El dia de los muertos (day of the dead) is celebrated on November 1st, throughout Mexico with variations seen in other Latin American countries and other parts of the world.

It is a joyous holiday commemorating the lives of those who have passed away. It is part of a three-day celebration honouring the dead, who are believed to return to their homes on October 31st, Halloween.

Here's a Spanish culture article prepared by don Quijote for the English language local press in Spain - with a bit of vocabulary and a few handy Spanish phrases waiting at the end of the read. These are people you will read about, sometimes daily, in the Spanish news:

Spain's most famous – Los más famosos de España
Smooth Latino crooners? Hip-swinging dance stars? Fancy-footworking football legends? These are probably the stereotypes you'd bet would top a list of most influential Spanish celebrities… and you wouldn’t be too far from the truth. But how about a King, a leading economist and a 50-something gay film director? Thought not. From politics to music and from sport to film Spain has an eclectic mix of rich and famous. Here is a short guide to the country’s ten most influential and revered….

1. El Rey Juan Carlos
The Spanish Royal Family enjoys almost unrivalled popularity amongst its people compared to most other European monarchies. But what makes this Bourbon King so popular in Spain?

El Rey Juan Carlos was appointed the rightful King of Spain by Franco before his death in 1975. The monarch´s popularity is largely due to the King's critical role in Spain´s smooth transition to democracy after 36 years of dictatorship. On assuming power he immediately democratised the state to the surprise and great displeasure of many Franco supporters who had expected him to mainatin an authoritarian state.

El Rey Juan Carlos gave up his absolute power to the government and became a ‘reigning’ rather than ‘ruling’ monarch. The entire royal family including the King are approachable and involved with the life of Spain, most noticeable after the Madrid bombings in 2004, when they met with the victims' families and publicly shared their grief.

2. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Zapatero is the leader of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) and, since becoming Prime Minister of Spain on 14th March 2004, has withdrawn troops from Iraq, legalised same-sex marriages and granted legal amnesty for illegal immigrants. Zapatero is supported by PRISA, a huge Spanish media group which produces El País and Canal+. Owned by one of richest men in Spain, Jesús de Polanco (editor's note: recently deceased), PRISA is said to have more influence and control of the media than Berlusconi in Italy. Of course the nature of politics dictates that he is not everyone’s cup of tea but, at any rate, he is Spain’s Prime Minister and so is undoubtedly one of its most influential characters.

3. Felipe González
González is a rather controversial personality. While being at the forefront of the Spanish transition to democracy, elected to the House of Deputies in its first elections in 1977 and being Spain’s longest-serving Prime Minister (1982-1996), he is also surrounded by scandal. A series of political and financial rumours tarnished his government but in spite of this he was elected to power for 4 terms! Despite his less-than-sparkling reputation, this charasmatic leader was incredibly important to Spain’s political development towards the end of the twentieth century and is certainly, if not the most, one of its most influential politicians.
 
4. Pedro Almodóvar
Director, producer and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar is possibly the most famous cinematic figure in Spain’s history. He never judges his complex characters but portrays them in weird and wonderful situations, dealing with issues of desire, passion, family and identity. He has been nominated for four Oscars and has won two, his most famous works include Todo Sobre mi Madre, Hable con Ella and Volver. His success is inspirational. Coming from a poor and illiterate background, his family sent him to school in the hope that he would become a priest. Instead he moved to Madrid where he spent 12 years working for a phone company. Almodóvar has iconic status throughout the cinematic world and has been invaluable in promoting Spanish film.

5. Fernando Alonso
When he was three years old, Alonso’s father gave him a home-made pedal kart which was meant for his sister but she showed no interest in it and passed it to her younger brother. Today, Fernando Alonso is the youngest person to become a Formula One champion! He is the reigning two-time world champion and one of racing’s richest stars. However, Alonso is not without his critics, he has been the subject of controversy relating to break-tests and delaying other racers, even his own team-mates.

6. Seve Ballesteros
Ballesteros has 94 professional golf wins under his belt! He has won the British Open three times and the Masters twice. This golfing legend first learnt his craft at the beach near his home practising with the 3-irons his older brothers lent him. One of those brothers is now his manager. In fact Ballesteros comes from a family of golfers, his uncle Ramón Sota was a professional champion and finished 6th in the Masters in 1965 and his brother finished in the Top 100 of the European tour. Ballesteros helped to design many of the golf courses along the Costa Blanca.

