Partaking in a century-old tradition, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was named Argentina’s first Jewish presidential godchild in a ceremony last week. However, the historical but otherwise trivial event sparked news about werewolves as it became tangled with Argentine folklore.

According to Metro, Fernandez de Kirchner “adopted” as her godson Yair Tawil, the seventh son of a rabbi, which is part of Argentine tradition and also part of a hundred-year-old law. However, the president of Argentina did not do this because of a myth saying he would turn into a werewolf.

On her Twitter account, Fernandez de Kirchner detailed what happened with the Tawil family. Yair, three of his brothers and his mother and father attended the event, in which they presented the president with a menorah. She then explained the event’s historical significance.

She also partook in small Hanukah moment with the family, which included, as she says, the blowing out of the candles.

However, this had nothing to do with werewolves. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Yair was partaking in the ceremony because of a folktale that said the seventh consecutive son of a family would become a werewolf or lobizon. They also report on a law passed in the 1920s to prevent parents from killing or abandoning their children, believing said legend.

While a law does exist and there is a folktale about werewolves, they are not related. The Guardian reports that the law dates from 1907 and was enacted, not because of a werewolf myth, but because two Russian immigrants wanted to continue a tradition from Tsarist Russia in their new home. Argentine historian Daniel Balmaceda further explains.

“The unconnected myth of the lobizón began among Argentina’s 'gauchos,' the cowboys of Argentina’s vast cattle-raising Pampas, adapted from the older European werewolf legends,” he said.

The tradition became law in 1974 under Isabel Peron, who also allowed girls to participate. However, it did not apply to non-Catholics until 2009.

The JTA was correct in explaining that in 1993 the Tawils wrote to be considered and were rejected but, this year, Yair asked Fernandez de Kirchner to reconsider.

That is how Argentina got its first Jewish presidential godson and not because of werewolves.