We talk about the Three Wise Men

The three wise men are Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar and they can see you all the year, if you are good they bring you the things that you want and if you are bad they bring you coal.
They send you the presents on fifth of January and they travel by camels.
We always leave food for them the night before.
Merry Christmas!
Tot ziens!

Pelayo Caunedo

When Jesus was born, three astrologers from the east saw a star in the sky. At that time they equipped their camels and they followed the direction of the star.

Seven days after the birth of Jesus they came to Bethlehem, they went to the manger where Jesus was born and they gave him three gifts: gold, frankincense and Myrrh.

Now all six of the nights of January they give presents to children who have behaved well throughout the year and they get coal to children who have misbehaved.

Sergio Torres

At night in five of January, we see a parade of The Three Magic Kings and his page boys who come in camel or horse depending of the town which you are.

The children write a letter to The Three Magic Kings in which they ask their for some presents and the following day in the morning, the children find them under the Christmas Tree.

Also, It´s tradition to put The Christmas Crib (To place figures recalling Jesus' birth)

I hope that you like the explanation. Feliz Navidad.

Rubén Fernández

The Three Wise Men (or the Three Kings)

In Christian tradition it is said that Three Kings visited Jesus after his birth. They worship him offering some gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are mentioned only in the Gospel of Matthew which says they came "from de East of Jerusalem", to worship the Christ "King of the Jews". According to this, they found Jesus in a stable, by following a star, in Bethlehem.

In Spain we celebrate this special day on the 6th of January. The night before, there is The Procession of the Three Wise Men (Cabalgata) in every town or city. The Three Kings can arrive by ship, by plane, by car, by camel, by horse, by tractor... and they throw sweets and paper streamers to everybody.

After that, they talk to the little children and these ask them the presents they would like to receive that night. If they have been good along the year, it is supposed they will get the gifts but if they have been naughty or mischievous, they will have coal.

That night all the children go to bed early and leave in the house water or milk and some bread for the camels and some spirits and food for the Kings.

Everybody wakes up in the night and looks for the gifts. It´s a Magic Night. We all love it. It´s the night of the illusion. In the morning all the children play with their toys. Everybody is happy...but we finish our holidays.

The story of Sinterklaas in Spanish

Holanda es un pais pequeño pero tiene muchas dias especiales, por ejemplo la fiesta de « Sinterklaas ».

Aqui os presento la leyenda de Sinterklaas. Se dicen que Sinterklaas es un santo que vive en España. Cada año viene a Holanda para celebrar su cumpleaños con los niños Holandeses. Algo muy tipico es que de verdad su cumpleaños es el cuatro de diciembre, pero el dia de la fiesta es el cinco. Algo más tipico es que es Sinterklaas que da los regalos a los niños y no al revez.
Bueno, más importante es que es un dia muy especial. Y gracias a esta fiesta el primer semana de diciembre hay un ambiente especial en todo Holanda. Casi todas las tiendas y las casas en Holanda son decorados ya algunas dias antes del cinco. Además de las decoraciones también puede escuchar canciones sobre Sinterklaas y su ayuda Pedro negro. Y en todos los supermercados y panaderías se venden chocolates, chucherias y galletas de Sinterklaas y Pedro negro, que son muy ricos !

La historia cuenta que todos los años Sinterklaas viaje con su barco de vapor de España a Holanda juntos con su Pedro negros. Llevan muchos regalos para toda la gente de Holanda y en especial a los niños. Llega el fin de noviembre en la puerta de una ciudad donde miles de gente le reciben. Los niños cantan los cancioñes y los Pedro negros les dan chucherias y galletas.
Desde que han llegado en la puerta los Pedro negros contemplan a los niños si no hacen cosas malas. Porque si lo hacen, no reciben sus regalos el cinco de diciembre y tienen que ir con Sinterklaas a España haciendo trabajo muy duro.
Afortunadamente cada año todos los niños reciben sus regalos y disfrutan de la fiesta. Los adultos compran regalos a si mismos y jugan juegos divertidos.
Sobre todo es el ambiente lo que es más importante, las familias estan juntas y disfrutan de un dia inolvidable.


Eliza Blommestijn, 20 años. Ex-estudiante de Hofstad Lyceum, La Haya, Holanda

Christmas celebrations at Hofstad Lyceum 2008

The last schoolday before Christmas Break all students of Hofstad Lyceum came together with their tutors in nicely decorated and illuminated classrooms, in order to enjoy a self prepared extended breakfast. There were candles and Christmas songs everywhere in the schoolbuilding. New this year was, that many students had brought along small presents for their classmates. Pupils of Hofstad Lyceum are not only attending lessons, but are also warm and close friends. Too close sometimes!!! Most frequently their educators sigh: are we teaching our subject or are we running a club.....

Anyway: Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

In the pics students from T2A and from VWO6 (the exam class). Have u discovered Spain in one of the photos? ;-))

P.S. If you want to add any comment to our weblog: please send this by email to either Mr Hans Smit of Mr Francisco Prendes

¡Feliz navidad!

The Spanish Selhovians came together in the hall of their school in order to present a nice wish to the world and in particular to their email friends in Holland. ¡Feliz navidad! Merry Christmas and A Happy new Year! The photo will be published in a Dutch newspaper (ADHaagschecourant), together with similar ones from other countries, secondary schools in The Hague are in contact with. A splendid initiative of the editor!! It makes us feel more and more European!!

IES Selgas: desde Holanda osdeseamos Un Prospero Año Nuevo!! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Tot ziens in 2009!!

Monitor nr 5: the man from the sea

In one of our previous contributions below we presented the monitors of The Selhovian Tribe. One of them could not attend the Kick Off meeting in Cudillero. His name: Willem Ment den Heijer, together with Mr Smit teaching geography to T2A. Mr Den Heijer is a man of the sea, born and raised in Scheveningen, the ancient fishermen's port of The Hague. His ancestors were all fishermen and he himself spent many years at sea as well. He worked for Greenpeace, protected the whales and prevented the oceans from overfishing. He takes part in a huge network of international contacts and his pupils know that: quite frequently English speaking guest teachers from all over the world appear in his classroom, telling all about their country. And that is only one reason, why Mr Den Heijer is so popular among his students!!

In the picture: Mr Den Heijer coaching T2A during a computer assignment about internationalization

Asturias: thanks for the presents!

All of a sudden a huge box of presents arrived by snail mail for the Dutch Selhovians. Unfortunately the box was standing their on the desk of their history teacher, mr Isidor Solis and they had to wait for some 60 minutes..... What would be inside??!! Finally Mr Solis opened the box and everybody got a pen, a small notebook, a beautiful folder of Cudillero and a candy bar. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, that tasted nice. But also a bit weird. What was it? In the picture T2A gathered in the mediacenter the day after and as you can see, there was one candy bar left. For Lars, who was ill yesterday...

Selgas: ¡Muchas gracias!