El Día de los Santos Inocentes

Christmas in Spain gets off to a rather peculiar and unofficial start on Dec. 22^nd with the Lotería de Navidad, which is likely the most followed Spanish lottery during the entire year. In Spain, when you hear the melodic sounds of the prize draw on the radio, you think: “Christmas time has arrived".

After the celebration of economic good fortune, Dec. 24^th is Christmas Eve (Nochebuena in Spanish), which is a family celebration in which Spaniards often gather around a table loaded with exquisite delicacies to have dinner together. Many Christians also attend the Misa del Gallo, a mass service offered at midnight on the 24^th during which Christmas carols are sung and accompanied by traditional instruments such as the zambomba (a type of seasonal drum), the carraca (a ratchet-like noisemaker), the tambourine, and of course the guitar. Contrarily to many countries, Spain do not really celebrate Santa Claus this day.

Another special day that comes around during Christmas time is Dec. 28^th, the “Día de los Santos Inocentes The Day of the Innocents observes the day when, according to the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, King Herod ordered the baby boys under 2 years old in Bethlehem to be killed because he was afraid that the baby Jesus born there would become a rival. As it turned out, though, the baby Jesus had been taken away to Egypt by Mary and Joseph. So the "joke" was on Herod, and thus followed the tradition of tricking friends on that day. (This is a sad story to be sure, but according to tradition the babies murdered in Jesus' stead went to heaven as the first Christian martyrs.)

While Christmas Eve is a family celebration, New Year’s Eve (called Nochebuena in Spanish) is a time for partying with friends. It is a night for throwing fiestas called “cotillones” or for gathering in town squares under the old clock tower waiting in anxious anticipation for it to strike twelve. According to tradition, observers must wolf down 12 grapes at this time to guarantee good fortune for the New Year. Afterward, excited revelers often offer toasts to the New Year with glasses of cava. The festive spirit continues until the wee hours of the early morning and January 1^st is a day of rest for those who have partied away the last night of the old year.

On Jan. 5^th, many make their way to their favorite bakeries to order a Roscón de Reyes (a ring-shaped cake eaten on Jan. 6^th). Much more than a day for sweet traditions, the main focus here is on the kids, as parades roll through town in which the Reyes Magos (three kings) and their pages shower candy over delighted children. After all the high emotions, nervous kids will have a tough time falling asleep that night, particularly because the following morning is the feast day of the epiphany when the three kings will traditionally arrive from the east to leave gifts for the well-behaved.

Who is Christkindl?

Contrarily to many countries, Santa Claus does not bring the presents to German kids. The Christkind (sometimes known affectionately as Christkindl) is traditional German giver of gifts at Christmas and he is normally depicted as an angelic figure with blond hair and wings.If you are a German child, the 24th of December will be very exciting! The Christkind brings children their Geschenke(presents) on December 24^th and leaves them underneath the Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree). Parents tell their children that the Christkind won’t come if they try to spot him. He is not meant to be seen! Sometimes parents will secretly ring a bell to announce the arrival or departure of the Christkind, after which the children go running to find their presents.

You must be asking yourself why Germans do not celebrate Santa Claus! Here the explanation: Santa Claus originated as a Catholic figure while the Christkind was created by Protestants.

The Christkind was created during the reformation, in 16th and 17th century Europe, when Martin Luther wanted to de-emphasize the previous Catholic celebration of Saint Nicholas on December 6th, and invent a new celebration for the Protestants. This was because he did not want a Catholic saint (St. Nicholas – who we know today as Santa Claus) bringing Protestant children their gifts. Hence, the Christkind was born and would be in charge of bringing gifts on December 24th, the last day of Advent.

As Europe became more secular, the Protestant Christkind and Catholic St. Nicholas began to cross over. St. Nicholas became a secularized version of himself, now known in Germany as der Weihnachtsmann (“The Christmas man”), celebrated regardless of religion. Meanwhile, the Christkind transformed from a suggestion of Baby Jesus into a blonde, female angel.

Learning a Language! Necessity? Dream? Hobby? Passion?

Why do we Google on our search engines “Will learning Spanish/ French improve my resume”? Or “Looking for Spanish Classes around Indiranagar/Koramangala?

