Easter Games

By Ana Feijoo, Celso Ons Castro, Cesar Muñiz, Lorena Domingos,

Luis Pérez , Maeloc, Sergio Gavilanes, Victor Pulido.

EGG HUNTING
Parents usually hide the eggs for children to find them on Easter morning. Children believe that the Easter Bunny brings them the Easter eggs.

EGG AND SPOON RACE

You will need two spoons, hard-boiled eggs, length of grass for the race and flags for the finish line. After dividing the players into two teams and establishing the start and finish line, the front runner in each team puts the egg on the spoon, runs the length of the course, goes back and then passes the egg to the next runner. If the egg is dropped, the runner must start again. The winning team is the one whose members first complete the course.

EGG SHACKLING

You will need a hard-boiled egg for each player. Each player meets their opponent, grasping their egg firmily and hitting his opponent's, trying to crack it while keeping their own intact. The winner of each round will keep the broken egg for himself, so the overall winner will win all the eggs.

BOTTLE KICKING MATCH

You will need two barrels which will be filled with sweets. Each team will try to move the barrels over different obstacles towards the finish line. The team which first gets the line will win the barrels with sweets.

This game was born in 1770, when the Rector of Hallaton (UK) was given a piece of land after providing the locals with two hare pies, some loves of bread and some ale, which had to be scrambled for in public. This scramble became a tradition and years later, during one of these scrambles, the nearby town of Medbourne came to steal the food and drink, emerging a fight between the people of the two towns. Since then both towns have remembered this fight playing a 'bottle kicking match' on every Easter Monday. It is a game in which no eye-gouging, no weapons and no strangling are the only rules. Locals carry a big hare pie and three barrels, two of them filled with beer and one painted red and white. Then they are decked in ribbons. They are released in turns and the two teams, Hallaton and Medbourne, try to roll them to their village boundary, but they must dodge all kind of obstacles!

The Easter Bunny and The Easter eggs

By Ana Feijoo, Celso Ons Castro, Lorena Domingos, Luís Pérez Alvarez, Maeloc, Paula Sastre.

The Easter Bunny was the earthly symbol of the goddess Eastre, worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons. In Christian tradition, a rabbit witnesses the miracle of the resurrection of Christ in his tomb, so the rabbit became the messenger to communicate and remember the new goods.
The Easter Egg. For ancient Anglo-Saxons exchanging eggs in spring was a symbol of rebirth, fertility and new live. Now people give chocolate eggs or hard-boiled eggs painted with different colours as a present at Easter. Sometimes eggs are boiled with petals of flowers, leaves or any kind of vegetables to make them colourful.

EASTER TRADITIONS

HOW TO CALCULATE EASTER DAY

By Victor Pulido.

As you know Easter Day can be on any Sunday between 22 March and 25 April. There are many methods to calculate this date. This is one easy method to find out when Easter will be the next years!

We need this table:

Remainder Date

0 ................................................... 27 March

1 ................................................... 14 April

2 .................................................... 3 April

3 .................................................... 23 March

4 .................................................... 11 April

5 .................................................... 31 March

6 .................................................... 18 April

7 .................................................... 8 April

8 ................................................... 28 March

9 .................................................. 16 April

10 ................................................. 5 April

11 ................................................. 25 March

12 ................................................ 13 April

13 ................................................ 2 April

14 ................................................ 22 March

15 ................................................ 10 April

16 ................................................ 30 March

17 ................................................ 17 April

18 ................................................ 7 April

Now follow these steps:

a) Take the number of the year and divide it by 19 ( 2010 / 19 = 105.84)

b) Multiply the main part by 19 ( 105 x 19= 1995 )

c) Take the number of the year and add one ( 2010 + 1 = 2011)

d) Substract the result in step b) from the result in step c). This is the remainder ( 2011 - 1995= 16, the remainder day)

e) Match the remainder with the date ( 16 ........... 30 March )

f) Easter is on the first Sunday after this date ( First Sunday after 30 March: 4 April )

EASTER / PASCUA. Origin / Origen

By Camila Lucia Chávez, Celso Ons Castro, Luís Pérez Alvarez, Noelia Grande, Ramón Rodríguez, Sergio Gavilanes and Silvia Daniela Fuentes.

EASTER.

• Origin of the word Easter.

The word Easter derives from 'Eastre', the name of the Teutonic goddess of springtime and fertility. Every spring the ancient Saxons used to celebrate her return with a festival. This pagan ritual was celebrated during a period of time which, many years later, coincided with the death and resurrection of Christ. So, when the Saxons were converted to Christianity they decided to use the word, which turned to Easter, to remember the death of Christ and celebrate his return to life.

• The date of Easter

Before 325 A.D. Easter was celebrated on different days of the week, but in this year the Council of Nicaea issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox. This equinox is always on March 21, but Easter must be on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

• Holy days of the week.

Palm Sunday. It is the first day of the festivity. It represents the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem.

Easter Tueday. Holy Tuesday: the announcement of the death of the Lord.

Easter Thursday. The first day of the Christian Tridum.

Good Friday. On this day Christians remember the death of Jesus on the cross.

