Skip to content
Each One Teach One

Meeting 8 - Christmas and New Year's Eve traditions

This meeting took place the 16th of November of 2023, in Hervanta Campus. There, we were talking about our own Christmas traditions while having lunch.

We thought it was a nice idea to bring Finnish things (sweets, magnets, souvenirs…) as a Christmas present for our friends and family. 

Every 24th December night or 25th December morning, Santa Claus comes to our houses (in Germany and also in Spain).

In Spain, there is also another tradition, which is called “Los Reyes Magos” (something like “The magic kings”). They come to your house every 5th of January. It is related to the Christian religion.

More topics that have arised were “fireworks”. In Spain it is forbidden in some places, but in others it is a tradition. For example in Valencia “Las Fallas”.  In Germany, people can play with them wherever they want.

There´s another tradition in Spain which consists of eating 12 grapes at 0.00 o’clock every 31st of December. People usually wear red underwear on this day.

The four of us are used to have the typical calendar with 24 doors with small presents or details inside.

Some Vocabulary:

  • Christmas (“Weihnachten”) (“Navidad”)
  • New years eve (“Silvester”) (“Noche Vieja”) 
  • Santa Claus (“Weihnachtsmann”) (“Papá Noel”) 
  • Advent calendar (“Adventskalender”) (“Calendario de Adviento”)

Comments

Leave a Reply

Processing comments...

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Keep reading

Blog10: Internet and tech savy people: Today Myko came with a friend to hook up my internet connection. I received the modem in the mail but I didn't know how to connect this without Myko's help. I learned so many new Vietnamse words that I added to my book. She explained a lot about Vietnamese culture and the role of women and the role of women in Europe. It was so interesting and important for me to recognize my privilege and predisposition as a Canadian female, we laughed and had so many complications with the modem but finally Myko got it to work. Myko taught me so much today about being strong and pursuing your dreams as a mother and a woman. I was able to exchange services and help Myko to pronounce her words more clearly and we looked through my lonely planet travel book that I have been dreaming of making a reality. We talked a lot about the possibilities of future travel together. I learn so much from her on a day to day basis. Her strength inspires me and makes me less afraid of my own. I am happy now that I internet and a dear friend who knows so much about so many different things.

Blog 9: Finance and business: Today we walked and talked about the business ideas that we have to open a sandwich shop. I learned the words money, bank and dreams in Vietnamese. We had a fantastic walk and discussed so much that I barely remember to take notes on my Vietnamese but luckily we were able to revise my new financial vocabulary later on the tram home. Dong is the word for money and I think now that I have been able to collect so many Vietnamese words over these last weeks that I will try to book a trip to Vietnam so that I remember everything that I have learned. Walking and talking about finances made me realize how lucky we are in Finland that we dont have to pay for education. In Canada as well as Vietnam, it is very expensive to study but this how now created a new business idea for Myko and I. We have so much to learn and discover about one another. This was a lovely brisk walk!

Blog 8: Vegetables and Beef, important words in Vietnam: Today I learned the words for onion and carrot as well as beef and chicken. The improvement in both of our pronunciations has surpassed my expectations. We went around the table and Myko pointed out all the different names of the vegetables. I repeated many times and started to think that I might get the hang of this language very soon. Myko taught me how to use different verbs like eat and walk and talk. The verbs in different tenses was quite fun, we laughed a lot as my pronunciations made no real consistent sense. Now I can list the food that I eat and say that I am hungry, tired and or am going for a walk. I feel like I learned so much today. I have expanded my vocabulary and took action on pronouncing full sentences with the new verbs that I have learned. I feel confident that I could definitely go to a restaurant and order a Pho soup!