GIVING THANKS

Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November. It is a federal holiday, so schools, banks, post offices, and government offices are closed. Thanksgiving was the first holiday celebrated in America. It was first celebrated in the autumn of 1621 when the Wampanoag Indians and the pilgrims got together for a three-day feast and festival of fun.

Today, families celebrate Thanksgiving by eating turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, corn, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. In 2010, Thanksgiving will be on Thursday, November 25.

What is Thanksgiving?

• It is a federal holiday that is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. 
• The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 when the pilgrims invited the Indians to a three-day feast to celebrate the autumn harvest.

 

Who were the pilgrims?

• The pilgrims were a small group of people who sailed to North America in order to start a new life. They sailed on the Mayflower ship and landed on Plymouth Rock. 

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO GIVE THANKS FOR?

Guy Fawkes Day

Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, Cracker Night and Fireworks Night, is a British annual celebration on the evening of the 5th November. It celebrates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, in which a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament on the evening of 5th November 1605.

It involves fireworks displays and the building of bonfires, on which ”guys“, or dummies, representing Guy Fawkes, the most infamous of the conspirators, are traditionally burnt.

Remember, remember

on the 5th of November,

the Gunpowder plot.

We see no reason

why the gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY (Ghosts too!)

Hallo! Es ist HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Heute ist der 31. Oktober 2010. Es ist HALLLLOOWEEEEN!

Wir wünschen euch einen tollen Halloweenabend!

 

KÜRBISFEST

Im Oktober verwandelt sich das Kürbisfest in ein grünes, gelbes, oranges und rotes Meer aus Kürbissen. Kürbisse überall, in jeder Form und Größe: auf der Piazza, in den Schaufenstern, an den Ständen, in den Wirtshäusern und Tavernen.

Happy Children’s Day!

Children’s Day is celebrated on different days in many countries around the world. On June 1, several countries, such as Portugal, celebrate an Internacional Children’s Day. Other countries, such as Australia, celebrate a Universal Children’s Day on November 20. Many nations declare days for children on other days.

In 1925, as a result of the World Conference for the Well-being of Children, in Switzerland, June 1 was proclamed to be the International Children’s Day.

This day is usually marked with speeches on children’s rights and well-being, children TV programs, parties, various actions envolving and/or dedicated to children, families go out, among others.

[in: Wikipedia; adapted and abridged]

So, regardless of being a child, have a very happy Children’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

WONDERFUL MOTHER

God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He moulded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.

(By Pat O’Reilly)

EASTER IS COMING!

HAPPY

EASTER

EVERYONE!

  

 

 

 

WHAT?

Easter is the most important holiday for Christians.

 

WHEN?

 

Easter is celebrated forty days after Carnival, all over the world!

 

 

 

WHY?

 

To celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

 

 

 

 

HOW?

When people go to church, they receive small crosses made of palm leaves.

In the UK, people eat hot-cross buns.

In the USA children participate in egg rool races: they have to rool their eggs down the lawn without breaking them.

 

 

 

Children also participate in egg hunts. 

 

                                                                                                                                    

 by 7º G: Eduarda, Beatriz, Teresa, Leonardo and teacher Susana Araújo

 

Halloween / Jack O' Lanterns

The CEF-SB1 students and their teacher

had a great time carving wonderful  Jack-o’-Lanterns.

 

 

They were really great! Congratulations!

St Patrick's Day on the 17th March

Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most recognizable figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains something of a mystery.

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents, either toward the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth.  Although his father was a Christian deacon, there is no evidence that Patrick was particularly religious. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years as a slave in captivity. (There is some dispute over where this took place. Although many believe he was taken to live in Mount Slemish in County Antrim, it is more likely that he was held in County Mayo near Killala.) During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.
After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, God’s voice spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.  To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo to the Irish coast.

On his return to his family in Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to the few Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.
Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish, and used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity.  There is also the legend that he drove the snake from Ireland, although scientists are now certain that there never were snakes on the island; some scholars have argued that the snakes were symbolic of Druids. 
St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th is believed to be the date of Patrick’s death, although there is some doubt, most recent evidence points to 493 AD as the year.  Patrick’s spectacular success in converting Ireland from a pagan to a Christian land, as well as the body of legend that developed around his work have ensured that he is commemorated in Ireland and wherever Irish immigrants have settled throughout the world—from Boston to Singapore.

http://www.history.com/minisites/stpatricksday/

 

 

 

 

http://link.biography.com/services/link/bcpid14603237001/bclid1772834523/bctid1430856790

 http://link.history.com/services/link/bcpid12040009001/bclid1675979350/bctid1455377204

The luck of the Irish
Want to be lucky this St. Patrick’s Day? Follow this advice:

1. Find a four-leaf clover. 2. Wear green (so you don’t get pinched). 3. Kiss the blarney stone. 4. Catch a Leprechaun if you can.

In honor of the festivities we leave you with this Irish blessing: May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid you wherever you go!

Happy Carnival!

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The History of Carnival

The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fast of Lent.

The origin of the name “Carnival” is unclear as there are several theories. The most commonly known theory states that the name comes from the Italian carne – or carnovale, from Latin carnem (meat) + levare (lighten or raise), literally “to remove the meat” or “stop eating meat”. It has also been claimed that it comes from the Latin words caro (meat) and vale (farewell), hence “Farewell to meat”. Yet another theory states that it originates from the Latin carrus navalis, which was some kind of Greek cart carrying a statue of a god in a religious procession at the annual festivities in honour of the god Apollo.

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This period of celebration and partying had its origin in the need to use up all remaining meat and animal products such as eggs and butter before the fasting season. The celebration of Carnival ends on “Mardi Gras” (French for “Fat Tuesday”, meaning Shrove Tuesday), the day before Ash Wednesday, when the rigours of Lent’s 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin. It sometimes lasts until Piñata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent.
Carnival is mostly a tradition of long-time Roman Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Christian Orthodox areas of the world. Most Protestant and non-Christian areas do not celebrate it.

Special celebrations around the world

Provincetown Carnival parade

Places especially noted for elaborate Carnival celebrations include Hertogenbosch and Maastricht in The Netherlands, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz in Germany, Portugal, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife and Olinda in Brazil, Barranquilla and Pasto in Colombia, Port-of-Spain in Trinidad, Santiago in Cuba, Venice in Italy, Nice in France, New Orleans (See New Orleans Mardi Gras) and Mobile, Alabama in the USA, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Cádiz in Spain, Binche Eupen Hasselt and Malmédy in Belgium. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, is a well-known pride parade. The Quebec City Winter Carnival is the biggest winter-themed carnival in the world.

In England Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but apart from the serving of pancakes and occasional pancake races and football matches, little else of Carnival survived the Reformation. Caribbean influence has led to the establishment of several “West Indian” carnivals, but these are not held in Carnival season.

<!–[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>The leading festivities are Notting Hill Carnival in August (reputedly the world’s largest), and Bridgewater in November.

Notting Hill Carnival scenes

 

CARNIVAL TRIVIA

 Many carnivals also have an associated funfair with a number of amusement rides and sidestalls. In America a smaller or non-permanent funfair is called a carnival in contrast to the permanent amusement park.

Princes Park festivalNotting Hill carnival parade dancers

http://www.cardfountain.com/holiday_info/carnival.php
Source: The English Wikipedia