This Week's Feast Day: Easter

Easter Greetings by Kustodiev

The exact origins of this religious feast day's name are unknown. Some sources claim the word Easter is derived from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Other accounts trace Easter to the Latin term "hebdomada alba", or white week, an ancient reference to Easter week and the white clothing worn by people who were baptized during that time. Through a translation error, the term later appeared as "esostarum" in Old High German, which eventually became Easter in English. In Spanish, Easter is known as Pascua; in French, Paques. These words are derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha or Pasch, for Passover. Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection occurred after he went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew), the Jewish festival commemorating the ancient Israelites' exodus from slavery in Egypt. Pascha eventually came to mean Easter.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of this holiday, click here. To find out how Easter is celebrated around the world, click here.

Source: Larry Ferlazzo

This Week's Festival

American actress Virginia Gibson in a glamorous version of puritan costume, rides a giant Turkey, circa 1952.

The fourth Thursday of November is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. If you'd like a general overview of Thanksgiving, click here. Who were the Pilgrims? Find out here. If you'd like to know more about The Mayflower, click here.

This Week's Festival

A BIG thank you to everyone who brought food and drinks to our Halloween Cocktail; the delicious Spanish omelette with piquillo peppers was a "wicked" (cool) idea!

Did you you know that there has always been a close association between food and the dead? If you're interested, read the article below and discover more. It's adapted from this source.

"For thousands of years, in many, many cultures throughout the world, there has always been a close connection between food and the dead: in Ancient Egypt, the dead were buried with honeycakes to eat in the afterlife; in the Netherlands, “doed koeks” were consumed by the mourners at funerals; Sicilians welcomed their dead with cartocci and tatu; and in Mexico, el Día de los Muertos is still a very important celebration where the favourite food of the deceased is placed on family altars and decorated with bright orange flowers.

  In Ireland, when Halloween was called samhain, the Irish had an absolute feast on this day: fresh meat and black pudding were plentiful, and the druids – Celtic priests – munched nuts, apples, and probably the occasional magic mushroom, in preparation for contact with the other world. But this all changed when Christianity came. All Hallow’s Eve became a day of fasting, and meat and meat products were banned. Today, vegetarian food is still popular. Typically, the Irish make colcannon – a very warming dish of cabbage, potatoes and leeks, Boxty, which are potato pancakes, soul cakes, made from white flour, butter, sugar and sultanas, and bairin breac, which is a deliciously nutritious sweetbread with a ring of good fortune baked into it."

This Week's Festival

Come to our Halloween Cocktail on Thursday 27th between 6.45 pm and 7.15 pm and on Monday 31st October . . . if you dare!!!

And if you know how to make a jack o'lanterns, an apple cake or pumpkin pie, bring it along too!

This Week's Festival

An effigy of Judas Iscariot hangs from a bamboo during Holy Week in Masaya, Nicaragua, Thursday, April 21, 2011

It's Easter. Explore Holy Week around the world here; The New York Times finds out how women are finding a place in the Easter processions in Spain here; The History Channel investigates the Easter holiday here.

Source: Larry Ferlazzo's websites

This Week's Festival

Chinese Lantern Festival

In 2011, February l7th “is observed as the Lantern Festival – the 15th and final day of Chinese Lunar New Year festivities. The holiday is the most important annual celebration in China, when the nation largely shuts down as families gather together for reunions and feasts. More than 2.5 billion passenger trips by air, rail, bus or sea are taken around the holiday, according to the Chinese government. The Lantern Festival, or Yuan Xiao Jie, will complete the welcoming of the Year of the Rabbit – from the Chinese zodiac, indicating a year of caution and calm, with a quiet underlying strength and determination.”

For more images, click here.

Source: the Atlantic at http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/02/chinese-lunar-new-year/100010/

This Week's festival






Gustav Klimt's Kiss for the Whole World

Find out about the history of St Valentine's Day here. Listen to and read a discussion on the positive and negative side of "Hallmark Holidays" here. Try a gap-fill here. Try a St Valentine's crossword here. Discover naturally occurring and man-made heart shapes photographed from the air here. Top Ten Memorable Kisses here.

This Week's Festival

February 2nd is Groundhog Day in the USA. Find out about its history here. See the world's most famous weather forecaster here. Watch and listen to what happened when an imposter appeared on the scene here.

This Week's Festival

Haggis is traditionally eaten on Burns Night

Burns Night 2011

The date of Burns Night 2011 is Tuesday 25 January. Burns Night falls on the Scottish Poet Robert Burns' birthday.

What is Burns Night?

Burns Night is a regular date in the Scottish calendar and celebrates the life and works of their national Bard, Robert Burns. Celebrations amongst family and friends are conducted during a Burns Supper which includes a number of traditions such as piping in the guests, the Selkirk Grace and piping in the haggis.

 
Burns Supper Traditions
A traditional Burns Supper includes the following traditions:
 
Piping in the Guests
The Chairman's welcome
The Selkirk Grace
Starter course of the Burns Dinner
Piping in the haggis
Address the haggis
Toast to the haggis
The main Burns Dinner
The immortal memory
Toast to the Lassies
Reply to the toast of the Lassies
Performance of Robert Burns' songs and poems
Vote of thanks
Auld Lang Syne

Source: http://www.whenis.co.uk/when-is/Burns%20Night.php

This Week's Festival




"Twelfth Night" is a free, annual celebration held outside Shakespeare's Globe in London to mark the end of Christmas and welcome the New Year.

You can read the Twelfth Night program on the official website but this the gist:
1. The Holly Man arrives by boat on the River Thames.
2. He and the actors toast the people, the River Thames, and The Globe Theatre.
The actors, knowns as Mummers, perform a funny play by Bankside Pier.
3. Cakes given out at the end of the play have a bean and a pea hidden in two of them. Those who find them are hailed King and Queen for the day and get a crown.
4. King Bean and Queen Pea lead the people through the streets to the historic George Inn in Borough High Street to warm up with storytelling, the Kissing Wishing Tree, and more dancing.

 

Source: http://golondon.about.com/od/januaryannualevents/ig/Twelfth-Night-Festival-Photos/

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

On November 5th, people in England burn effigies of Guy (Guido) Fawkes. He was one of a gang of religious terrorists who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London. They chose to act on the first day of the new parliamentary session on 4 November 1605 when King James I and many other powerful Englishmen would have been killed at a single stroke. The idea was to incite rebellion and restore a Catholic head of state by putting King James's nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth on the throne. However, they were discovered and the plot was foiled. For more information, go to Dulce's blog.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead celebrations can be traced back 3,000 years in Mexico when it was common for people to keep skulls as trophies and symbols of life and rebirth. The modern festival is marked over two days when the living visit the graves of friends and relatives – deceased children are honoured on November 1, adults November 2.

Source:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2007/oct/26/southamerica.religion#/?picture=331087390&index=2

Hallowe'en





 Witches, bats, owls . . . there'll be a lot of those flying around this weekend. If you want to find out more about the history behind Hallowe'en, go to Dulce's blog. Alternatively, check out what they're reading about  at EOI Guía.

Do you think this Celtic festival should be celebrated in the Canary Islands? Why? Why not?