Holy Saturday. It conmemorates Jesus in the tomb.

Easter Sunday. On this day Christians celebrate that Jesus came to life.

PASCUA

• Origen de la palabra 'Pascua'

'Pascua' viene del hebreo 'pesah' y del arameo 'pascha'. Éste término aparece en el Éxodo y significa 'el paso del Señor'. Se cuenta que los israelitas fueron liberados de la opresión egipcia cuando el ángel de la muerte 'pasó' de largo ante las casas de los israelitas aniquilando a todos los primogénitos de Egipto. Para diferenciar sus casas de las egipcias los israelitas habían marcado sus puertas con sangre de cordero. El sacrificio del cordero era un antiguo rito de las tribus nómadas para celebrar la primera cosecha de primavera, o lo que es lo mismo, el 'paso' del invierno a la primavera. Éste ritual coincidió con el suceso de la bondad del angel de la muerte hacia el pueblo de Israel. Así pues, este acontecimiento se empezó a celebrar entre el 14 y el 21 del mes de nisán, que coincide con nuestro mes de marzo. Años más tarde la muerte de Cristo tuvo lugar durante la celebración de la fiesta de Pascua. Ya durante la Última Cena Jesús anunciaba a sus discípulos que aquella sería el inicio de la nueva Pascua, o nueva Alianza, sellada con su sangre: sería el cordero que quita el pecado del mundo tras el 'paso' de la Pasión. Los cristianos comenzaron a conmemorar la muerte y resurrección de Cristo reuniéndose los domingos y decidieron celebrar una fiesta anual de la Pascua en memoria de la muerte del Señor. Los primeros cristianos celebraban la Pascua de Resurrección al mismo tiempo que se celebraba la Pascua judía, pero en el 325, en el Concilio de Nicea se decidió separar las dos Pascuas siguiendo unas normas básicas: La Pascua ha de caer en domingo. Este domingo ha de ser al siguiente plenilunio pascual, es decir, la primera luna llena de la primavera boreal que tiene lugar en el equinoccio de primavera del hemisferio norte, coincidiendo en 21 de marzo. La Pascua no puede ser antes del 22 de marzo ni más tarde del 25 de abril.

MARK TWAIN: 100th anniversary of his death

HIS LIFE.

Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, writer who was born in the state of Missouri in 1835 and died in Connecticut in 1910.

When he was twelve his father died and he had to leave school. Soon he started working as a trainee typographer. Some years later he decided to live as a wanderer travelling around some southern states. Then he was a pilot taking steamships along the Mississipi River. When the Civil War broke out he went to the west, where he became a gold searcher in Nevada.

In 1862 he started to write for a newspaper in Virginia - The Enterprise - and signed his articles with the nick name of Mark Twain. This name comes from an old river navigation expression which meas 'mark two fathons' - 4 metres - expression used to say that the waters were safe.
After travelling around Europe and Holy Land, he got married and went to Connecticut, where he would live for the rest of his life. It was here where he wrote his best novels and short stories. Filled with humor and sadness, his stories reflect the good and the evil in human nature, the joy and difficulties of human experience.

Mark Twain died on 21st April, in 1910 when he was seventy-four years-old.

HIS WORK

1865 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Short stories published by the Enterprise.

1869 The Innocents Abroad.

Book in which he tells us about his journey around Europe.

1872 Roughing it.

Humorous novel based on his experiences in the west.

1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

1883 Life of the Mississipi.
1884 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

These three novels were influenced by Twain's experiences in Missouri and the Mississipi River.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and it is considered to be his marterpiece. It is told in first person by its protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, a young boy, who running away from his cruel father, lives exciting and dangerous adventures.

1881 The Prince and the Pauper.

1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Both of them historical novels.

1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc.

1894 Pudd'n head Wilson.

1916 published after his death. The Mysterious Stranger.

His most pessimistic and negative work.

CARNIVAL IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO AND NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL

By Alex Vila, Celso Simón and Victor Pulido,

Trinidad and Tobago is a country in the South Caribbean Sea, close to the east coast of Venezuela, and it consists of two islands: Trinidad and Tobago. The capital, in Trinidad, is Port of Spain.

Trinidad and Tobago celebrates the most important carnival of the Caribbean and it is one of the most beautiful carnivals in the world, often compared to the Carnival of Rio. The Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago is a great example of how people with different culture and customs can be united, because here the beliefs and traditions of many different cultures have come together to celebrate life.

Trinidad and Tobago was colonized by Spain and England at different times of its history, but by 1797, under British rule, thousands of French settlers came to live in Trinidad bringing with them their customs, culture and their African slaves, who also brought with them their own culture and traditions. It is since then that Carnival has been celebrated. Although the big party begins two days before Ash Wednesday, the preparations begin with New Year's day. There are musical competitions in which drums, claves and steelpans are the main instruments, and there are spectacular parades with the election of the Calypso Monarch and the King and Queen of the Bands.

The Notting Hill Carnival, in west London. This carnival was introduced years ago by Caribbean inmigrants, most of them from Trinidad and Tobago. It takes place during the last weekend of August and it is very famous for the colourful costumes and the steel band music played.