7. Rodrigo Rato
This smooth economist, born into a rich textile company, comes from a family of business men, although his father, uncle and brother all went to prison for having capital hidden in Switzerland. Rato became involved in politics in 1977 when he joined the AP (Popular Alliance) before it became the PP (Partido Popular). This party was made up of ex-Franco ministers and Rato was considered their economics expert. When Aznar and the PP came to power Rato became the Economics Minister and later the 9th President of IMF in 2004, a post he will hold until next year.

8. Penelope Cruz
This international movie star started her career as a dancer before she made the transition to television presenting, and eventually film. Penelope's first major film was Jamón Jamón in 1992 and since then she has had huge success making major films in Spanish, English, Italian and French, all which she speaks fluently. As an "A-list" celebrity both in Spain and in the USA, she has had high-profile relationships with many Hollywood heart-throbs such as Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, Lenny Kravitz. Arguably her most successful role (to date) was in Almodóvar’s recent production Volver, for this she has been nominated for various awards.

9. Antonio Banderas
Famous among kids for the voice of Puss in Shrek 2 and Shrek 3, Antonio Banderas is a Spanish actor and singer. He has made dozens of Hollywood films such as Philadelphia, Desperado, EvitaMask of Zorro. This Spanish heartthrob, along with Penelope Cruz, carries the Spanish flag for Spain in Hollywood. and

10. Alejandro Sanz
Grammy award-winning Spanish pop/ballad musician Alejandro Sanz has outsold Julio Iglesias as Spain’s most successful singer-songwriter. He has sold 21 million albums worldwide. Sanz started playing the guitar at the age of seven and started writing songs three years later, since then he has taken home 14 Latin Grammys and 1 regular Grammy, an outstanding career by anyone’s standards.

Without a doubt, there's many more famous people that need to be added to this list. Such a wide range of influential careers and professions demonstrates the variety of Spain’s popular culture. Pick up any gossip magazine in Spain and you not only will be reading about the lives of pop-stars, actors and footballers... but also about royals, sportsmen and politicians, too!  

Useful Vocabulary – Vocabulario Utíl
Have you heard of…?     ¿Te suena…?
No, who is that?             ¿No, quién es?
What does he/ she do?  ¿Qué hace?
What's your job?            ¿En qué trabajas tú?
Celebrity                       Celebridad/ persona famosa
Famous                         Famoso/a
Career                          Carrera
Singer                           Cantante
Actor/Actress               Actor/ Actriz
Politician                      Político/a
Royal                            Real
Sportsman                    Deportista
Gossip Magazine           Revista de corazón, prensa rosa

One of our don Quijote interns from the UK  prepared this cava "primer". She's included some pretty tempting cava cocktail ideas at the end:

Cava, the bubbly stuff

The last time you cracked open a bottle of bubbly, what was it?

Champagne? Asti? Sovetskoye Shampanskoye? Or cava? Producing over 12 million cases a year, Spain is the world's second largest producer of sparkling wine and although often mistakenly regarded as a “poor man´s champagne”, is actually a very acceptable and affordable alternative to the French drink.

Unlike the French producers, who struggle to keep prices down due to the high production costs – one hectare of vineyards in the Champagne region currently changes hands for one million euros – a good bottle of cava from one of the well known producers, Codorniu or Freixenet, can be found in a supermarket for as little as 7€....slightly better value than your average bottle of Moet!

Although EU law dictates that cava (or any other sparkling wine) cannot be referred to as “champagne”, Spain's bubbly shares many of the same features as its French counterpart, most notably the method by which it was made. The discovery of the méthode champenoise is famously credited to the French monk Dom Pérignon (c.1638 – 1715), who upon tasting it for the first time, is said to have shouted to his brethren, “Come quickly! I am drinking stars!” Literary references show that forms of sparkling wine have been produced in Spain...    more »

As published by don Quijote in the Costa Blanca News:

El Camino de Santiago
The pilgrimage is the new black. It's unlike anything seen since the 13th Century.

People are once again taking to the road and following the medieval Camino de Santiago (the Way of Saint James) across the north of Spain. Guided by yellow arrows, men and women of all nationalities head west from the French border on a 750km journey over mountains, wheat fields, forests and vine yards, taking in Pamplona, Burgos and León.

Medieval pilgrims seeked faith and penance whilst modern pilgrims often do it for the architecture, the physical effort, the incredible landscape or to take “time out” and seek a new direction. But whatever their reason, the camino is undoubtedly an unforgettable experience unique to Spain.

The Origins of the Camino
Back in 44AD, the pagan Queen Lupa of Padrón, Galicia, received two Palestinian refugees bearing the headless and decomposing corpse of a Christian martyr, requesting to bury him there. The body was said to be that of the apostle James, who had preached in Iberia and been executed by Herod Agrippa on his return to Jerusalem. His followers had rescued the body and allowed Providence to guide their boat through the Straits of Gibraltar to the shores of Galicia. Queen Lupa set them a series of tasks, including the taming of two bulls, which the Palestinians achieved successfully after falling to their knees and praying to Santiago (St. James). Amazed by what she saw, Queen Lupa granted the burial of Santiago and converted to Christianity.

