It seems like there's a holiday once a week around here! The fact that I don't have to work on Fridays makes it seem like there are even more holidays than there actually are. Here are a few of the most recent Días Festivos...
A Spanish Halloween Celebration:
In order to celebrate Halloween, the first & second graders at my school had the pleasure of listening to Danny & I read a story to them. We ended up reading the same story 6 different times, since there are 6 different classes we assist in. The story was ridiculously repetitive! In the end, I think the kids had fun because they walked into the dark classroom that had spiders and ghosts on the walls and saw Danny & I dressed as witches. Of course, we gave them candy in the end, but it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to say "Trick or Treat" and I almost had a heart attack when one of the kids actually said "thank you!!"
Some Spanish "Shockers" about Halloween:
- Spanish people think you have to dress up as something scary. Nope, not one fairy, policeman, or Disney character in sight this year! One teacher at my school was surprised when I showed her a picture of my costume from last year... I was a barbershopper.
- Pumpkins to carve are sold in a few stores, but they have stickers with the stereotypical Jack-O-Lantern face on them already. Kinda sad...
- I told one class what Halloween is like at home. The teacher freaked out when I said that we go around with pillow cases instead of the little pumpkin baskets. Seriously people! The more the merrier, and pillowcases are the way to go on Halloween!
1 November = Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints' Day)
Spanish tradition:
Go to your loved ones' graves and put flowers on the headstones. Cry. Mourn. Carry on the ghostly "boo hooing" from the day before. In general, spend time with family, like any holiday. They also eat special pastries called buñuelos, which taste okay, but once you eat half of one you realize how donut-like it is and want to throw up a little. This is my experience, at least! I don't like donuts, if you couldn't tell...
What I did to celebrate:
Went to the cemetery to see the pretty flowers.
And I pulled an all-nighter, listening to an AMAZING baseball game on the radio.
GO GIANTS! WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!
9 November = Día de la Virgen de la Almudena
I lucked out on this one, since my school is in Madrid proper. La Virgen de la Almudena is the Patron Saint of the City of Madrid, so heaven forbid the Madrileños actually work on the day dedicated to honouring their Saint! So I had today off and ended up re-reading one of my favourite books in Starbucks all day. Oh, and I celebrated FINALLY getting paid for October...only about two weeks late! I'll save my rant for another day...
I think the stickers are more for guidelines, in case people don't know what to do, as most have never done it. My Spanish boyfriend and I bought one and then just peeled the stickers off and carved it how we wanted.
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