DÍA DE LA HISPANIDAD

Every October 12^th, in Spain, we celebrate the “Día de la Hispanidad” to remember the date in which Christopher Columbus arrived in America, in 1492.

That day, there are many large-scale military parades in lots of Spanish cities but the most popular is the one that is shown in Madrid.

This date is an official holiday and schools are not open in any city or village in Spain.

For Spanish people, the year 1992 was important because:

-         It was the 500^th anniversary of the day Columbus discovered America

-         The Olympic Games were celebrated in Barcelona (Spain).

-         The Universal Exhibition was in Seville.

American people also celebrate the moment in which Columbus discovered America but the date is not always the same: it is the second Monday of October and it is called “Columbus Day”. But some States don´t celebrate “Columbus Day” in America: Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and South Dakota don’t recognize that day.

In Boston, there were parades too, but not as big and famous as in Spain. I remember one day that my mom and I were coming out of the grocery store and we saw a small parade. And, there, in Boston, the schools were closed too.

But I could see that in U.S.A. they celebrate more “Thanksgiving Day” (learn more about it in next post!) than “Columbus Day”.

Images: www.elpais.com / www.abc.es / www.bostonglobe.com / www.washingtonpost.com

HALLOWEEN IN BOSTON

          Hello! My name is Enrique. I am 11 years old and I attend Monteagudo-Nelva school since 2005.

During two years, I was living in Boston (USA) because my father had to work there. It was such a good experience because I met lots of people from many countries and with a different culture than mine.

I decided to write this blog so all of you could know how was my experience in  Boston (U.S.A.) and also to compare my life there with my life here, in Murcia.

        

This first post is about Halloween in the U.S.A. and how I lived it:

Halloween or Hallowe’en (a contraction of “All Hallows’ Evening), also known as All Hallows’ Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows (or All Saints)(1).

Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (also known as “guising”), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films (1).

Though trick-or-treating as we know it is a relatively new phenomenon, its history is thought to date back over 2000 years. The ancient Celts (as well as other cultures such as the Chinese and Egyptians) believed that spirits required food and drink just like the living. On October 31^st, the end of summer, the souls of dead travelled to visit the living. Food and drink was left out for the spirits to consume on their journey. It was believed that people who did not make an offering left themselves open to mischief (or tricks) from the spirits (2).

In USA, it exists a fundraising program to support UNICEF (“Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF) that involves the distribution of small boxes by schools to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit (1).

The first year in Boston everything surprised me a lot because here we don´t celebrate Halloween. Here are the things that surprised me the most:

-People decorated their houses with really cool stuff like : fake spider-webs, spiders, jack-o´-lanterns and really cool skeleton boats.

-People started preparating Halloween at the end of September or at the beginning of October.

-The generosity of people to buy lots of candies and collect money for UNICEF.

-Everybody dressed up (teachers, parents, librarians… etc.).

-In the buildings and schools they made parties and games.

But, in the end, Halloween here is nothing compared to there. In Spain, we dedicate the 1st of November to remember our dead relatives and some people go to the graveyards to visit them and put flowers in their graves.

(1)         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween .Reviewed: 10/05/2013.

(2)        AnnMarie Mackinnon. Fun with pranks, gags and jokes. Ed. SpiceBox. ISBN 10: 1-926567-15-3.