Friday, December 26, 2014

Merry Christmas 2014!!!

Lope de Vega Primary School wishes you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015.
We have attached a Season's Greetings Card which was drawn by one of the teachers at school, You can see The Three Wise Men and Father Christmas put on a Pirate Costume, related to the topic that the school has been working on all our first tremester.


Monday, December 22, 2014

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is highly probable that it originated from a children's memory and forfeit game.
The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting with Christmas Day, or in some traditions, the day after Christmas (December 26) (Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day, as being the feast day of St. Stephen Protomartyr), to the day before Epiphany, or the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6, or the Twelfth Day). Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQEOBZLx-Z8

12 Days of Christmas Lyrics



On the first day of Chritmas
my true love sent to me:
A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the second day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the fourth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves,
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens,
Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the eighth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming, Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds,
Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids a Milking, Seven Swans a Swimming, Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Ten Lords a Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids a Milking, Seven Swans a Swimming, Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Eleven Pipers Piping
Ten Lords a Leaping, Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids a Milking, Seven Swans a Swimming, Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
12 Drummers Drumming
Eleven Pipers Piping, Ten Lords a Leaping, Nine Ladies Dancing, Eight Maids a Milking
Seven Swans a Swimming, Six Geese a Laying, Five Golden Rings, Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens, Two Turtle Doves, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree




The song explain a set of gifts to give to friends on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Technically, the twelve days of Christmas start with Christmas and go until January 6th. But with these gifts, Sixth Grade students used it more like an advent, starting on the 13th of December and ending on Christmas Eve. They also made up the song with the gifts that they felt like. A video has been made:





And these are the drawings that they did:
  
 



The Spanish Christmas Lottery

The Spanish Christmas Lottery is based on tickets (billetes) which have 5-digit numbers, just like the regular drawing of the Spanish national lottery. Due to the enormous popularity of the game, each ticket is printed multiple times, in several so-called series. A unique 5-digit number is printed on each ticket and on the subsequent series of that ticket. For example, the ticket with the number 00001 is printed multiple times under different series numbers. Each ticket costs €200. Because this may be too expensive, the tickets are usually sold as tenths (called décimos). The price of a décimo is €20 and the payout is 10% of the published prize.

Since December 18, 1812, the Christmas Lottery drawings are held according to exactly the same procedure each year. In the past it took place in the Lotería Nacional hall ofMadrid, while in 2010 and 2011 it was celebrated in the Palacio Municipal de Congresos de Madrid, and in 2012 in Teatro Real in Madrid. Pupils of the San Ildefonso school(formerly reserved for orphans of public servants) draw the numbers and corresponding prizes, singing the results aloud in front of the public. Until 1984 only boys from San Ildefonso participated in the drawing; that year Mónica Rodríguez became the first girl to sing the results, including a fourth prize of 25 million Spanish pesetas.[3] It is a custom that the winners donate some of the money to the San Ildefonso school. The public attending the event may be dressed in lottery-related extravagant clothing and hats.[4] The state-run Televisión Española and Radio Nacional de España, and other media outlets, broadcast the entire draw, which currently takes place on December 22 each year.

Non-winners will make the commonplace comment that "it's health that really matters". Those who just get their money back will often re-invest the prize in a ticket for Sorteo de El Niño, the second most important draw, held before the feast of Epiphany of Jesus on January 6.