Wednesday 26 November 2008

Christmas cards from Italy



Italian children made this Christmas cards just for you all!!!











































































Tuesday 25 November 2008

Preparing for Christmas

Advent begins on the Sunday nearest to 30th November and lasts until midnight on Christmas Eve.. The beginning of Advent is when the preparations for Christmas really begin - the Christmas menu is planned, gifts are chosen and wrapped, carols are sung, cards are sent to friends and family and houses are decorated. An Advent wreath might be used to count down the weeks to Christmas. It has four candles around the outside, and one is lit each Sunday leading up to Christmas. The Fifth Candle in the centre is lit on Christmas Day. The circle of evergreen used on the wreath reminds Christians that God’s love has no beginning or end.























From December 1st British children might start to open the windows on an Advent calendar. There are 24 windows and one is opened each day leading up to Christmas Eve. There is usually a Christmas picture inside the window, and sometimes there might even be a chocolate !

Angel and Santa Claus we made in our school (Greece)




Reindeers in Greece


Today we made reindeers at school with our hands and foot!They are so cute, aren't they?

A Christmas video presentation from Greece

To take an idea....Christmas in Greece...Trigona Kalanta the song you hear!!!
Merry Christmas: Kαλά Χριστούγεννα: Kala hristougena

Monday 24 November 2008

Christmas in Taranto ( Italy )











carteddate and sannacchiudere
pandoro and panettone












rice and seafood








The streets in our city are full of coloured lights, everywhere we can feel a joy and a holiday time!!! In the week before Christmas, people go shopping and spend a lot of money. They buy presents for their friends and relatives and food for the special Christmas dinner. In the houses women prepare local sweets “carteddate” and sannacchiudere”.On Christmas Eve , at six o’clock ( more or less ) all the family gather round the table and start the special dinner. On Christmas Eve dinner we used eat fish and different vegetables. Here it is a local menu:
Starter: sea food salad, fried artichokes or artichokes in oil, aubergines in oil, stem sprouts, stem turnip tops, olives…
First course: spaghetti with mussels or clam/ rice and seafood.
Then we can eat fish or sweet-and-sour yellow eel
Fresh fruit and dried fruit and a typical Italian cakes “panettone” or “pandoro”.
Many people at eleven o’clock ( evening ) go to church, others go to church on Christmas Day.At midnight the Baby Jesus is placed in the Crib.
On Christmas day, children get up early and open their presents, the people also exchange gifts. Then it’s time x Christmas lunch. Italian families usually have : lasagne, roast lamb with roast potatoes, and many different kinds of sweets : “panettone” ( spiced brioche with sultanas ), “pandoro” (a Veronese cake),” sannacchiudere and carteddate” ( local sweets in Taranto). We usually drink red wine and sparkling wine.
On the 26th of December ( Boxing Day ) the family meet again all together, we have a light meal, like” tortellini” ( ring- shaped pasta parcel with a savoury filling) in chicken stock. We spend time chatting or playing board games or cards games.

Sunday 23 November 2008

CHRISTMAS IN CATANZARO (ITALY)




CHRISTMAS IN CATANZARO (ITALY)




Ilenia and Sharon, two students of the "Mattia Preti" school of Siano, are collecting pictures about how people celebrate Christmas in Catanzaro.




The photos here included represent the Basilica of Immacolata, during the Christmas Mass, on Christmas Day, and a typical Italian nativity.




GREEK NEW YEAR'S EVE TRADITIONS


At New Year’s Eve we cut the Vasilopita,Vasilopita is Santa Claus’s cake.It has a coin inside,every member of the family takes a piece,we also cut a piece for the work,the home, Santa, Christ and virgin Mary.The one who finds the coin in his/her piece will be the lucky person of the year!!!
Santa Claus is called Aghios Vasilis in Greece.Saint Vasileios was a very faithful man who lived in Ceasaria.There was a very cruel King Ioulianos,who was asking all the valuable objects from the
Citizens.Saint Vasileios saw a vision that Ioulianos will be destroyed.And that happened.In order to give back the valuable objects to their owners Saint Vasileios baked pies and put them inside.
And the miracle happened everybody took the pie with his/herobject.That’s why we made this cakes every new Year’s eve!This day Saint Vasileios brings presents to the children


At New Year’s Day people enter their home with their right foot and break a pomegranate. We think that this will bring us luck and we will make a fresh start!
In some places, Greeks place outside their houses a special big onion(Scilla maritima,the formal name)to bring them luck and health in the new year!



GREEK CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

In Greece we decorate Christmas tree as well as a traditional ship, especially in the islands they still decorate ship instead of tree!!






On Christmas Eve we make Chistopsomo(Christ Bread). It is a bread with a cross in the middle made with walnuts that we eat at Christmas lunch after we get back from the church. This day church function starts at 5 in the morning!

We also make sweets like melomakarona(it’s a kind of biscuit with honey) kourampiedes(a kind of biscuit with almonds)and sweets with honey syrop like mpaklavas, kantaifi etc.
At Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Day’s Eve children sing the Carols and
we give them sweets and money!!!They hold triangles!!

Saturday 22 November 2008

UK Christmas preparations at school

We are a school in South London. At the moment we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. First of all we will celebrate Advent. At the beginning of December we will make a big advent calendar in the school hall. As we open the windows of our calendar we will see images of the Christmas story. We will make an advent wreath and light a candle each week during assembly and say some prayers and hear the Christmas story to help us to prepare for Christmas.

At the moment our Year 1 and 2 children (aged 5-7 years) are preparing for a Christmas Nativity. Some of our older children (7-11 years) are preparing for a Christmas concert and our junior children will have a carol service in our parish Church (ours is a Catholic School). I will post some pictures of this year’s celebrations when I have them.

We will send you some pictures and news of our celebrations over the next few weeks. At the moment we are preparing some information for you about our Christmas celebrations and traditions which we will send you, as well as Christmas music and cards.

"Pettole " ( Recipe ) ITALY


Mix flour, yeast, water and salt. Let stand for 2 hours, heating oil in the pot, put a bit of mix in the oil, do brown... are they cooked? Put them in a cup and add sugar!!!

Christmas Time- ITALY




In Taranto, the Christmas atmosphere start to feel on the 22nd of November ( Saint Cecily’s Day ), when the band plays through the streets traditional Xmas music. Women prepare the “pettole” (sweet pancakes ) and people start to join with their friends and relatives, at home, to play cards or “tombola” ( a game like bingo).Another important day is the 8th of December ( Virgin’s Day ). People start to prepare the Xmas tree or the Crib, just in these days.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Christmas preparations in NORTH WHALES

I am Jemma Pugh from Brynteg School in North Wales, Wrexham. Our school enjoys celebrating Chirstmas, so we thought it would be a very good idea to join in with your project!

As we are a school in Wales, we learn the Welsh language at our school. At Christmas time, we learn Welsh words based on Christmas. Here are some for you to try (I have put the pronunciation in brackets to make it easier!):

Christmas - Nadolig (Nah-do-leeg)
Christmas Tree - Coeden Nadolig (Coy-den Nah-do-lig)
Present - Anrheg (An-r-eg)
Baby Jesus - Baban Iesu (Ba-ban Yes-ee)
Father Christmas - Sion Corn (Shorn Corn)
Star - Seren (Seh-ren)
Snow - Bwrw eira (bu-roo eh-ra)

We are practising our school Christmas play at the moment. Our Infant children (aged 3-7 years) tell the Christmas story. Our Junior children (aged 8-11) tell a traditional story. We perform our plays to our parents in a big Christmas concert. We enjoy singing Christmas carols too.

We send Christmas cards to our friends and family, and we give each other gifts on Christmas day.

We also enjoy eating some delicious Christmas food, such as Christmas pudding, mince pies and Christmas fruit cake.

On Christmas Eve, some children and adults go to Church at midnight to take part in Midnight Mass. This is a very special Church service where people sing Christmas carols and remember the Christmas story.

The children in our school write letters to Father Christmas, telling him what presents they would like for Christmas. Then they wait patiently on Christmas Eve and go to bed very early. Father Christmas visits every child's house on Christmas Eve and leaves a present. The children wake up very early on Christmas morning and open their presents.

In our country, the weather is very cold at Christmas time, so we are hoping that it will snow on Christmas day!

We hope our Christmas traditions have been interesting. We will send you some pictures soon to show you our Christmas pictures. We will also send you some Christmas cards for your children to have in their classroom.


Merry Christmas!

Jemma Pugh

Monday 17 November 2008

Christmas in Malta

Hello,
I am Josephine Ebejer Grech and I am a teacher at "San Gorg Preca" Boys' Junior Lyceum Hamrun Malta. I teach Biology to boys between 13 and 16 years. I also teach Chemistry and Physics after school hours.

I am a Christmas lover. From when I was young I used to love Chrismtas carols, Christmas decorations, Christmas food, parties, the midnight mass etc.

Here I am going to upload a power point presentation about Christmas in Malta. I hope you like it. If you would like to ask more please send me an email on josephin@onvol.net

Happy Christmas everyone
Josephine Ebejer Grech
Malta.

http://www.slideshare.net/josephineebejergrech/christmas-in-malta-presentation



Christmas In Malta
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: christmas josephine)

Thursday 13 November 2008

ROMANIA


Happy Christmas from Romania!

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Welcome!!!


Welcome to our Christmas blog! Here we can exchange information about Christmas traditions, recipies, music, dances, fairytales...whatever you can think about! A great season with lots of joy and happiness!We will all have a great time here!!!

Just join the Christmas club!!!!