious enough, have a look at this link, too, where you will find information about recipes, the Christmas Story, customs and traditions and many different activities you can do at home, all the family together. Enjoy and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sports

Everybody knows how important it is to practice a sport. In this post you will find descriptions of different sports where students have written about their rules, the equipement required, any special features, etc. Time to take up a sport, for sure as one of your New Year Resolutions.

Handball from LidiaGon

Golf from LidiaGon

Surfing

Snowboarding from LidiaGon

Ice hockey from LidiaGon

Artistic skating from LidiaGon

Tennis from LidiaGon

Rythmic gymnastics from LidiaGon

Sports by Lidia Gonzalo

Sports 2 by Lidia Gonzalo