00:00And speaking of Christmas, our writer and screenwriter Guillermo Barrante is here with us.
00:06A big round of applause!
00:07Hello!
00:08Hi, Guillermo!
00:09Dear Guille, how are you?
00:10All good?
00:11All good, all good.
00:12Welcome.
00:13There are myths about Christmas, when Santa Claus first came here to Argentina, because
00:19you always tell us tremendous stories, you have told us stories, for example, so that
00:25the people of the Recoleta Cemetery remember that we all stay with our eyes open.
00:30Are there Christmas stories too?
00:32Yes, I bring, I bring.
00:33Christmas myths?
00:34Always, yes.
00:35Ghosts of Christmas?
00:36There is a ghost related to Christmas, in this case not so truculent, but yes, it has
00:42to do with Christmas.
00:43It has to do with the first Christmas tree that illuminated a place in Buenos Aires.
00:49Ah!
00:50The first.
00:51Look.
00:52Of all.
00:53The first tree that ...
00:54And we have to go to the English invasions, when a certain Michael Hines, an Irishman
01:02who belonged to the invasions, to the English soldiers, ends up injured on the streets
01:10of Buenos Aires, the doors of the city had already been defended, he was attended by,
01:18for some reason, a family of the place, the buried, they attend him, they take care of him,
01:25they caress him, and he stays living in Buenos Aires, he does not return, and he was not just
01:31any soldier, he was a bastard son of the one who was King IV of England.
01:37Ah, look.
01:38He finds out about that, in Europe, he wants to make friends with his real father, he does not
01:45receive that friendship, and that's when he gets involved with the army and arrives in Buenos Aires
01:49with the invasions.
01:50And the family adopts him.
01:51Buried.
01:52Buried.
01:53Exactly.
01:54And then?
01:55He, with the years, meets María González, an Uruguayan, who ends up being his wife,
02:00they live in Buenos Aires, and in 1828, that December 24, he happens to bring a European custom,
02:10which was that of the Christmas tree.
02:12December 24, what year?
02:141828.
02:16Exactly.
02:17There was no, he could not buy the tree, so he gets the upper part of a bedouin,
02:24the neighbors did not know what was happening, they suddenly see lights in the windows of the houses,
02:29of the Heinz, they think it is a fire, everyone approaches, fearful, and realize that it is
02:35this tree, this half tree, illuminated with candles, and with ornaments, just waiting
02:43for Christmas.
02:44The first Christmas tree in Buenos Aires.
02:46Wow, that's crazy.
02:47And there is no myth, there is no legend, there is no anchor in the present, if not, something
02:54of that continues to happen, an echo.
02:55And the echo is precisely that of the ghost of this Irishman, who was murdered in Uruguay,
03:04but he says he returns on every good night, and that near the apple of the lights,
03:12which is where he had the house, the Heinz family, they say that it is heard on the night of the 24th,
03:19an Irish music, gaitas.
03:20Really?
03:21Yes.
03:22The neighbors say.
03:23I'm going to go to the apple of the lights that night.
03:25I'm crazy.
03:26It's divine too.
03:27Yes, I can't believe you.
03:28And until they suddenly see an image, some say, I don't know if with a glass there is more or not,
03:34but they see someone dressed in soldier clothes, and they say it is the ghost of Michael Heinz,
03:40who appears on every 24 near, here in the center of the apple of the lights.
03:46Look, you're right Santi, let's go away from the apple of the lights.
03:50Let's see if it appears.
03:52It doesn't do anything apparently.
03:54It is a kind of Christmas spirit, kind, not as kind as Santa Claus.
04:01Which in San Telmo is now, I give it to you.
04:03There are other dangers there, right?
04:06I prefer to meet with my childhood.
04:08It is the first tree that I brought here.
04:10Exactly, exactly.
04:11And the Irishman brings it.
04:12It is registered, it is historical.
04:14There is always a mixture of myth and legend in all this.
04:18Their house is not known for sure.
04:21It is said that it was there, close to the Peruvian cinema.
04:25But hey, that was, that tree, that half-abedul of the Heinz,
04:30was the first Christmas tree that shone in Buenos Aires.
04:33Today it is unimaginable, but you said it Guilcermo, illuminated with candles.
04:37With candles.
04:38With candles because ...
04:39Today it is very dangerous, nobody illuminates it.
04:41But until a long time ago, nevertheless,
04:43some people thought about continuing to illuminate them with candles.
04:46Taking the precautions of the case.
04:48But I saw some ...
04:51Look, here it is, sorry.
04:52I saw some tree with candles.
04:54In the image of recently, there was like a drawing.
04:56I don't know if, this, look.
04:57Sure, something like that would have been, right?
04:59There are the candles.
05:00Exactly.
05:01Well, that comes from the origin of the Christmas tree,
05:04which is also kind of gray.
05:06It is not known very well,
05:08but one of the best known versions is that of the tree of paradise.
05:13In theatrical works of the Middle Ages,
05:16near December,
05:18a work about Adam and Eve was also represented.
05:24And this tree appeared, the tree of sin,
05:27the biblical apple, reflected on stages.
05:30Oh, and the Christmas balls are apples.
05:33These red Christmas balls, which are of different colors,
05:36actually reflect the apples of the original sin
05:40of that tree, the first, the apple of paradise.
05:46Well, and they already had these candles,
05:48which, what they do a little, is to signify the light of Christ.
05:54What a good fact is that of the apples.
05:56Excuse me, would the garlands be the snake?
05:59You are very deep.
06:01Very good, very good.
06:05Can it be or not?
06:06Yes.
06:07In addition, they had hosts, these primordial trees,
06:11and those hosts, due to the Eucharist,
06:15became cookies,
06:17candy,
06:19in what one consumes today.
06:21As if everything had its process, in reality.
06:23Of course.
06:24It would be logical to think so,
06:25but it is so far behind
06:27that we do not have the ability
06:29to see it in the first instance,
06:31but it is logical that it has the process.
06:32But well, at first they were apples and candles.
06:34Of course.
06:35And what about the gifts?
06:36Where does the gift come from?
06:38Why?
06:39And because, well, there is another myth,
06:41another legend,
06:43that we love very much,
06:45which is that of Santa Claus,
06:47the one of San Nicolás,
06:49which is the bishop,
06:51the bishop of Mirra,
06:53a bishop who lived in Turkey,
06:56and who identified him
06:58with this kindness.
07:00He loved children,
07:02and one of the most told stories,
07:05also half-myth, half-story,
07:07has to do with the fact that
07:09he knew a very poor family,
07:13with three daughters,
07:14three girls,
07:16who were starving
07:18and were about to have to work,
07:21even prostitutes.
07:23So he decides,
07:25to save them,
07:27to go at night,
07:29not to be seen,
07:31and to throw,
07:33some say through the window,
07:35others through the fireplace,
07:37gold coins,
07:39so that this family
07:41does not become so poor.
07:43And the girls had just left
07:45their washed socks drying
07:47at home.
07:49In the United States they leave
07:51the socks there.
07:54They would have fallen
07:56through the fireplace
07:58right in the girls' wet socks.
08:00And he did this two or three times
08:02until this family stopped being poor.
08:04It's good, it never happened to me.
08:06Hey, look how we learned,
08:08with Guillermo,
08:10that whenever he comes,
08:12he teaches us something.
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