Episodio 72: Quirky Holidays (Días festivos peculiares)

Duolingo English for Spanish Speakers Podcast

En los primeros días de marzo de 1985 Joe Berton estaba en su casa, en los suburbios de Chicago, cuando sonó el teléfono.

Era su amigo Lane, un fotógrafo de la revista deportiva Sports Illustrated.

Lane necesitaba a Joe para que lo ayudara con una sesión de fotos, o photo shoot.

Lane and I were really good friends.

I like a lot of sports, so if he needed help with a photo shoot, he called me.

I worked as an art teacher, but I always helped him if I had time.

On the phone that day, Lane told me he had an incredible project.

Lane le dijo a Joe que Sports Illustrated estaba trabajando en una historia sobre un lanzador extraordinario de béisbol llamado Sidd Finch, que había empezado a entrenar con los Mets, un equipo de Nueva York.

Este hombre tenía antecedentes fascinantes: había estudiado con monjes budistas, tocaba la trompa y tenía un récord con su “bola rápida” sin precedentes ¡y ahora los Mets querían firmarlo!

It sounded pretty interesting, so I told Lane, “Yeah, I’ll help you!” He said, “Great.

Just one other thing.” Then he told me that Sidd Finch was not a real person! The magazine was going to publish the story as a joke for a special holiday called “April Fools’ Day”.

And Lane wanted me to pretend to be Sidd Finch.

Welcome, les damos la bienvenida a “Relatos en inglés”, un podcast de Duolingo.

Soy Diana Gameros.

En cada episodio podrás practicar inglés a tu propio ritmo, escuchando historias reales y fascinantes, contadas por las personas que las vivieron.

Hoy tenemos dos historias sobre algunos peculiares días festivos que se celebran en los Estados Unidos.

El primero de abril de cada año se celebra un día llamado April Fools’ Day.

Es una festividad donde la gente hace bromas, o pranks.

Es similar al Día de los Inocentes en América Latina, con la diferencia de que en Estados Unidos no tiene una raíz religiosa.

Se originó en Europa, donde existió durante siglos.

Every year, people all over the world celebrate the holiday by playing pranks on each other.

Jokes on April Fools’ Day are supposed to be funny.

People usually tell funny lies to see if other people believe them.

So, on this day, you have to be careful.

You can’t believe anything anyone tells you because after you believe their lie, they might say, “April Fools!”

Por lo general, en este día las bromas son pequeñas y se hacen entre amigos, compañeros de trabajo o familiares.

Pero a veces las empresas y los medios de comunicación también se divierten.

En la década de 1980, algunas estaciones de radio y televisión promocionaban productos falsos o informaban historias de mentira a modo de broma.

One April Fool’s Day, I saw an interview with a farmer on the news.

There were some cows behind him.

He said that one cow ate strawberries, and then he got strawberry milk.

He said the other cow ate chocolate, and then he got chocolate milk.

He seemed very serious, but of course, it was just a joke.

En Sports Illustrated, el editor había inventado por completo el personaje de Sidd Finch, un hombre prodigio del béisbol que también estudiaba con monjes budistas.

Un periodista estaba escribiendo un perfil falso sobre él y se suponía que Lane tomaría las fotos.

Y Joe iba a fingir ser Sidd Finch, o pretend to be Sidd Finch.

Sports Illustrated, que era una revista muy conocida con millones de lectores, nunca antes había hecho una broma como esta.

Sometimes magazines published funny photos, but Sports Illustrated had never printed news stories as a joke.

As Lane explained everything, I was becoming a little nervous.

I had to pretend to be Sidd Finch and hang out with real, professional baseball players.

And I couldn’t tell them that it was a joke! But it sounded fun, and I liked the idea of hanging out with famous athletes.

So, I said yes.

Lane le dijo a Joe que se tomara un vuelo a Florida el fin de semana para poder tomarse fotos con los Mets.

Solían entrenar allí por el clima templado.

Y mientras tanto, le pidió que consiguiera una trompa, o French horn, y otros accesorios para la sesión de fotos.

It was easy to find a French horn.

I borrowed one from the music teacher at my school.

Then I found a rug for meditation at a local store.

I also had to borrow some boots to wear, because, according to the story, Sidd Finch played baseball wearing boots.

I had big feet, so I was happy that I found a pair that fit me!

Luego, el sábado temprano Joe voló a Florida, donde lo estaba esperando Lane.

Por la tarde, fueron al campo de béisbol donde los verdaderos Mets estaban entrenando.

Nadie les había dicho a los jugadores quién era Joe, pero el entrenador sí era parte de la broma y lo esperaba con una camiseta oficial de los Mets.

It was really strange to walk onto the field as Sidd Finch.

I was an art teacher, and I was only there as a joke, but I was walking around with these amazing professionals.

