Superstitions reveal a lot about a people, at the same time showing their fears and hopes.

Here are a few Romanian superstitions:

- Spilling salt means bad luck, having a quarrel. In order to avoid the bad luck or to prevent quarrel, one has to throw but a pinch of salt that was spilled over the shoulder;

- It is not good to whistle inside a house, because you will lose your money;

- One should never hand over a wedding ring directly to some else because that brings bad luck for the marriage. At first, one should put the ring at the table so the other person can pick it up;

- It is not good to give something to a person while standing on the threshold;

- One must not put bread upside down. This will bring bad luck;

- If you travel you should not turn half way even when you forget something. This will bring bad luck. In case you want to, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and make a little grimace;

- Bouquets must have an odd number of flowers. Thus, never give 4, 6, 8 flowers to a person. Explanation: bouquets with even numbers are for funeral ceremonies or cemeteries;

- When a person praises a child, like “What a nice child”, the child should be wearing something red. This can prevent the child from bad curses. In case the child did not wear anything red, a person who has experience has to remove the curse and will be asked to speak some formulas to remove the bad spell. This is also why in Romania horses that pull carts carry red threads;

- When your nose is itchy, you will have a party or festivity, an occasion to drink. Or you will receive some news;

- One must avoid meeting a person who carries an empty bucket, basket, or can. If you meet someone with a full basket, that means good luck;

- It is not good to whistle inside a house, because you will lose your money.

Liliana&the kids

Here are a few photos of our Halloween party at school. We organized it as part of our extra-curricular activity in English.

The older pupils presented a few things about Halloween to the younger ones in both English and Romanian.

Liliana&the kids

In this way our children celebrate Halloween!

Class 5 – Churchfields Primary School -Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme – UK

Happy Halloween!

Classe 1^B- Scuola Primaria “A. Ciancia”-Francavilla in Sinni (PZ) Italia

October 24th was the International Climate Action Day. The 350 organization called for simultaneous worldwide activities in view of the approaching Copenhagen Climate Summit.

We had a small activity in our Educational class on Friday- a debate and a poster contest. I was amazed by the extent of my students participation and commitment. Here you are a few photos from our class. I hope you like them.

Take action! Blog Action Day.

The Onion Johnnies are farmers who cross the Channel to sell their onions in Britain. They started doing so at the end of the XIXth century. They would transport their onions on bikes and go from house to house to sell their braids of onions. Winston Churchill was one of their customers ! He liked their onions very much.

Johnnies'bikes

They still carry on this trade but they are not as numerous. They board the ferry in Roscoff to Plymouth, their vans loaded with oinions , proud to maintain that tradition.

A young Johnny oinion man braiding his oinions.

By the way: Johnny means “little John” and in Breton language “ar Johnniged”

Their onions have just been granted a quality label ‘( A.O.C: Appellation d’origine contrôlée) and last weekend there was an Onion Fair in Roscoff ( Brittany, France) which was attended by hundreds of people.

A vivid tradition indeed!

Onion Jonhnny in Edinburgh ( Scotland) in the 1960's

Onion Johnny preparing his braids nowadays.

Just a few photos with craftsmen at a traditional crafts fair. They belonged  to various areas in the country and were quite colourful.

Un po’ dei fuochi di artificio in onore della festa della Madonna di Pompei di quest’anno: 22 – 23  Agosto.

A little of the fireworks in honor of this year Virgin of Pompei’s festivity: 22nd – 23rd August.

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