Buenas tardes, chicos. Two Spanish-related religious facts I learned this week:

Traditionally, children in Spain don’t receive presents on Christmas Day. Instead, they leave out their shoes on the night of January 5th, ready to find their gifts on the morning of the 6th – Epiphany, or El Día de los Reyes Magos (“the day of the royal wise men”). This day is also a public holiday.

The other fact concerns the Spanish name Paco. It’s actually a diminutive of Francisco, and comes from St Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan order of monks – he was referred to as “Pater Comunitatis”, the father of the community.