However it wasn´t until the 9th Century that the Camino de Santiago was truly established, when a religious hermit, Pelayo, followed a brightly shining star and stumbled across a hidden Roman mausoleum which housed the remains of the apostle James the Greater. Amongst his relics was gold – artifacts which, still intact and belonging to one of Jesus´apostles, were some of Europe´s finest. The news spread across the continent like wildfire and between the 11th and 13th Centuries Compostela rivalled Rome and Jerusalem as a desination for pilgrims.

FACT: The Camino de Santiago is also known as the Vía Láctea or the Way of the Stars, since the Milky Way appears to mirror the path of the Camino in the sky.

The Pilgrims´Path
The route across northern Spain is not an easy one. Whilst no official start point exists – people usually picking it up wherever they choose – the most popular and traditional route, the Camino Francés, begins at the French border in the Pyrenees, at Roncesvalles. From here, beech forests lead into pastures and villages on a 45km route to Pamplona, which became an official stop on the pilgimage in the 11th Century and whose Gothic cathedral is worth a detour.

West from Pamplona, the camino takes a route through the Sierra del Perdón and down a long valley of wheat, white asparargus, grapes and olive groves to Puente de la Reina, where the Camino Aragonés meets with the Camino Francés, before carrying on to Estella, where the first examples of Romanesque architecture can be found.

From here, the path continues across an undulating landscape of oak trees, wine groves and sleepy villages to Viana, in Navarra, and then on to La Rioja, where Logroño awaits with its Gothic Iglesia de Santiago. From here beckons the province of Castilla y León, where the camino winds through the dense forests of the Montes de Oca to the beautiful city of Burgos – the 13th Century cathedral, whose three eight-pointed-star vaults illuminate the aisle and chapels, is stunning.

The next 200km of the journey takes in the Spanish meseta, where the exposed landscape consists of wheat fields and high barren plains. Highlights here include the Romanesque churches of Frómista and Sahagún, before the Camino reaches León and the home of the “Sistine Chapel of Romanesque painting”, the Panteón Real. The cathedral's 2000 sq metres of stained glass is rivaled only by Chartres in France.

On the way to Astorga, the Camino passes again into mountainous country, ascending to the Cruz de Ferro, a tiny iron cross lodged into an ancient pile of stones and surrounded by items left by passing pilgrims. A steep descent then drops to the city of Ponferrada, with its impressive castle, and on to Villafranca del Bierzo, whose church offered respite and pardon to pilgrims too ill to continue to Compostela.

The mountain pass at O Cebreiro is home to one of the earliest pilgrim stations, founded in 836, and the legendary home of the Holy Grail. The route carries on to the province of Galicia and from here the scenery changes dramatically. Countless villages and hamlets replace the cities and monuments, the houses are stone, the landscape green and the people speak Gallego. Here, Sarria is the chosen spot for those wishing to undertake the last 100 km of the Camino, where rural lanes lead to the town of Melide and Galicia´s oldest cruceiro (standing crucifix).

The last stops on the Camino include Arca and Lavacolla, where pilgrims would wash themselves before heading into the city. The last hill, the Monte do Gozo (Mount Joy), leads to the medieval gateway of Porta do Camiño and finally the magnificent Praza do Obradoiro. Devout pilgrims will then proceed to the cathedral's altar and climb stairs to hug a statue of Santiago and finally to the crypt to pay respect to the famous relics. A symbolic end to the journey is to witness the swinging of the mighty Botafumiero incense burner before mass ends.

FACT: When July 25 falls on a Sunday, that year is known as an Año Santo or Jacobeo (Holy Year). This happens every six, then eleven, five and back to six years...so 2010 and 2021 are the next two to look out for. Holy Years allow Catholic pilgrims earn plenary indulgences.

From Compostela, many pilgrims would historically continue to the end of the known world, Finisterra. At the lighthouse, they would burn rotten and stinking clothes whilst watching the sun set into the Atlantic.   

El Día de la Hispanidad (Hispanic Day or Columbus Day in the USA) is the national holiday of Spain. It is celebrated on October 12 and commemorates the exact date that Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) first set foot in the Americas. 

To commemorate this special day, a special parade is held in la Plaza de Colon, in Madrid, led by the Spanish military and followed by the King and the Royal Family. A wide array of other authorities, from foreign diplomats positioned in Spain to the presidents of the Autonomous governments, are invited to attend this parade. The Spanish Armed forces also fly through the air doing aerobatics with red and yellow smoke drawing images in for the crowd to see.  

