SAY WHAT?

Argentina’s President Adopts Jewish Boy

To prevent him from becoming a werewolf.

In one of the world’s more awesome traditions, Argentine President Christina Fernández de Kirchner adopted a young Jewish boy as her godson to prevent him from turning into a werewolf. You read that right. Fernández met with Yair Tawil and his family last week to observe the more than 100-year-old Argentinian tradition. According to legend, the seventh son born to a family turns into a ferocious “el lobison,” or a werewolf, revealing his true nature on the first Friday after his 13th birthday. To quell the fear, Argentina first began the adoption method to ward off wolf-like tendencies in 1907. It is now customary for the seventh sons and daughters to be adopted by the president and also receive a gold medal and full educational scholarship. But werewolf prevention is the least unusual component of the story, as Tawil is the first Jewish boy to be adopted—the custom only applied to Catholic children until 2009.