Rumourville wrong! Argentine President Kirchner did not adopt Jewish man to keep him from becoming a werewolf
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has not become godmother of a Jewish baby to stop him from becoming a werewolf - despite what you may have read in multiple news reports.
No. Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has not become godmother of a Jewish baby to stop him from becoming a werewolf - despite what you may have read in multiple news reports.
Over the past few days, the story has been reported and unquestioningly re-reported across the echo chamber of the internet, picked up by news organisations around the world including Haaretz, Buzzfeed, The Independent and The Huffington Post.
Like all good urban myths, the articles were based on a grain of truth: by tradition, the seventh son (or daughter) born to an Argentine family is eligible to become the godson (or daughter) of the president.
Until this month, the honour had only been bestowed on Catholic babies, but last Wednesday, Iair Tawil - not a baby, but the strapping 21-year old son of a rabbi - became the country's first Jewish presidential godson.
In her Twitter account, Fernandez described Tawil, 21, as "completely sweet" and lit Hanukkah candles with his family.
But somehow, the story became entangled with the ancient legend of the lobizon , Argentina's equivalent to the European werewolf. According to some versions of the myth, the seventh son of the seventh son is particularly prone to fall victim to the curse.
Evidently, the chance meeting of a Latin American president with a colourful myth too good to fact check proved irresistible - confirming as it did any number of stereotypes about erratic behaviour from national leaders in the continent of magical realism.