The discovery of America was so important for Spain because this is what started the expansion of  the Spanish language and culture across to the newly found land. In Latin America, this holiday is also celebrated under the name Día de la Raza (Day of the Race) or Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) marking the first encounters of Europeans with Native Americans.

Here's a guide to Spanish wine, as published by don Quijote in the English language media in Spain.

You'll find a little vocabulary and a few handy wine-ordering phrases at the end of the article.
And should the article leave you craving more, our don Quijote Salamanca school hosts a Spanish & Wine Tasting course!

Spanish Wines
Spain is not only a nation of enthusiastic wine drinkers, but also vine growers. Spain has a long history of producing fine wines. Thanks to the sunny climate, Spanish vino is generally quite strong and the wine scene is thriving, with experimentation rife and competition fierce – in fact, Spain has the largest area of land dedicated to viticulture of any country in the world.

Spanish wine is available as blanco (white), tinto (red) and rosado (rosé) and in general remains pretty cheap, both in restaurants and supermarkets, the price to quality ratio being far better here than anything you´ll find in the UK. A 6€ bottle in a supermarket will be very drinkable, although the same money spent in a restaurant will probably not get you far. Cheap vino de mesa (table wine) can be found easily for much, much less...but be warned, it may be pretty foul.

In all bars and restaurants you buy wine by the glass (por copa) and by the bottle (por botella). Many places will also offer a vino de la casa (a house wine), often a cheaper local wine which may prove to be a pleasant surprise. In more off-the-beaten-track places, wine might arrive in a porrón - a jug with a long thin spout through which you´re expected to pour it into your mouth. If you don't fancy wine making a mess of your clothes, it's acceptable to pour it into a glass.

Deciphering the Label
Like most other European countries, Spain regulates its wine fairly carefully and follows a similar classification system to France and Italy, with all wines classified under the Denominación de Origen (DO) system. Spanish Cheeses also go through this same rigourous classification as well. Two important indicators of quality are the terms DOC and DO. DOC stands for denominación de origen calificada and is used to refer to wines that have maintained consistent high quality over a long period of time; whilst DO, denominación de origen, is one step down. Each DOC and DO covers a wide range of wines of varying quality, but such a classification system does tell you that the wine has been produced to certain supervised standards. On the other hand, however, there are some good wines being produced by vineyards who haven´t bothered to apply for DO status.

Other categories of wine, in descending order, include:

Denominación de origen provisional (Dop)
Vino de la tierra
Vino comarcal
Vino de mesa

Yet just when you thought you'd mastered the classification system...there's more. A vino joven is wine made for immediate drinking, while a crianza has to have been stored for at least 2 years with a minimum of 6 months spent in an oak cask for reds, and a minimum of a year for whites and rosés. Reserva wines require longer storage – 3 years for reds and 2 for whites and rosés – and Gran Reserva wines are those from particularly good vintages. These wines must be at least 5 years old and spent at least 2 years in the cask and 3 in the bottle.

Regional Wine Specialities
Wine is made everywhere in Spain, with each region having it's own distinct speciality. Here's a breakdown of the main wine growing regions and what to look out for:

GALICIA:  here the best wines are made from the white albariño grape from the Rías Baixas and many are cold fermented to maintain their freshness.

RIBERA DEL DUERO: despite Rioja's reputation, it is in fact this region that is home to Spain's most expensive wine, produced by Vega Sicilia. These wines are based on a mixture of international (Cabernet Sauvignon) and indigenous (Tempranillo) grapes.

CASTILLA LA MANCHA: this region produces 50% of all the wine in Spain. It has a reputation for cheap and cheerful reds, but this is changing with the emergence of the Valdepeñas DO.

CATALUNYA: this region is best known for its cavas (sparkling wines, similar to champagne) and still whites. Penedès wines are worth checking out, since this is the home of Spain's biggest wine producer, Torres.

ANDALUCIA: this is where wine production began in Spain, when the Phoenicians founded Cádiz in around 1100 BC. The region is most famous for sherry, made in the Jerez de la Frontera area.

 
LESSON: a little vino vocab...
Me gustaría...                                          I'd like...
Una copa de...                                         a glass of…
Una botella de…                                      a bottle of….
¿Qué me recomendaría?                          What would you recommend?
¿Tiene…?                                                Do you have...?
¡Salud!                                                    Cheers!
Lo siento, pero el vino sabe a corcho.        I'm sorry, but this wine taste like cork.
¡Uno más, por favor!                                Another one, please!