All the players knew that Lane was taking pictures for Sports Illustrated, but I didn’t know what they thought of me.

And we couldn’t tell anyone about the joke until April Fools’ Day.

Joe empezó a caminar por el estadio, seguido por un fotógrafo.

Algunos de los jugadores más jóvenes estaban emocionados de que Sports Illustrated los fotografiara.

Así que rodearon a Joe con la esperanza de que su foto apareciera en la revista.

During one of the games, Lane told me to sit on the side of the field with some of the players.

And I had my French horn next to me.

Then one of the players asked, “How do you play this thing?” And he picked it up and tried to play it! We got some amazing photos of me, my French horn, and the other players, having fun.

Después de su sesión de fotos, Joe devolvió el uniforme y voló de regreso a Chicago.

Later that week, Lane called me.

He told me his colleagues at Sports Illustrated loved the photos.

They were going to use a lot of them in the magazine.

They even removed some ads because they wanted to give the story 14 pages in the magazine! Lane said, “Get ready.

This is going to be big!” That made me a little nervous because I wasn’t expecting that much attention.

I just thought people were going to see it, laugh, and then forget about it.

We had no idea what was about to happen.

Aunque la fecha de publicación de la revista estaba pautada para el primero de abril, se imprimió unos días antes.

Por eso, en la última semana de marzo, la revista comenzó a aparecer en los puestos de todo el país.

Y de inmediato, los teléfonos comenzaron a sonar.

A lot of people were asking the Mets if they were going to put Sidd Finch on the team.

And a politician called Sports Illustrated and asked if the story was true.

A lot of journalists were going to Florida to look for Sidd Finch.

And for those first few days, no one at the magazine said anything.

They didn’t want to tell everyone that it was a joke before April 1st.

La revista también estaba disponible en Chicago, donde Joe era maestro.

One day, I was at school, and a kid in my class asked if I was quitting my job as a teacher.

He said his dad showed him the article about me in Sports Illustrated.

So, after I finished teaching, I went to a local store and bought the magazine.

I opened it, and then I saw my photos — in the center pages.

Joe hojeó las catorce páginas y se dio cuenta de por qué tanta gente creía la broma.

Todavía no existía el concepto de noticias falsas, o fake news, como lo conocemos hoy en día.

If you read the story, it’s so hard to believe that it’s true.

But if you only look at the photos, you could believe it.

And this was in the 1980s.

There was no internet and no “fake news” like there is today.

At that time, people couldn’t easily change images, and professional photographs in magazines were usually real.

So, Lane’s amazing photos made a lot of people believe the story.

El 2 de abril se supo la verdad.

Los lectores se habían dado cuenta de que los detalles simplemente no encajaban.

Entonces, los Mets decidieron organizar una conferencia de prensa, o press conference, para anunciar el retiro de Sidd Finch, y ponerle fin a la broma.

The Mets had a press conference at their stadium in Florida.

So I went there again, and I walked out onto the field, in front of the crowd.

There, I made a speech, and I told everyone that I decided to quit baseball.

Most of the crowd knew Sidd Finch wasn’t real, but they actually seemed sad, and as I left the field, they all clapped and cheered for me.

Some fans even wanted me to sign their baseballs! At that moment, I knew that our April Fools’ story was special.

El 15 de abril, Sports Illustrated anunció oficialmente que la historia de Sidd Finch había sido un engaño.

Pero en cierto modo, el personaje sigue vivo.

The story of Sidd Finch wasn’t real, but a lot of people loved it anyway.

And people still recognize me all over the world! Because of Sidd Finch, I get tickets to the Mets games in Chicago and baseball fans also send me letters.

They love to tell me exactly where they were when they read the article about Sidd.

And some people still ask me to sign things, as if Sidd Finch is real.

And I love that.

In a way, I’m a part of baseball history, even though I never actually played!

Durante el mismo periodo de los años ochenta, en California, nació un nuevo día festivo muy peculiar: el Día Pi, que celebra las matemáticas y las ciencias.

Todo comenzó con el físico y educador científico Larry Shaw y su esposa, Catherine Shaw.

In 1988, I was living near the city of San Francisco, with my husband, Larry, and our two teenage kids.

I taught English as a second language at a middle school, and Larry worked at a science museum called the Exploratorium.

My older daughter and I also worked there later on.

My family loved science and nature.

We went on a lot of hikes together, where we enjoyed trying to understand everything we saw.

We also visited museums often — especially the Exploratorium.

En ese momento, el museo de ciencia llamado Exploratorium, estaba pasando por una mala racha.

Su fundador había muerto recientemente después de dirigirlo durante quince años y el personal luchaba por mantener el espíritu del museo.

It was a hard time, especially for staff like Larry who really loved the Exploratorium.

It wasn’t a regular science museum, it was almost like a laboratory! It helped people have fun and connect with science.

