Christmas arrives at the Instituto Hemingway!

Here at the Instituto, we’ve embraced the beginning of the festive season with great enthusiasm and a lot of decorations! We have a Christmas tree, an Advent Calendar, snowflakes, paper chains and other pretty things. The Advent Calendar is a string of tinsel, from which we’ve hung decorations, little chocolates and scrolls. Every day, two students choose a scroll each, and using the words hidden inside must make up a Christmas-related sentence in Spanish. Whoever makes a correct sentence first wins a chocolate (and the other student gets one for taking part). We’re all also really excited for the Christmas party that we’re having on the 16th!

Did you know that:
- In the Basque Country (where the Instituto Hemingway is located), instead of Father Christmas, a character called Olentzero comes on Christmas Eve to bring presents for the children. There are various legends around Olentzero: some say that he is one of the jentillak (a mythological race of Basque giants), whilst others claim that he was a charcoal-burner who used to make presents for children, and who was given the gift of eternal life by a fairy.
- In the rest of Spain, the Three Kings (Reyes Magos) come on 6th January. Children leave their shoes on their windowsills in the hope that the Three Kings might bring presents for them, just as they did for the Baby Jesus. Most children nowadays also receive a few presents from Father Christmas on the 25th of December, because the American image of Christmas has become so globalised.
- In Germany, children write letters to the Baby Jesus, and leave them in the windowsill so that the angels can take them to Him. The angels leave them a chocolate for every letter that they write, so there’s a motive to write lots!
- In the UK, there’s a very old tradition to open family presents on Christmas Eve (although Father Christmas doesn’t bring his presents until the 25th). Very few families follow this tradition nowadays, although the Royal Family is a notable exception. However, some parents let their children open a small present on Christmas Eve, perhaps more to keep the children quiet during the preparations for the next day rather than to comply with tradition!