It’s Christmas, welcome home

By Victoria Hill

As I head home on Thursday, I wanted to leave you with some things that I am looking forward to in the United States during the Christmas holiday.

On Friday, December 24th, my father, mother, brother, sister and I will join 50 of my family members at my cousins’ house. There, we will reflect on a great year as we eat pasta, chicken, salad and a LOT of sweets. As our group gets bigger each year, we have now started ordering food from a restaurant. After dining for hours, the cousins participate in Secret Santa (or Invisible Friend). The adults play a different game called «Yankee Swap.» We chat until about 11:30 PM. At that time, my family of five says goodbye so that we can make it to church on time. My mother loves midnight mass. It is a beautiful service. In the United States, this service has become less popular than those at 4 or 6 in the afternoon. My family arrives home at about 2 in the morning.

Poesía popular al alcance de todos V: acerca de un presunto villancico

Por Jesús Alonso

Es sabido que la palabra “villancico” designa hoy en día (además de a una estrofa verdaderamente difícil de explicar) a una serie de canciones populares de carácter religioso que se cantan en Navidad y otras celebraciones (según nos dice el DRAE).

Pues bien, con esa definición en la mano esta canción no es un villancico.