Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

Spain is home to many different peoples and festivals. You can dance with duende, get in a food fight, or walk down one of the world’s busiest pedestrian streets. Here are five fun facts to get you started. 1 Covering most of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, the third most mountainous country in Europe, is cut off from western Europe by the Pyrenees and from Africa by the Strait of Gibraltar. It has coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Despite these geographic barriers, Spain has experienced a constant ow of people from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 2 Spanish afternoons are for tapas. What began as an afternoon snack of bread and olives has evolved as a time to feast on all sorts of appetizers.…

Spain often brings to mind images of bullfights, flamenco dancers, guitar music, golden beaches, magical islands set in the dark-blue Mediterranean, and snow-white villages clinging to mountainsides. Spain is all that, and more. Much of Spain’s countryside is covered with low mountains, green in spring, dry and brown the rest of the year. The soil and Mediterranean climate—hot summers and mild winter—are perfect for growing cork trees as well as oranges, grapes, almonds, and olives. Spain’s architecture ranges from simple, whitewashed cottages to magnificent cathedrals, castles, and modern apartment buildings, all very different from the wildly curving lines of architect Antoni Gaudí’s imaginative buildings. Here and there, gracious old monasteries and castles have been converted into picturesque hotels. Covering most of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, the third most mountainous country…

Think of sport in Spain and you probably imagine a man with a red flag facing a charging bull. But bullfighting is no longer the most popular sport in Spaniards’ hearts. The (somewhat) new game on the block is soccer. From Minnow to Hero Spain’s love of soccer (called futbol throughout the world) got off, literally, to a rocky start. British mining companies working in the country’s south brought soccer to the region in the 1870s. Over the next half century, regional clubs slowly developed. Only in 1920 did the men’s national team officially come into being. They were off to a running start, winning the Olympic silver medal the same year. Eighty-odd years later, the Spanish soccer national team was just as spirited and aggressive. But players lacked physical…

Beautiful Barcelona Located on the northeastern coast of Spain, Barcelona has a population of 1.6 million people, making it the country’s second largest city. However, its beautiful parks and historic sites help make it the country’s most visited city. Barcelona is home to Europe’s largest cruise port. More than 3 million ships pass through it each year. The city had no beaches until the 1992 Summer Olympics when sand was imported from Egypt to create 2 miles (4.5 kilometers) of sandy coastline. Now seven human-made beaches dot the city s coastline. Architects originally wanted to build the Eiffel Tower in Barcelona, but Spain rejected the proposal because it was too radical. The city is home to 68 parks that cover roughly 10% of Barcelona s total surface area. One of…

“The grass looks greener on the other side!”—Ruoqing Z. “I need a haircut!”—Sam M. “Who are you calling a lion? I’m a llama!”—Audrey S. “How much are you paying me to do this again?”—Molly A. Answer Page ANSWER TO MYSTERY PHOTO ON INSIDE FRONT COVER: Cork is harvested from the bark of Spanish cork trees. ANSWER TO WHERE IN THE WORLD ON PAGE 21: The Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa, Spain, houses modern and contemporary art. ANSWERS TO SPAIN CROSSWORD ON PAGE 40: ACROSS: 4. Picasso; 6. Madrid; 8. Barcelona; 10. Basques. DOWN: 1. tapas; 2. flamenco; 3. Altimira; 5. October; 7. Pyrenees; 9. euro. ANSWERS TO MATCHING MATADORS ON BACK COVER: A and D. (B’s socks are orange: C’s buttons are square; E has two clefts in his chin; F’s…

OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Spain LOCATION: southwestern Europe. In the north, it borders the Bay of Biscay, the North Atlantic Ocean, and France. On its eastern border is the Mediterranean Sea; to the west, Portugal. AREA: 195,364 square miles POPULATION: 47,163,418 (2022 estimate) GOVERNMENT: parliamentary monarchy CAPITAL: Madrid ECONOMY: services, 74.2%; industry, 23.2%; agriculture, 2.6% (2017 estimate) CLIMATE: temperate; clear, hot summers inland, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters inland TERRAIN: large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north HIGHEST POINT: Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands, 12,198 feet (3,718 meters) NATIONAL LANGUAGES: Castilian Spanish (of cial nationwide); Catalan (of cial in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community); Galician (of cial in Galicia); Basque (of cial in the Basque Country…

