Free Spanish Lesson 29 The Holiday Season in Latin America.

Because about noventa y cinco porciento of Latin America es Católico, Christmas is as widely or even more widely celebrated than in the U.S.

Also, because una mayoría of Latin Americans live south of the equator, for them Christmas is actually durante el verano. As you will see más tarde, this influences some of their holiday traditions.

Primero vamos a hablar acerca de Navidad. In Latin America, on Noche Buena, there is a mass (religious worship service) at many Christian churches at 11:00 p.m.

Tan pronto como the preacher or priest termina de hablar, the children run home to await Santa Claus who usually arrives at 12:00 (medianoche) with gifts (in many regions of Latin America).

He knocks on the door and brings them in para la familia. (For those of you under age 10 reading our newsletter: Since Santa can’t be at everyone’s home at the same time, he usually gets a neighbor to be his official ayudante.)

Ya que they live in a warmer climate, there are fireworks around medianoche. La cena Navideña is also after medianoche where the main course es un pavo tradicional. Families that customarily wouldn’t have el dinero suficiente to buy a turkey try to save their dinero beforehand to make it possible.

If they still don’t have el dinero suficiente for un pavo, they eat pollo. After dinner, children will usually juegan con sus regalos for a few hours and then go to bed around 3:00 a.m. Needless to say, generalmente duermen tarde on Christmas morning.

Para la Nochevieja they stay up at least until medianoche (like we do here in the U.S.) y como la Navidad, they again light fireworks. One thing they do in many regions that I found interesting is they build una muñeca grande out of ropa vieja — usually stuffed with straw.

On New Year’s Eve (Nochevieja) [no-chay bee-eh-hah] around medianoche they take their muñecas grandes out en las calles, light them on fire, y las queman. (Do not try this at home!) Para mucha gente, this represents the end of “la persona vieja” and the beginning of “una persona nueva”.

As with cualquier parte del mundo, traditions vary somewhat familia a familia and región a región.

¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo! (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!)

Vocabulario de la semana – Weekly Vocabulary.

noventa y cinco porciento – 95%
es Católico – is Catholic
una mayoría – a majority
durante el verano – during the summer
más tarde – later
primero vamos a hablar – first let’s talk
acerca de – about
Navidad – Christmas
Noche Buena – Christmas Eve
tan pronto como – as soon as
termina de hablar – finishes speaking
medianoche – midnight
para la familia – for the family
ayudante – helper
ya que – since
la cena Navideña – the Christmas dinner
es un pavo tradicional – is a traditional turkey
el dinero suficiente – enough money
dinero – money
pollo – chicken
juegan con sus regalos – play with their gifts
generalmente duermen tarde – generally they sleep in
para la Nochevieja – for New Year’s Eve
y como la Navidad – and like Christmas
una muñeca grande – a large doll
ropa vieja – old clothes
muñecas grandes – large dolls
en las calles – in the streets
y las queman – and they burn them
para mucha gente – for many people
la persona vieja – the old person
una persona nueva – a new person
cualquier parte del mundo – any part of the world
familia a familia – family to family
región a región – region to region
como regalo de Navidad – as a Christmas gift
si ordenan antes de las 2:00 – if you order before 2:00
para nuestra oferta actual – for our current sale

[custom_script adID=97]

Copyright © 1999-2010 US Institute of Languages All rights reserved.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.