This first week of December in Spain has brought to the fore the inextricable link between language and culture that studying a new language brings into focus which a language student has the opportunity to embrace.
This is so well illustrated as December 6th is Diá de la Constitución (Constitution Day) in Spain and a very important celebration of a day from a not too distant past (1978) and a moment of great significance in Spain that I was not aware of.
At the same time, The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, or the Dia de la Inmaculada Concepción is a feast of the Roman Catholic Church celebrated on the 8th December.
This year in some parts of Spain it was celebrated on Monday 9th providing the opportunity for a four day long weekend celebrating and combining both events with a long weekend public holiday.
When celebrations are combined in this way it is referred to in Spain as “puente diciembre” signifying the “bridging” of the two days of celebration.
At this time there was also the live tv coverage from Paris of the Renace (rebirth) of Notre Dame – a fascinating watch with a range of new vocabulary for my vocabulary book!
minuciosa limpieza y descontaminación
los majestuosos tonos
resonarán una vez más.
Some lovely words to look to get the right pronunciation with and I look forward to attempting to do this with my teacher Lindsay soon!
Will this vocabulary be put to use in the presentation of my Equestrian & Fashion Gloves collection? – probably not but this special event was a learning opportunity not to be missed for a Spanish language student to be able to listen and learn from the tv coverage of the full and momentous Notre Dame rebirth presentation in Spanish! A great example for language students of learning by self!
Of course not to be forgotten whilst all of this study is taking place it is set in the most beautiful December weather of blue skies and sunshine as the pictures fully illustrate! So some quality time away from the study always available🌞
As the first week of December comes to a close the final week of my stay in Spain for 2024 beckons – with Christmas ahead the final two chapters of my Spanish Beginners journey blog will after a period of reflection bring together some conclusions and insights from what has been an amazing opportunity and journey.
These will be published in Spain Blog Chapters 9 & 10 in January when I can also promise some beautiful Christmas decoration pictures from Spain will also feature!
In the meantime, I take this opportunity to wish readers,
¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo!
