Elementary English. Lesson 4. Past simple and past continuous

Elementary English. Lesson 3. Present tense review

Past Simple and Past Continuous - Lesson 2

Present Simple and Present Continuous - Lesson 1

Confusing Sex & Gender Words in English

Three kings day in Spain

On 5th January Spain celebrates the end of Christmas with a great party where everybody gives and receives presents. It is to celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men - Melchior Caspar and Balthazar - to the city where Jesus was born. In the same way that the Three Wise Men gave gifts to baby Christ, here they share presents amongst children around Spain - in fact; they are more popular than Santa Claus.

There are lots of processions of the Three Wise Men in each city, the children go along with there parents to see the kings and receive sweets from them.

Before going to sleep, children put some milk and biscuits next to the Christmas tree for the Three Kings and some water for their camels. They also leave out their best pair of shoes to be filled with presents.

On the next day, 6th January children wake up and see how many presents they have received. If they have been good, they will find a lot of good presents but if they have been naughty they will find coal. These days, the coal is actually made of sugar, but some years ago it was real coal.

During this day, all families enjoy a piece of roscon (a sugar-frosted fruit-filled bread) for breakfast tradition says that the person who finds a novelty such as a coin, in his or her portion will have good luck for the next year.

Both young and old enjoy opening their presents on this day.

Eating grapes on New Year's Eve

Eating 12 Grapes on New Year's Eve in Spain

Agustina Pascual from Spain

Photo: Sandy Peters When it is midnight, each time the clock chimes, they put a grape in their mouth.

For a long time, Spanish people have had a traditional custom of celebrating New Year's Eve. On the last day of the year, the 31st of December, they wait until twelve p.m. Everybody has to have twelve grapes ready to eat when the clock starts to chime. It is traditional to eat them as you hear the clock from Puerta del Sol in Madrid chiming.

When it is midnight, each time the clock chimes, they put a grape in their mouth. By the time the clock has finished chiming, everybody has to have finished their grapes and the New Year starts, but nobody ever finishes eating the grapes on time.

Eating the grapes is very funny because everybody starts the New Year with a full mouthful of grapes. It's almost impossible to finish eating the grapes by the time the clock finishes chiming. Normally people still have all the grapes in their mouths, and they start looking at each other and have to laugh.

You can imagine what would happen if they laughed with all the grapes in their mouths. It's really difficult to have a second to swallow them. I think you can imagine the rest of the story.

This tradition started in Spain because one year when there was a big grape harvest, the king of Spain decided to give grapes to everybody to eat on New Year's Eve.