The Lurie Language monthly newsletter... Romance languages with a cultural perspective!
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Las doce uvas de la suerte!
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Puerto del Sol Tower Clock, Madrid, Spain
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Supermarkets sell small tins of 12 seeded and peeled grapes.
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A glass of white Cava. Don't forget to drop a gold coin in your glass for "suerte', luck!
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Beth's Picks:
Las Doce Uvas de la Suerte!
The Twelve Grapes of Luck!
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Who couldn't benefit from a bit of extra good luck? In order to ensure twelve lucky months ahead, follow the Spanish (and now Mexican and Latin American) tradition of eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve! This custom is both a tradition and a superstition in Spain. Rare is the Spaniard who will risk their fate for the coming year by skipping the grapes, one for each stroke of midnight.
The timing is crucial and must coincide with the final 12 seconds of the year struck on the clock tower at Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.
I definitely plan to participate in this tradition this year!
The twelve grapes of luck (
Las doce uvas de la suerte)
is a Spanish tradition that dates back to 1895 . Wine growers in the Alicante region popularized this custom to better sell huge amounts of grapes from an excellent harvest.
In Madrid, the bourgeoisie began to copy the French tradition of having grapes and champagne on the last day of the year. Before long this custom had been adopted by certain M
adrileños
who went to the Puerta del Sol to see the bells chime at the turning of the year and, most likely to eat grapes like the upper class. T
he festivities are always broadcast from the Puerta del Sol, much as we all tune in to the ball dropping at Times Square.
Would you like to fall in love this year? Wear red underwear on New Years Eve! If you want Cupid to shoot an arrow in your direction,
make sure you wear red underwear, preferably received as a gift .
As
midnight nears on
Nochevieja
, or "old night," the last day of the year, the entire country gathers in front of television screens or in town squares, clutching a small bowl of green grapes and wearing red underwear!
More interested in financial prosperity for the upcoming year? D
rop a gold ring into your celebratory glass of cava (local champagne-style bubbly from Catalunya).
Spaniards drop a gold object into their glass of Cava before the midnight toast. From golden wedding rings to gold coins, it all goes in the glass! In order for the good luck charm to work, you have to drink the entire glass of cava after the midnight toast and then retrieve your golden object.
Another
Spanish tradition says that each of the tiny round lentils in a hearty lentil soup represents a coin. Eating the soup of “coins” for lunch on New Year’s Day is believed to bring you wealth in the coming year!
Try one or all of these traditions for a
Prospero Año Nuevo!
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Try a lucky Spanish lentil soup to start the New Year off right!
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Don't forget your red undergarments!
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A motorcycle parade in Paris follows the hearse carrying rock legend Hallyday
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France bids a fond adieu to rock legend Johnny Hallyday, known simply as "Johnny", who died of lung cancer at age 74. An icon in France for more than half a century, his passing unleashed a rarely seen outpouring of emotion and national grief.
Huge crowds gathered in Paris for a funeral procession that was unprecedented for its scale. A parade of motorcyclists added a touch of rock and roll to the event.
Few figures in French history have earned a send-off as elaborate as the one for the man dubbed the “French Elvis”. In an honor usually reserved for heads of state or cultural greats such as 19th-century writer Victor Hugo, Hallyday’s funeral cortege rode past the Arc de Triomphe ,down the Avenue Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde .
President Emmanuel Macron , a Hallyday fan himself, spoke eloquently about his idol:
“Johnny was yours. Johnny was his public. Johnny was his country,” Mr Macron told fans.
Shouts of “Johnny! Johnny!” and thunderous applause rose up as Mr Macron finished his speech. Fans then started singing Hallyday tunes.
A star lineup of speakers paid homage to the singer, including actors Marion Cotillard and Jean Reno and
singer Patrick Bruel,as well as former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Right-wing Front National (FN) leader Marine Le Pen was forced to watch proceedings on television, after Hallyday's family made it clear she would not be welcome.
The words “Merci Johnny” are being displayed on the Eiffel Tower over the weekend, and football stadiums are playing Hallyday’s songs before kick-off.
Hallyday, is to be buried on the French Caribbean island of St Barts, where he owned a house.
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Film
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
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It is the summer of 1983, and 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending his vacation with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
Call Me By Your Name
is rated R and is curently playing in theaters.
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Kids' Corner:
Père Noël, much like Santa, is generally seen in France as a kindly old man with a white beard, wearing red robes with white fur lining. The first references to Santa appeared in the 19th century, and he has since become a central image of Christmas for French children. The Catholic Church initially took a dim view of Santa. Up until the 1950s, the nativity scene had been the symbol of Christmas and they wanted to keep it that way. The Church was especially upset by the fact that Père Noël and his Christmas tree were allowed in French schools, while Nativity scenes were banned. France is a country where church and state are separate, and thus no religious symbols are allowed in the schools. But since neither Père Noël nor Christmas trees (sapins de Noël) were religious symbols, they were permitted.
In 1962 the French government created a system by which all letters sent to Père Noël would be sent to a post office in Libourne, in the Southwest of France. Since then, millions of children have received postcards from Père Noël responding to their requests!
Although across most of France the generic image of Santa Claus is uniform, there are certain regions of the country which see him differently. For example, in Provence, just as in Italy, children believe in a fairy who, riding a little donkey, travels around distributing presents.
In France children do not usually wake-up to presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Traditionally,
le Père Noël brings toys to good little boys and girls after evening Mass on Christmas Eve.Also children do not leave Santa Claus milk and cookies. French adults rarely drink milk and would never leave a glass of milk for a grown man, even if he is Santa.Instead, they may leave him a glass of wine.
Children do not hang stockings, but rather leave their shoes and slippers by the fireplace. If they have been good,
Père Noël will leave treats in their shoes or slippers.
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Supercharge your health with the French cure!
Add French flavor to your cool-weather soups, stews and sauces with bouquet garni!
Bouquet garni are aromatic herbs tied together and tossed in a simmering stockpot. The benefits are multiple, from detox to adding antioxidants to your diet that helps avoid winter colds!
You will need:
1 Tbs. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2-3 peppercorns
Wrap the dried herbs in a square of cheescloth and then tie with a piece of kitchen twine.
Leave extra length of twine then toss the herbs in to the pot keeping the extra string on the outside so it's easy to remove before serving.
You can also place the herbs inside a closeable loof tea leaf ball.
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Book of the Month: Renoir: An Intimate Biography
by Barbara Ehrlich White
A great holiday gift, the definitive new biography of Renoir by leading
Renoir scholar Barbara Ehrliich White,
delivers a moving
biography
of French impressionist painter Pierre Auguste
Renoir
(1841–1919), sourced from thousands of letters and hundreds of previously
unpublished writings by the artist, his family, and his friends .The book traces his trajectory from unknown artist,often ridiculed by the critics, who lived in abject poverty into his mid-40s, to international fame and fortune. But as his fame increased, his health deteriorated. Severe rheumatoid arthritis left him wheelchair bound with his hands nearly useless. He relied entirely on assistants to place his palette and brushes in his hands as he worked. A fascinating read
that I could not put down. This touching and exhaustively researched biography is great for art enthusiasts.
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A fig and nut filled ring called a buccellato heralds Christmas in Sicily. Buccellato is also given by godparents to their godchild and family on the christening day. The cake is supposed to be as large as possible to ensure good luck.
http://www.mangiabenepasta.com/Christmas_fig_cake.html
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