What were the Canary Islands (Islas Canarias) named after? Surprisingly, it wasn’t birds. Any other guesses? Popular theory tells us that this archipelago (group of islands) was likely named after wild dogs that the Romans found when they landed there in the Middle Ages. They called the island Insulae Canariae, which translates to “Island of the Dogs.” Another possibility is that the islands were named after the Canarii, a North African group. Either way, we do know that they were not named after little yellow birds. The Canary Islands are a group of eight volcanic islands located off the northwestern coast of Africa. People flock to the Canary Islands. Considering the islands’ mild climate, mountains, beaches, and clean air, can you blame these visitors? And, yes, they are likely to…

Language, Dialect, or Accent? If you’re from Boston, you might have trouble understanding someone from Alabama, just as someone from Tennessee might not understand what a New Yorker is saying. You’re hearing different accents, or ways of pronouncing words. If you go to London, you’ll find that English people speak another dialect. Besides using accents, dialects often use completely different words to say the same thing (like the word jumper, which means “sweater” in England). Even so, people who speak different dialects can generally understand each other. A language is even more distinct. Languages have their own words and grammatical rules. People who speak different languages usually can’t understand each other at all. People speak different languages within the country of Spain. Although one official language is spoken throughout the…

Festivals, parades, and celebrations happen all around the globe, but Spain may win first prize for the most unique events. Some are fantastic, some are frightening, and some are downright funky. The most famous Spanish celebration is most likely the Pamplona Bull Run. This rather dangerous event, part of a weeklong festival called San Fermin, takes place in July. A group of bulls is released into the city streets early every morning during San Fermin. Side streets are blocked to divert the animals toward the bull ring, where bullfights are held later in the day. People jump into the streets to race with the bulls, running with all their might as the large beasts thunder at their heels. Fifteen participants have died and countless others have been injured since the…

CRITTER CORNER The Iberian lynx is a big cat species, like the Canadian lynx, the Eurasian lynx, and the bobcat. But it is the rarest and most threatened of them all. The first part of its name comes from the place where it is found, the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. The second word, lynx, is Greek for “to shine.” It might refer to the way cat’s eyes reflect light. Description and Behavior The lynx’s coat is tawny (orange-brown) or bright yellowish red with dark spots all over the body with a white underbelly. It has long black ear tufts (clumps of hair) that help give it excellent hearing and great eyesight for nocturnal (nighttime) hunting. The whiskers on its face help the cat sense its surroundings. Wide-spreading feet covered…

Spanish cuisine focuses on using the freshest and best ingredients. From sunup to sundown (and beyond), Spaniards take advantage of the abundance of fresh seafood and produce available in their country. Dining in Spain starts with an early morning breakfast of cocoa or sweetened coffee with toast or a long fried pastry called churro (CHOO-roh). Around 11 a.m., Spaniards snack on sweet rolls. At 1 p.m., it’s time for tapas (TAH-pahs). Tapas started out as little plates of bread, olives, or nuts in bars. Today, tapas include all sorts of appetizers. Small salads, vegetables stuffed with seafood or sausage, tiny sandwiches or canapés, meatballs, and fried foods are just some of the tapas Spaniards enjoy. The main meal, la comida (LAH coh-MEE-dah), comes around 2 p.m. The meal might start…

As Maria was playing in the forest near her home in northern Spain, she made a fantastic discovery. She stumbled upon a cave and climbed inside to explore. What she found inside startled the world. The walls and ceiling were covered with drawings and rock paintings of people and animals. Maria rushed to find her father, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, and brought him to the cave. Soon the world knew about the artwork in Altamira Cave, estimated to be more than 18,500 years old. Maria and her father were the first people to journey inside the cave in more than 13,000 years when she made the discovery in 1879. It had been sealed by rock, which preserved the drawings and paintings. The paintings looked so fresh that at first, experts…

Design Your Own Kerchief In Basque country, kerchiefs or bandanas are worn tied around the neck to display a person’s identity with symbols of clubs they belong to, the name of a local festival, or speci c patterns. What would you put on your kerchief to show your identity? Something to represent your family, your school, your town, your hobbies, or your favorite team? Materials: Plain kerchief or bandana Fabric markers If you don’t have access to a cloth bandana, you can use the template on the next page and regular markers, colored pencils, or crayons. YOUR TURN: Design a Kerchief Have your parent or legal guardian send us a high-resolution image of your creation to faces@cricketmedia.com by March 16, 2023. Be sure the email includes your name, age, and…