8: Los meses del ano - Months of the year

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• Language - origins of names of the months
• Storks in Spain
• Christmas festivities in Spain

What you will learn in section 8:

April: the video shows traditional Easter processions    In July it gets quite hot: the outdoor swimming pool is very popular!    Around Calahorra, August means fruit-picking in the local orchards. Calahorra has a Town Band, which plays in the square to entertain people out for an autumn stroll in October - they do play regularly at other times in the year as well!    Children were surprised to see that it often snows in northern Spain in December.

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Language - origins of the names of the months

Children in one school looked at the similarities between languages, reflected in their similar names for the months of the year. Latin roots for most European languages show up clearly in this table: English French Spanish Latin German January janvier enero Januarius - from Junus the god of the doorway with two faces: one looking forward to the new year, the other back to the old. Januar February février febrero Februarius - a Roman festival of prurification Februar March mars marzo Martius - from Mars, the Roman god of war Marz April avril abril Aprilis - from apirere, to open (opening of spring) April May mai mayo Maius - from the Roman goddess Maia Mai June juin junio Junonius - from the goddess Juno Juni July juillet julio Julius - an additional month, named after Julius Caesar Juli August août agosto Augustus - another extra month, named after Augustus Caesar August September septembre septiembre September - the 7th month in the original Roman calendar, before the addition of July and August September October octobre octubre October - the 8th month Oktober November novembre noviembre November - the 9th month November December décembre diciembre December - the 10th month Dezember Back to top

Storks in Spain
We see storks nesting happily on church towers and other tall buildings - a common sight in Spain.
One class wanted to find out more about the white storks they saw in section 1 (on Calahorra cathedral) and again in section 8. They studied the storks' migration patterns, using the Spanish 1 e-CD (an interactive CD-ROM) . They found out why storks arrive to make nests every spring, why storks are often thought to be "lucky", and why legends link them with babies. These web links were a good starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stork and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Stork Try other keywords, eg: el dia de reyes	Where babies come from...

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Christmas festivities in Spain

One class decided their project would be comparing how they and their Spanish link school celbrated Christmas. From their link school, they discovered that, in Spain, children's presents come from the Three Kings, rather than from Father Christmas. Presents are given, not on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as in most other European countries, but on the 6th January - el día de Reyes, the Kings' Day, after the Three Kings (or Wise Men) who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Traditionally, Spanish children leave their shoes out at bedtime on the previous evening, and hope to wake up to find that los Reyes have left presents beside them. Some children leave grass and water for the camels. Some children's parents told them - 'If you're naughty, the Kings will leave you coal'. On the 6th January, families go into town to watch a colourful street procession of the "Three Kings".

The children referred to a website that records a European schools' project in which an English and a Spanish school record each others' Christmas traditions: http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/Spain/winter/main.htm http://www.european-schoolprojects.net/festivals/Spain/home.htm Try other keywords, eg: el dia de reyes

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