MANILA, Philippines - Instituto Cervantes de Manila celebrates the first ever El Día del Español (Day of the Spanish language) on June 20.
Declared by Instituto Cervantes’ main office in Madrid as an international cultural feast, Manila — along with the other 70 centers in four continents worldwide – will simultaneously take part in the grand celebration that underscores the relevance of the Spanish language, the main global language after English.
“El Día del Español is a festivity that marks the significance of the Spanish language as a spoken and written language,” says Instituto Cervantes director José Rodríguez. “After English, Spanish is currently the most important language in the world right now. It is also expected to open up a lot of new opportunities to people, also being the second most widely-spoken business language in the world.”
El Día del Español starts with an online campaign (http://www.eldiae.es) that captures the widespread use of Spanish as a language used at home and as a language of both instruction and learning. Free entertainment will be provided by a host of exciting performers and musicians for a whole day of leisure and activity for the whole family.
In addition to the great lineup of live music, Instituto Cervantes will stage the grandest of celebrations, including an all-day feast of Spanish food, vibrant street entertainment, games, and an exhibition of mimes, acrobats, and other artists.
The fun will kick off at 10 a.m. on June 20 on T.M. Kalaw Street, Manila , with the Manila City Hall Band playing lively musical pieces to get the party and the dancing started in true Spanish style. A group of artists will also be putting on displays of acrobatic performances with stunning stilt walkers, jugglers, and mimes.
During the day, visitors can take part in the festivity by choosing their favorite Spanish word. Interested participants may just visit the Instituto Cervantes and write their thoughts in Spanish on a seven-foot mural. First 50 visitors to write on the wall will receive a cool Dia del Español T-shirt.
Guests can also join the Cual es tú palabra favorita video contest, wherein they can upload their videos explaining what their favorite Spanish word is in no more than 20 seconds. The first 100 guests who will submit a video entry will get a free Henna tattoo containing their favorite Spanish word while the person whose word gets the most number of votes will take home a special book set and three thousand pesos (P3,000).
Children and kids at heart can also join the Pinta palabras, a colorful way of learning Spanish words.
To highlight the event, Instituto Cervantes de Manila will feature a symbolic firing of cannon made up of five-kilogram cutout fabrics with Spanish words imprinted on them. The cannon will be detonated at exactly 11 a.m.
Once the words fall, people in the street can play with them by stringing them together on cords that will be arranged in the trees, lampposts and other structures that facilitate the action.
“Similar to the ancient tradition of firing cannon to inaugurate an event, on June 20 at 11 a.m., a cannon will be fired to celebrate El Día del Español. But instead of cannonballs, which are intended to destroy, the cannon will be shooting out words that are meant to create. It will be an explosion of words and the public will be invited to string these words together to form meaningful sentences,” Rodriguez says.
After the cannon firing, at 11:05 a.m., for sale at the patio are authentic Spanish dish and other mouth-watering pica-picas. Simultaneously, there will also be cooking demonstrations and seminars on Spanish cooking offered by Casino Español and food carts from Dulcinea.
Dia del Español is presented by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila and the Embajada de España, in collaboration with AECID. Other sponsors are LRT, MRT, Casino Español, Faber-Castell, La Consolación College and Barceló Café.
For information, call 526-1482 or visit http://manila.cervantes.es/. Instituto Cervantes de Manila is at 855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila.