The first of May in France April 29, 2009

1st of May and its popular symbol : the lily of the valley

The lily of the valley is considered to be a lucky charm and people buy or collect it in their garden to bring people good luck.

It is said that when the world was created, this delicate flower decorated the door of Paradise and every time a good man or woman entered it, its tiny bells would tinkle. This nice flower was gifted to identify virtuous people.

For Celts , and we are Celtic people in Brittany, the Lily of the valley was a lucky charm too and still is !

At the end of the XIXth century ( 1889) the first of May was adopted in Paris as a day to celebrate workers and labour. In 1890, people demonstrating in the streets wore a red triangle in their buttonholes to symbolize their demands, that is the ideal division of a day in three periods of 8 hours : work, sleep and leisure.
This red triangle was replaced at first by wild roses and finally by the lily of the valley.

In 1900, the first day of May, famous fashion designers ( « couturiers ») offered their lady clients and employees ( « petites mains ») brigs of lily of the valley.

A song called « il est revenu le temps du muguet » was created for the first time in Paris in 1936 and is still very pouplar 73 years later…

Brigs of lily of the valley is completely associated with the 1st of May. No first of May is possible without that elegant, delicately perfumed flower.

Everybody can sell brigs of lily of the valley in the streets on that day and teenagers make a lot of pocket money then !

On that day too, at the Elysée Presidential Palace in Paris, lily of the valley producers offer the President floral compositions « Tradition oblige »

Marie-France and kids.

A gift for the 1st of May April 29, 2009

Shall we offer you lily of the valley. Sorry we couldn’t add its perfume!

Marie-France and kids from 6ème 1 & 6ème2

Easter in Romania April 16, 2009

This year, the Orthodox Easter is on the 19th April, one week after the Catholic Easter.
The totality of the Orthodox life centres around Easter, as it marks the resurrection of Jesus.
Here is some useful Easter vocabulary in Romanian:
Easter – Paste
Happy Easter! – Paste fericit!
Easter eggs – oua de Paste
Jesus Christ – Iisus Hristos

Liliana&the kids

Easter egg hunting April 15, 2009

Chasse à l’oeuf de Pâques

Looking for eggs in the park

 

 

 

A lot of people had been waiting since 9 a.m last sunday, at the entrance of a big park ,  in my town before going on a huge egg hunt.

This new tradition, turning the old individual tradition of egg hunting in gardens into a collective one, began about 17 years ago and is organized each year by a charity called ” Secours Populaire”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I found one!"

 

 

4 000 eggs were hidden in the park for this specific day. “Flying bells” were very generous this year.

To take part in the hunt you had to go to the “bell stand” where you were given a ticket to be allowed to participate in the hunt. A little money was asked to enter it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 90 volunteers worked on this specific day to make the morning a success. They were in the park at 7.30 in the morning to hide Easter eggs but some of them were already at work the previous day to have everything ready for sunday morning.

The charity sold 4500 tickets . A real success! 17000 euros were collected to help distressed families in their everyday life

 

 

 

 

 

Une affaire de famille, cette chasse à l'oeuf de Pâques.

A Surprise from Romania! April 12, 2009

Click and solve! Happy Easter from Romania!

Irina and the kids.

Il grano germinato/The wheat sprouts April 8, 2009

Come tradizione tipica del periodo di Pasqua, i bambini di tutte le classi hanno preso del grano benedetto, lo hanno appoggiato in una vaschetta di plastica  su uno strato di ovatta, lo hanno inumidito con l’acqua e lo hanno tenuto al buio per 10-15 giorni facendolo germogliare. Il Giovedì Santo, il grano germinato al buio, che sta nascendo, come la vita di Pasqua che deve rinascere, verrà portato in chiesa per decorare le cappelle del Santissimo.
As a typical Easter time tradition, the children of all the classes took some blessed wheat grains, put them in a small plastic basin on a layer of cotton, dampened it with water and  kept it in the dark for 10-15 days letting it germinate. On the Holy Thursday the wheat sprouts coming up , like the Easter life that  has to revive, will be brougth to the church to decorate the  Blessed Sacrament chapel.

Ecco  alcune foto dei germogli di grano pronti per essere portati in Chiesa:quelli gialli sono stati tenuti al buio, quelli verdi sul davanzale della finestra/ Here are some photos of  the wheat sprouts ready to be taken to the church: The yellow ones  has been kept in the dark, the green ones on the windowsill.

 

Scuola Primaria  “A. Ciancia” – Francavilla in Sinni (PZ) – Italia

Happy Easter! / Buona Pasqua! April 7, 2009

I biglietti realizzati dagli alunni per augurare a Tutti “Buona Pasqua!”
The cards made by the children to wish everyone “Happy Easter!”
Scuola Primaria “A. Ciancia” – Francavilla in Sinni (PZ) – Italia

Easter- the Christian celebration of God’s resurrection April 6, 2009

The last week of the Lent which precedes the celebration is the Grand Week, which starts with the Palm Sunday (the celebration of Jesus’ entrance in Jerusalem) and ends with Easter Sunday.

The Grand Week has the role of sharing Jesus’ torment. In that week the 40 day Lent finishes and nature is revived. On the Thursday of the Great Week, the bells stop ringing, they will ring again only on the Grand Saturday. This marks the beginning of Jesus’ torture.

The History of Easter

Easter was celebrated for the first time around 1400 B.C. On that day the Jews left Egypt with God’s help. The scripture Exodus of the Old Testament shows us the instructions given by god for celebrating Easter, during Moses’ time. The Jews from Antiquity remembered that God saved them from the slavery they endured in Egipt.

Easter Traditions

The Old Saxons celebrated the coming of the spring by paying tribute to the Godess of spring, Eastre .During the second century, Christian missionaries came within the Nordic tribes, with their pagan rituals, and tried to convert them to Christianity. They made it, but only to some extent. For the new Christians, the interdiction of keeping their old pagan celebrations would have meant death. To save lives, the missionaries decided to make their message heard  slowly, permitting the pagan rituals to be performed, but in a Christian manner.

The Grand Week of Easter

During the Grand Week, housekeepers make a general cleaning.They sweep the court yards, they repair the fences, they wash the curtains and the furniture, they scrub the floors and clean the whole house, clothes and carpets.
Several things are celebrated on the great Thursday: Jesus washing the Apostles’  feet, the Last supper, the Ghetsimani prayer and the catching of Jesus by the ones who wanted to kill him.

Christian symbols in relation to celebrating Easter

The cross symbolizes the Crucifixion, the opposite of the Revival. In 325, Constantine ordered that the cross should be the official symbol of Christianity. It is not only the Easter symbol, but it is also used by the Catholic Church as a symbol of faith.

Easter rituals in Romania

In Bucovina, the girls go and wash the bells with clean water.With this water they wash afterwards to be beautiful all year round and to be ran after by boys just like people run towards the church on the night of the Resurrection.

The Easter Bunny

The presence of the rabbit in Easter Tradition is due to pagan rituals and divinities worshiped in times long gone. The cute animal is considered to be a symbol of fertility. An old legend says that the Goddess Eostre found a wounded bird, one winter, on the field. To save it from a certain death, the goddess turned it into a rabbit, but preserved it’s capacity to lay eggs.

Irina and kids from School 92 Bucharest

April Fool’s Day: Poisson d’Avril! April 1, 2009

“Poisson d’Avril”

It seems that the tradition of ” Fish of April” traces back from the XVIth cenury ( 1564) when French King Charles IX decided to start the civil year on January 1st instead of April 1st,  as it had been the case before.

That decision didn’t please old  conservative people and the younger generation who thought the idea was good started to play tricks by throwing fish on opponents. Most of the time the fish which ended up on people’s head wasn’t fresh at all. A smelly trick in fact!

Another version says that when the civil year began on April 1st, people used to exchange presents to welcome the new year. Food was offered as a present in those days. April was marking the end of  the fasting period. As people couldn’t eat meat they offered fish as a present. Over the years more fake fish were offered to play tricks on people.

Which version is the true one? Nobody knows but, kids enjoy that day very much and have a lot of fun. They also eat candie chocolate fish. 

Poisson d'Avril par Alicia. 6ème 2

 

 

Dans les cours d’école aujourd’hui, les enfants s’en donnent à coeur joie. Ils essaient d’accrocher un poisson au dos de leur camarade pour leur jouer un tour.

Les dessins de poisson d’avril sont une de leurs activités favorites en ce jour où ils peuvent faire des farces avec une certaine impunité. C’est une activité très prisée par les écoliers des classes primaires et les 6èmes ( 1ère année) de Collège.

 

Poisson avec lettres enluminées. Florian ( 6ème1)

 

 

 

Some kids are real artists and they  illuminate some letters as monks did in manuscripts in the Middle Ages.

Certains élèves sont de vrais artistes et dessinent des enluminures aux premières lettres des mots, comme les moines au Moyen-Age.

 

 

 

Poisson farceur. Hadrien (6ème 2)

 

Some fish can be cheeky. 

Certains poissons peuvent être farceurs aussi.

 

 

 

Other fish can be nasty ( see below)

D’autres poissons peuvent être inquiétants ( voir ci-dessous)

Poisson agacé et inquiétant. Naël ( 6ème 1)