Christmas Traditions

Christmas is coming and as usual customs and traditions.

Santa Llúcia is the Christmas market that it has been hold for two hundred years in front of the cathedral. It’s considered one of the most important Christmas traditions in Barcelona.

In this market you can find everything about Christmas decorations, such a lights, Christmas trees, cribs figures, plants…. . In addition there are a group of shops that sell traditional craftworks or handicrafts.

There is a typical figure called “caganer” that you can find in this fair. The “caganer” is a character that shows a person from the rural areas of Catalonia having a shit, and normally it’s put inside the crib. This figure is thought that comes from the XVIII century.

Nowadays you can find “caganers” with the image of the most famous people during the year, for example this year the new figures are Barack Obama, Lula da Silva, Fernando Alonso….

Another interesting Christmas tradition is the “Tió”. It’s about a trunk where children beat it and singing at the same time, then the trunk give presents.

If you have time, it’s really interesting to visit this Christmas market and it’s not compulsory to buy.

A Curious Book

I have just finished reading the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Time”, and only a little bit comment about it.

From my point of view it has been a fascinating, entertaining and enjoyable book. The main character, Christopher with his particular traits and his interpretation about the world show to readers another view of the “normal” behaviour of human being.

His logical conclusion about some issues it has made me feel so funny and in some statements I have burst out laughing. I think that we should learn about some reasoning of Christopher, because sometimes the work out or the answer about some problems is more logical or easy than we thought.

I have spent a good time reading this book, therefore I will recommend it.

Discovering our own city

Sometimes we know more interesting places about other cities that about our own city.

That’s an example. Last Saturday I was doing one of my favorites hobbies, go shopping, in the center of Barcelona with my partner when the dinner time arrived, we are looking for a restaurant when we saw a group of people looking a particular building, we approached it and we discovered a beautiful and curios restaurant in the Montsió Street called “Els quatre gats”.

It was my first time that I have seen this restaurant and we decided to enter and eat. Inside it was a fantastic and incredible modernist room with a big piano, where at night the pianist provided the entertainment, also I can saw some pictures of Pablo Picasso.

This restaurant is considered one of the most important modernist building in Barcelona when it’s possible to eat Catalan and Mediterranean food.

For my was a great discovering but at the same time I was very sad and made me a little bit shame, because sometimes we don’t know what a wonderful things we have in our own city or country.

If you don’t know this particular restaurant I recommend it, not only for visiting even for eating.

Our Darling Queen

What a surprise !!!

The new biography about our Queen Sofia “La reina muy de cerca” ,that was published last week by editorial Planeta and written by the journalist Pilar Urbano, has caused a huge stir in our society.

In this book she talks and expresses her personal opinion about some important and current issues, with great sensitivity towards our society, like abortion, gay marriages, terrorism , religious schools, euthanasia…….and so on.

The Queen at this moment wants to share her thoughts and feelings with everybody after thirty years in the Spanish Monarchy.

From my point of view, neither of the Monarchy Institution members should have any opinion about national issues.


Well classmates what's your opinion??

Halloween

Halloween day is coming and sometimes we don’t known what the origin or history about this day is.

A little passage of Halloween history…………………

All this happened a long time ago in the land of Ireland, England, Scotland, North of France…………………but who knows? Somewhere the Celtic culture celebrated a festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain was celebrated on October 31 like the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the season of darkness and cold, where the days were short and the night long. This period of time was associated with death, and winter was time of terror and uncertainty.

The Celtic society believed that on October 31, when the Samhain was celebrated, the deceased spirits came back from the world of dead people with one goal, to visit their relatives in order to take care them, but if they weren’t attended they tried to enter into the body of someone to guarantee continuing in the alive world.

In the festival celebration there was a great bonfire where the people met around it, and wore costumes, masks with aspects of animals, demons………

However, when Romans conquered the majority of the Celtic region the non-believer tradition was extinguished…. And for year 800 with the Christianity influence the Pope Bonifiacio IV designated November 1 like “the Day of all the Saints”, a day to honor the saints and martyrs of the Roman Church.

After Romans conquered Celtic territory some pagan tradition, like the Samhain festival, turned in a Christian festivity; nowadays known as “Halloween”.

Well……….I think that we know something more about Halloween.

Happy Halloween everyone !!!

International Year of Planet Earth 2008

• 
  
  Please, Planet Earth don't cry.
  
  The International Union of Geological Sciencies and Unesco are the International Year of Planet Earth 2008 initiators. More than 80 countries are supported of this event.
  
  But, What is the International Year of Planet Earth?
  
  In order to avoid our Planet Earth crying, this event tries to provide exciting knowledge about our planet and how we can make the Earth safer and healthier place for the citizens. The main objective is to become aware of our environment and our nature and also what will we be able do to in order to reduce the risk of the climate change.
  
  To make better use of Earth Science and Earth resources I want to invite you, to suggest, to encourge..... to visit the International Year of Planet Earth 2008 that will be held in "Parc del Fòrum " from 31 October to 29 November. There will be an extraordinary tent that will show in four different ways how to take care our Planet:
  

• Audiovisual
• Magic Planet
• Awareness
• Art of teaching

And for many other reasons..... why do you fancy? I think that it's a good idea to spend one morning in this travelling exhibition.

The entrance is free

See you in the Fòrum !!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the last film of Woody Allen. I have to admit that I’m not supporter of Woody Allen and I usually don’t go to the cinema to watch his movies. However, with the last film was different because it was made in Barcelona, my city, and I thought that will be a great idea to see how an American director show Barcelona to the rest of the world.

I went to the cinema two weeks ago and the movie didn’t live up to my expectation. In my opinion, Barcelona and the Catalonia culture that the director showed in the movie is not the reality. It was like a guide tourist of Gaudí, given that the most scenes appears some building’s Gaudí and I think that Barcelona is more than Gaudí work.

The plot of the movie is funny and the relationship of the main characters as well.

But I encourage to everybody to go to the cinema in order to have another point of view.

Why Wizard?

Why have I chosen this name for my blog?

If there is anybody to blame about why I have chosen this name this is J.R.R.Tolking, a British writer who wrote one of the most fantastic books in the word called The Lord of the Rings.

In this book one of the main characters is Gandalf, an elderly man with a long grayish bear, a grey cloak and a blue pointed hat, he was considered like the wizard of the Western culture.

I’m a little bit wizard because sometimes I can know in advance what will happen or who will appear.