But the staff members weren’t feeling very happy.

Para tratar de generar más entusiasmo en el equipo del museo, Larry ideó un plan interesante.

Lo compartió con sus colegas y con Catherine.

Larry always liked to make math and science fun.

He loved creating things that were ridiculous but also useful.

And in 1988, he had an idea: Why not create a holiday to celebrate the number pi?

La letra griega π (pi), pronunciada pi en inglés, representa un número especial que aparece en círculos.

Comienza con 3.14 y es seguido por un montón de números que continúan literalmente para siempre.

Y es definitivamente un número muy importante tanto en las matemáticas como en las ciencias.

The number pi is everywhere.

If you want to build something in the shape of a circle, you need pi.

If you want to send something into space or know the size of the universe, you need pi.

And you can see it in lots of surprising places in nature, like in planets and waves.

But pi is also really interesting because it never ends!

Así fue como Larry presentó su idea de celebrar el Día Pi, o Pi Day, a sus colegas en el museo.

Sería el 14 de marzo, porque en Estados Unidos esa fecha se escribe como 3/14, y los primeros tres dígitos de pi son 3, 1 y 4.

También propuso que se festejara comiendo pay, o pie, que suena igual que el número pi en inglés.

Of course, pies are also circles, so it was perfect! All of the staff thought it was a great idea.

And they already had the perfect place for the party: In a circular building within the Exploratorium.

Ese primer año, el Día Pi cayó en día lunes, cuando el Exploratorium estaba cerrado.

Así que decidieron hacer una fiesta solo para el personal.

That first party was pretty small.

And most of the guests were staff members, so there were only about 10 or 15 people there.

Larry and I brought pies, some coffee, and tea for the party.

Una vez que comenzó la fiesta, Larry organizó una especie de desfile.

Todos levantaron un plato de papel con un número de pi impreso en él.

Luego se pusieron de pie y en orden siguieron a Larry en un círculo alrededor del salón aproximadamente 3.14 veces, mientras escuchaban una canción especial.

At the end, we all ate pie together.

And that was the first Pi Day at the Exploratorium! After the party, Larry and the rest of the staff seemed happier.

It was nice to have fun after such a tough year! And we immediately knew that we were going to continue celebrating Pi Day every year.

But, at that time, it was just a little holiday for the museum.

We couldn’t believe what happened next.

Al año siguiente, el Día Pi fue martes, cuando el museo estaba abierto, por lo que el personal compró algunos pays adicionales.

Catherine y Larry ayudaron a arreglar todo, y después de que Larry dirigiera el desfile, o parade, ofrecieron un trozo de pay a cualquiera que pasara por allí.

After that, the celebration just got bigger and bigger.

More and more people joined the parade, and some local businesses gave us free pies.

After a few years, visitors started coming to the Exploratorium specifically for Pi Day.

Local schools began to celebrate the day with competitions, parades and songs! It became a big celebration of math and science in general.

Después de que la tradición se hiciera popular en el museo, comenzaron a difundir el Día Pi por toda la ciudad.

Larry and I never expected all these things to happen, but it was wonderful.

We were so proud, and we loved seeing all the creative ways people were celebrating pi.

De hecho, durante los años noventa y después, el día Pi rápidamente se expandió y comenzó a ganar popularidad en todo el país.

En 2009, la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos declaró el Día Pi como celebración oficial de los Estados Unidos.

When Larry invented Pi Day, he just wanted to make the Exploratorium staff happier.

But he ended up making people happier everywhere.

The last time that Larry led the Pi Day parade at the Exploratorium, a crowd at the museum greeted him like a rock star.

There were hundreds of people screaming and taking pictures.

Someone said to me, “Who is he?” They thought he was a celebrity!

Larry lideró el desfile durante 38 años, hasta que falleció en 2017.

Pero el Día de Pi continúa pese a que él ya no está.

Incluso se celebra en otros países del mundo.

Y ahora es Catherine quien encabeza el desfile en el Exploratorium.

Many people called Larry the “Prince of Pi.” That makes me the “Princess of Pi.” People in my neighborhood still say “Happy Pi Day” when I walk down the streets on the holiday.

And I really hope that the tradition continues.

Pi Day is a way of making math and science accessible for everyone.

And it’s a wonderful way to honor Larry.

Catherine Shaw, la Princesa Pi, vive en Mill Valley, California.

En el museo del Exploratorium siguen conmemorando el Día Pi con desfiles alrededor de un santuario.

Nuestro primer protagonista, Joe Berton, es un profesor de arte jubilado.

Su alter ego, Sidd Finch, también está oficialmente jubilado, pero todavía firma autógrafos de vez en cuando.

Joe vive en los suburbios de Chicago.

Este episodio fue producido por Samia Bouzid, una productora de audio que vive en Filadelfia.