Finally back...on the Carnival season ;o)

Carnival dance wooooo hooooo ;o)))))

Hey there our Italian pals ;o) After some period of silence on our part we finally pulled ourselves together and are ready to go on with the relationship!!! Frist of all thanks a lot for the lovely classroom calendar you made for us!!! It'll be placed in our classroom right after winter break... The break lasts from January 26th till February 12th and believe us - both the teachers and students are equally happy to be out of school for some time ;o) Especially now that winer has finally come to Poland and we have some snow and great sledging and skiing weather. The winter break traditionally lasts for two weeks and it's the official time off school that we have between two terms of the school year. On Feb 12 the so called 'summer term' starts which will last until June 22nd - and then the summer vacation rolls on ;o) woooo hoooo - still half a year to go but we cannot wait!!! ;o) So right after the New Year's Eve that we lived through safe and sound we entered the fun season of Carnival here and everyone gets ready to rumble ;o) In Poland the Carnival season isn't celebrated in such a festive way as in Rio de Janeiro but we like to throw parties here and there too.... There are many balls and functions organized here then and people have lots of fun on parties in privacy of their homes too. The Carnival Season is a holiday period here during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fasting or Lent. Here are some facts about Carnival I digged out on some websites: the origin of the name "Carnival" is unclear. The most common theory is 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" or "farewell to the flesh", letting go of the earthly or bodily self). Another theory states that it originates from the Latin 'carrus navalis', which was a Greek cart carrying a statue of a god in a religious procession at the annual festivities in honor of the god Apollo. Most commonly the season began on Septuagesima, the third from the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, but in some places it started as early as Twelfth Night, continuing until Lent. 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 rigors of Lent's 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin. It sometimes lasts until Piñata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent. In the old days it was a period of active socializing in Poland. During the carnival, entertainment included hunting, weddings, balls and masquerades. Not only gentry, but the city and village common folk enjoyed themselves during carnival. The company not only ate, drank and danced, but also sang songs, sometimes with quite frivolous lyrics. There were no special carnival delicacies. Only among cakes there were carnival faworki (chruscik) and great amounts of pączki (doughnuts) are still consumed throughout the country on the last Thursday (so-called “Fat Thursday”) of the carnival - you can see the picture of both faworki and pączki just right here on the right. In the villages the young farmhands went around with a wooden cock on a cart, obtaining cheese, butter, bacon, kielbasa and eggs from the girls. In the end they organized a merry feast from the collected food, along with drinks. Carnival came to an end on Ash Wednesday. All good food was forsaken and żur (sour soup made from white borsch) and herring were eaten instead. In Poland the traditional way of celebrating the Carnival is kulig, a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the snow-covered countryside (picture on the left). The Tuesday before Lent begins is also a holiday called Ostatki, which is translated as the "lasts," meaning the last day to party before the Lenten season. So this is just a litle bit of what we have ahead here... we're so happy to have the snow and a little bit of winter as the rain and wind can drive everyone mad if it's too much of it ;o) I've just looked outside and it's snowing beautifully again!!! Time for some sleighride down the slopes my friends!!! So I am off for now and hope to post something new in the nearest future ;o) Happy Carnival time anyway there and hugs too all ... some more danicing now ...nothing better than Jacskon moves ;o)

Hi Friends! Hi everybody is following our exciting adventure on this blog.
The 2 Bs has started the new year sending its Polish e-pals a calendar with jokes.

Here's a sample of jokes dealing with "school" of course:

A little girl was playing in the park when an old lady started to talk to her: “And do you go to school?”
“No!” was the angry answer “I’m sent!”


Teacher: “Jake, what do you know about the Dead Sea?”
Student: “I didn’t even know it was ill, sir! ”


Dad: “Did you get a good place in the exam, Julie?”
Julie: “ Yes, dad, next to the radiator.”


“Jill, what do you know about Good Friday?” “He did the housework for Robinson Crusoe.”

Tables and jokes by Fabiola Giacon, Claudia Cairoli, Emma Rognoni, Alessia Villa

Drawings by Melissa Vago 3 Bs, our guest artist!!

New Year's Celebrations and Events in Italy

La Festa di San Silvestro and Il Capodanno
Italians love festivals and the ending of the old year and beginning of the new year, il capodanno, is a great time to celebrate in Italy.

New Year's Eve in Italy - La Festa di San Silvestro
La Festa di San Silvestro is celebrated December 31 on New Year's Eve. As with most Italian festivals, food plays a major role. Families and friends get together for a huge feast. The star of the dinner is lentils, symbolizing money and good fortune for the coming year. Traditionally, the dinner in many parts of Italy also includes a cotechino, a large spiced sausage, or a zampone, stuffed pig's trotter. The pork symbolizes the richness of life in the coming year.
Fireworks and Dancing
Huge midnight fireworks displays celebrate the coming of the new year.
Most towns have public displays in a central square but private parties will also include firecrackers or sparklers, too, and will continue for a long time. Naples is known for having one of the best and biggest New Year's fireworks displays in Italy. Some smaller towns build a bonfire in the central square where villagers will congregate into the early morning. If you're near the coast, lake, or river you will hear boats and ships blowing their horns.
Dancing is also popular and many towns have public music and dancing before the fireworks. Rome, Milan, Bologna, Palermo and Naples put on huge popular outdoor shows with pop and rock bands. These events can sometimes be seen on television, too.

More New Year's Eve Traditions in Italy
Guests of private or public parties are sometimes entertained with a game called "Tombola", similar to Bingo.
The New Year is also celebrated with spumante or prosecco, Italian sparkling wine. New Years parties, whether public or private, will often last until sunrise in order to watch the first sunrise of the newborn year.
An old custom that is still followed in some places, especially in the south, is throwing your old things out the window to symbolize your readiness to accept the New Year. So, keep an eye out for falling objects if you're walking around near midnight!
Oh, one more thing, don't forget to wear your red underwear to ring in the new year! They say it'll bring you luck in the coming year.

6th of January in Italy

The Befana is one of Italy's oldest and most celebrated legends. Each year on January 6 the children of Italy awaken in hopes that La Befana has made a visit to their house. This is a significant day to Italians because it marks the end of the Christmas season and the day that the three Wise Men arrived at the manger of the Christ child. Over the years the Epiphany has been a more celebrated holiday for the children of Italy than even Christmas.
As legend has it the three Wise Men were in search of the Christ child when they decided to stop at a small house to ask for directions. Upon knocking, an old woman holding a broom opened the door slightly to see who was there. Standing at her doorstep were three colorfully dressed men who were in need of directions to find the Christ child. The old woman was unaware of who these three men were looking for and could not point them in the right direction. Prior to the three men leaving they kindly asked the old woman to join them on their journey. She declined because she had much housework to do. After they left she felt as though she had made a mistake and decided to go and catch up with the kind men. After many hours of searching she could not find them. Thinking of the opportunity she had missed the old woman stopped every child to give them a small treat in hopes that one was the Christ child. Each year on the eve of the Epiphany she sets out looking for the baby Jesus. She stops at each child's house to leave those who were good treats in their stockings and those who were bad a lump of coal.
Make sure to keep those stockings hung by the chimney in hopes that La Befana will soon be there.

Happy 2007 from Gemma