Paraguay

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Fabula: El leon, la vaca, la cabra y la oveja
Fable: The Lion, The Cow, The Goat and The Sheep
By Esopo (from the book "The Fables of Aesop”)

Once upon a time a lion, a cow, a goat and a sheep decided to hunt together in the mountains and share, equally, whatever was caught. Soon, with everyone’s help, a beautiful deer was captured. The lion divided the deer in four equal parts and each animal thought they would get their share. But the lion looked at them with a grim face and said:

The first part is for me because I am the lion, the second part is mine because I am strongest; the third will be mine also, because I've worked more than everybody; and if anyone wants to try to take the fourth part from me, they will have to deal with me.

Moral of the story: When one has the honesty of the cow, the innocence of the goat, and the tameness of the sheep, they should not deal with lions!

Trompo (spinning top)

You will need:
2 meters of string (see picture 1)
1 spinning top

1st, tie the string onto the top (see picture 2)
2nd, Wrap the string all the way around to cover the top completely (see picture 3)
3rd, Make a ring with the end of the string and insert your finger (see picture 2)
4th, Hold the top firmly so the string is tight (see picture 4)
5th, Quickly throw the top towards the floor, the string will unravel and the top will spin by itself

Recipe - PARAGUAYAN CHIPA

A typical treat for children, as in many countries, is candy, although in our country they eat a lot the famous “chipa” which is hard bread made of cheese, usually in the shape of a ring, and it is salty.

PARAGUAYAN CHIPA


Ingredients:
1 kilo of tapioca starch
20 grams fine salt
1 kilo of Paraguayan cheese (or feta cheese) shredded
7 eggs
150 grams of lard (Crisco)
Aniseed

Preparation:
Beat lard and eggs and then add cheese, salt and aniseed. Incorporate the tapioca starch and knead until dough is smooth. Children can then shape the dough into different forms. Traditionally, Chipas are baked in a kiln, however, a preheated oven (120o C), for 20 minutes works just as well.

They taste best served fresh out of the oven.

The Children of Paraguay like to play a lot of different games. They especially like soccer and computer games - depending of their economic status. The younger children play “little house”, or “house” (acting like mom, dad and kids). At school they prefer running games like chasing each other, hiding games and many others.

Depending on economic status, little girls will take ballet classes, while young boys usually focus on wrestling sports such as Judo and Taekwondo.

Sadly, the boys and girls of lower economic status have less opportunity to practice any kind of art, because schools and public institutions do not give priority or financial support to study of the arts. However, in many places, especially the inner part of the country, parents work as artisans with handcrafts such as carved wood, pottery and leather. They teach their art to their children so that the wonderful cultural traditions are passed on from generation to generation.

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