EASTER TIME: Celebrations and Festivals

Fabio Leonardo Corts Rodrguez

EASTER
Easter is a grand festival of Christians and is celebrated to honor the resurrection of Lord Jesus, the son of mother Mary. It is a festivity of happiness and joy, as it was in the Easter springtime when people had witnessed Jesus' return to life. The white Easter Lily has come to capture the glory of the holiday. The word "Easter" is named after Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. A festival was held in her honor every year at the vernal equinox.

EASTER BUNNY
Today on Easter Sunday, many children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize. The Easter Bunny is a rabbitspirit. Long ago, he was called the "Easter Hare", hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that "All life comes from an egg." Christians consider eggs to be "the seed of life" and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

EASTER PARADES
Traditionally, many celebrants bought new clothes for Easter which they wore to church. After church services, everyone went for a walk around the town. This led to the American custom of Easter parades all over the country. Perhaps the most famous is along Fifth Avenue in New York City.Good Friday is a federal holiday in 16 states and many schools and businesses throughout the U.S. are closed on this Friday.

EASTER VOCABULARY
1. The main meal of the day 2. A hat usually held in place by ribbons 3. Named after Eastre, the goddess of spring _____________ _____________ _____________

4. It's fun to color these

5. Used in basket to cushion eggs 6. A container used when gathering eggs 7. Trumpet shaped flowers 8. A young rabbit

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_____________ _____________ _____________
___________

Easter Bonnet

Grass Basket

Easter Lily Dinner

Eggs Bunny

Saint Patricks Day

Saint Patrick was born in Britain at the end of the fourth century. He worked as a shepherd, and one day he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. For six long years he worked as a slave. Bearing heartache, beatings, and struggle, religion soon became his only comfort. One day, he managed to escape, and was able to answer his lifelong call. St. Patrick studied Christianity, and came to believe that it was he who would sail to Ireland and convert all of the pagan peoples to Christians.

 St. Patrick's winning personality made him a hit with the Irish. He used many familiar symbols to the Irish to help convince them that converting to Christianity was a good choice. One of the symbols he used was the very familiar, and very sacred Shamrock. St. Patrick used this symbol to represent the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). St. Patrick's mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years, and after he drove all of the snakes from Ireland (he converted the pagan peoples), he peacefully passed away in his sleep on March 17th in the year 461 A.D.

FACTS ABOUT ST. PATRICKS DAY

St. Patricks Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patricks Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In Ireland on St. Patricks Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair. Many cities have a St. Patricks Day parade. Dublin, the capital of Ireland, has a huge St. Patricks Day festival from March 15-19, that features a parade, family carnivals, treasure hunt, dance, theatre and more. In North American, parades are often held on the Sunday before March 17. Some paint the yellow street lines green for the day! In Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only lasts a few hours. There has been a St. Patricks Day parade in Boston, Massachusetts since 1737. Montreal is home to Canadas longest running St. Patricks Day parade, which began in 1824.

1. A metallic or earthen vessel A. leprechaun B. pot C. March D. Blarney Stone 2. A trifoliate plant - national emblem of Ireland A. rainbow B. shamrock C. March D. Irish 3. Wear this on March 17 or get pinched A. green B. March C. Blarney Stone D. shamrock 4. A metallic element - the most precious metal A. gold B. pot C. luck D. Blarney Stone 5. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events A. rainbow B. Blarney Stone C. gold D. luck 6. A bow or arch of spectral colors A. rainbow B. Irish C. green D. March 7. A stone in Blarney Castle, Ireland A. luck B. rainbow C. Blarney Stone D. shamrock 8. Irish fairy A. pot B. gold C. green D. leprechau

THANKSGIVING DAY
Thanksgiving Day in the United States started as a way of giving thanks to food collected from a good harvest or problems that were fixed. It originated in 1621 and was a religious festival, but is now largely secular. It is now a holiday on the fourth Thursday of November. It is traditional for families and groups of friends to get together for a large meal. This often consists of a turkey, stuffing, different types of potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and maize and other seasonal vegetables. The meal also often includes pumpkin pie. Many of these foods are native to the Americas and were not available in Europe at the time of the first settlers. This adds to their symbolism of giving thanks for a good harvest in a new country.

Thanksgiving Day parades are held in some cities and towns on or around Thanksgiving Day. Some parades or festivities also mark the opening of the Christmas shopping season. Many football games are played and watching them is a popular activity. Some people have a four-day weekend so it is a popular time for trips out of town and to visit friends and family. The traditional stuffed turkey adorns every dinner table during the feast. Pumpkin pie, Cranberry sauce, Corns are some of the dishes cooked everywhere to mark the day. Though historians don't have an evidence to prove that turkey was eaten during the first Thanksgiving dinner, but the thanksgiving celebration will be incomplete without it.

1. A well-known trailing plant and its fruit 2. Celebrated the last Thursday in November 3. A community of social insects, as ants, bees, etc. 4. Horn of Plenty - an emblem of abundance 5. The ship the Pilgrims sailed to the New World on 6. Maize 7. A festive or joyous meal 8. Befriended the Pilgrims 9. A small, sour berry grown in bogs 10. Sailed on the Mayflower

_____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ ____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________ _____________

Thanksgiving Corn Colony

Cornucopia Feast Pumpkin

Mayflower Cranberry Iroquois Indian

APRIL FOOLS DAY

In the 16th century, France celebrated the New Year just like we do today, except they partied on April 1st. In 1562, Pope Gregory changed the calendar to the one we use today and from then on, the New Year began on January 1st. Lots of peeps didn't know about the new calendar, or they ignored the new calendar and kept celebrating on April 1st. Everyone else called them April fools and played tricks on them.

In France today, April 1st is called Poisson d'Avril, which means April Fish. Children tape paper fish to their friends' backs and when the young "fool" finds out, the prankster yells "Poisson d'Avril!" In England, tricks can only be played in the morning. If a trick is played on you, you are a "noodle." In Scotland, you are called an "April gowk," which is another name for a cuckoo bird. In Portugal, April Fools' is celebrated on the Sunday and Monday before Lent. Pranksters usually throw flour at their friends.

PRACTICAL JOKES FOR APRIL FOOLS DAY

April Fools' practical jokes should be done in good fun and not meant to harm anyone. The best jokes are the clever ones where everyone laughs, especially the person who had the joke played on them. Put food coloring in milk. Superglue coins to a sidewalk. This works best on an old, worn sidewalk. Go with a couple of friends, stand near some busy street corner - stare and point up at the sky. Watch the reactions of people around you!