Were were you, and what were you doing, on December 6, 1978?

Dearest students and readers of this blog,

It is not usual for me to deal with issues that have to do with Spain and its culture in this blog, because, as you know, it is dedicated to "All things English" or in English, at least. But this time I'm going to make an exception. I have been asked to prepare a little something that has to do with the Spanish Constitution, whose making we are celebrating next 6 December.

As you know, the Spanish Constitution is "the fundamental law of the Kingdom of Spain. It was enacted on foot of the 1978 referendum, as part of the Spanish transition to democracy. It was preceded by many previous constitutions of Spain.

The constitutional history of Spain dates back to the Constitution of 1812. After the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, a general election in 1977 convened the Constituent Cortes (the Spanish Parliament, in its capacity as a constitutional assembly) for the purpose of drafting and approving the constitution.

A seven-member panel was selected among the elected members of the Cortes to work on a draft of the Constitution to be submitted to the body. These came to be known, as the media put it, as the padres de la Constitución or "fathers of the Constitution". These seven people were chosen to represent the wide (and often, deeply divided) political spectrum within the Spanish Parliament, while the leading role was given to then ruling party and now defunct Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD).

Gabriel Cisneros (UCD)
José Pedro Pérez-Llorca (UCD)
Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón (UCD)
Miquel Roca i Junyent es:Miquel Roca (Convergència i Unió)
Manuel Fraga Iribarne (Alianza Popular)
Gregorio Peces-Barba (PSOE)
Jordi Solé Tura (PSUC)

The writer (and Senator by Royal appointment) Camilo José Cela later polished the draft Constitution's wording. However, since much of the consensus depended on keeping the wording ambiguous, few of Cela's proposed re-wordings were approved. One of those accepted was the substitution of the archaic gualda ("weld-colored") for the plain amarillo (yellow) in the description of the flag of Spain.

The constitution was approved by the Cortes Generales on October 31, 1978, and by the Spanish people in a referendum on December 6, 1978. 88% of voters supported the new constitution. Finally, it was promulgated by King Juan Carlos on December 27. It came into effect on December 29, the day it was published in the Official Gazette. Constitution Day on December 6 has since been a national holiday in Spain." (Source: wikipedia)

If you are interested in reading the Constitution, or at least, in flicking through it and reading some of its articles, click on the Constitution page above. (In Spanish)

Here you have some important events that took place in 1978:

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  February 1: Hollywood film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France, after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.


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  February 15: Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Pensacola, Florida.


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  March 1: Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.


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  March 3: The New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man, about a supposed cloning of a human being.


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  June 19: Garfield, which eventually becomes the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.


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  September 17: The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.


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  September 28: Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.


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  November 7: Indira Gandhi is re-elected to the Indian parliament.


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  November 27: In San Francisco, California, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.

So the question, at this point is:

HOW OLD WERE YOU, WHERE WERE YOU, AND WHAT WHERE YOU DOING ON 6 DECEMBER 1978? Please WRITE A COMMENT WITH YOUR ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION.