Culture of The whole Spanish-speaking world

Festivals and celebrations

• The twelve grapes — At midnight on 31 December the whole country watches one clock and eats one grape per chime. Twelve grapes in twelve seconds, and luck for the year.

Customs and etiquette

• La hora latina: the elastic hour — An invitation for eight means you may arrive from eight. The skill is knowing when the time is literal — and there is a phrase for saying so.
• Customs and etiquette

Identity and society

• The two surnames — Everybody carries two surnames, one from each parent, and nobody changes their name on marrying. How a name is built, why Picasso is not Ruiz, and what to write in the second box.
• Identity and society

Literature and storytelling

• Literature and storytelling

Places and landscapes

• Places and landscapes

History

• History

Read

• Tú, usted and vos — Tú, usted y vos
• El boom latinoamericano — The Latin American Boom
• El español en Estados Unidos — Spanish in the United States
• El español neutro — Neutral Spanish
• El galeón de Manila — The Manila galleon
• El lenguaje de los jóvenes — How young people talk
• El piropo a debate — The Piropo, Argued Over
• La Carta de Jamaica — The Jamaica Letter
• La diáspora venezolana — The Venezuelan diaspora
• La hora latina — Latin Time
• La plata de Potosí — The silver of Potosí
• La propina — The Tip
• La tauromaquia a debate — The bullfighting argument
• Las islas Galápagos — The Galápagos Islands
• Los dos apellidos — The two surnames
• Los sefardíes y el ladino — The Sephardim and Ladino