There has definitely been a steep rise over the past few years where in people from all walks of life have come forward and expressed a desire to learn a new language. Be it a 12 year old girl whose parents want her to start young or a 35 year executive who is getting a chance to travel abroad and needs to get in touch with his language side or a 65 year old man who wants to try something new and get back into action, everyone wants to learn and explore. And I was one of them, just out of college with a degree in computers and a job in the one of the top MNC’s, busy finding my groove. I did not want to get stuck in the 9 to 5 job so I basically never took up that offer and wandered around. As life throws various opportunities at you, it did, at me too. I joined one of the News channels in Bangalore but somehow that too did not last that long. And one fine day, going through the paper I saw an advertisement seeking young and dynamic people to apply as an Administrator at a Language School called IFLaC. And that’s how I bumped into this Language Institute and the relationship with them has lasted over the years. Run by two dynamic women, Mrs. Umita Melwani and Mrs. Sandy Mirpuri, IFLaC, Institute of Foreign Language and Culture, aims at providing an out of the world experience when it comes to learning European Languages. IFLaC had opened my doors to German, French, Italian and the one that I eventually picked up Spanish, and it was the first time I got to understand the true meaning of learning a language. The school boasts at providing the best, be it in terms of teachers and their study material or the ambience and their out of the box activities which makes learning all the more interesting and exciting. IFLaC, was also the first Institute in South India to introduce the DELE Examination (These exams are conducted by the Spanish Government and their certification is the top most for people learning Spanish). IFLaC was like a breath of fresh air for me, what started with administration later, under the guidance of Mrs. Umita Melwani changed into learning Spanish. As the years passed, I reached my B1 level and voila IFLaC arranged my first solo trip to Spain to pursue my Spanish studies further. Learning Spanish in Barcelona, well that was a different experience all together. IFLaC has tie ups with tops schools across Spain and offers custom made courses for each and every student which basically makes the whole idea of studying abroad like a walk in the park. Once back after soaking in as much Spanish as I could, IFLaC gave me the best opportunity, to teach Spanish at the A1 Level and to the little kids. Learning a language and then teaching the same, it’s no easy task. But thanks to the vast teaching material and support from my fellow colleagues Archana Gurumurthy and Dina Melwani, a nervous me stepped in to teach my first ever Spanish Class. And there was no looking back from then on. Mrs. Umita Melwani and Mrs. Sandy Mirpuri were always there at every step to guide me whenever I fumbled and encouraged me to do better in every possible way. There were ample number of new tasks that I got to witness at the Institute, from teaching, translating and bringing up IFLaC to well also partying. You cannot be surprised, having such spirited and zestful women heading us; we were always introduced to one or the other fancy places in Bangalore and treated with utmost care and love.

IFLaC really changed the way I was and has brought me to where I’m. After working for almost over a span of 5 years, it was time to bid Bangalore goodbye. But somehow I could not yet say adios to Spanish, therefore, yet again Mrs. Melwani assisted me and pushed me to get to New Delhi and pursue Spanish at Instituto Cervantes. It has been a privilege in being a part of IFLaC and yes to anyone who at this point, is trying to find a place where they can learn a new foreign language, I would personally advise to stop looking around and just get to IFLaC. The rest will be taken care of. I Promise.

Preeti Talwar, ex coordinator and trainer at IFLaC. 

What do you discover when you learn a new language?

In IFLAC, we want you to learn not only a new language but a new culture too. Our student Yashas answers some questions about why he is learning Spanish. There are many reasons to learn a new language and a powerful reason is getting involved in a new culture. Italy, Spain, and Germany have many stories besides their languages. One of them will take part tomorrow. Christmas is just around the corner hence Italians and Spanish people start to feel the atmosphere since late November, but the Christmas season officially starts on December 8th, the Day of Immaculate Conception. On this day many Italian families decorate their home and trees, bake cookies, wrap their presents, and schools and offices are formally closed. From this day on, up to December 26th, the holiday atmosphere gets bigger and bigger.

But why is December 8^th so important to the Italians? December 8^th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, so it celebrates the  Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. It is celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on September 8 and in Italy, the feast of the Immaculate Conception (L'Immacolata Concezione) is a public holiday.

Since Italy is a religious country, the festival of Immaculate Conception Day is considered as an important religious day in their calendar. A day when many Italians attend a church mass to honor Mother Mary. In big cities, there are no processions but people go to churches to listen to a mass whereas, in smaller towns, the celebration consists of carrying statues of Mother Mary around the town as a procession along with street jugglers and street clowns.