HAPPY EASTER

 

Most children have holidays at school coinciding with Easter, a time to enjoy a few days of rest without classes or homework, to travel with the family and to taste and eat all kinds of recipes related to Easter. However, we cannot forget its meaning and why Easter is celebrated all over the world.

During Holy Week, the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ are remembered. On Holy Thursday, the day on which the Last Supper is commemorated, the religious liturgy takes on its greatest importance, as Christ's suffering on his march to Calvary and his subsequent crucifixion is remembered.

Holy Week concludes on Sunday, with Easter, recalling and celebrating the passage from death to life of Christ, the Son of God. It is precisely at Easter that the whole life of Christianity is based on and revolves around. Its tradition is ancient and it is a feast that is celebrated by more than one billion faithful around the world.

FATHER´S DAY

 

In Spain, Father's Day is celebrated every March 19 to coincide with  Saint Joseph's Day, which as you may already know is about the father of Jesus, so that in some way the figure of this father is linked with that of all parents in the world, but what originated this party or celebration? In 1948 it was decided to commemorate Father's Day in Spain for the first time, completely linked to the history of a woman and a school. Manuela Vicente Ferrero, a teacher by profession, decided to celebrate this day with her students at the Belmonte  school, located in Madrid's Dehesa de la Villa. In Spain it is a tradition on Father's Day to meet as a family with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and give them a present that symbolizes our love for them. In schools, children often make crafts to give to dad.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

 

On Monday March 8 is International Women's Day. This day commemorates women's struggle for equal rights to work and benefits in relation to men.

The celebration did not have a very positive beginning since, in 1908, a group of women in the city of New York were burned after a strike for defending certain rights as workers and women.

Because of this event, the 8th of March is commemorated as the international day of women and women's rights.

In 1910, the 2nd International Conference of Socialist Women established 8 March as International Working Women's Day.

ARTS and CRAFTS

 

FEBRUARY CELEBRATIONS

 

 

The carnival is related in its origin with the harvests, the fertility of the land and the need for good weather for cultivation.

The first vestiges of carnival are found in Egyptian culture. The whole town put on masks and gathered around a bonfire; They danced and asked for good luck for the crops, although it is also believed to be a way to drive away evil spirits.

In Venice, this festival was very popular because it allowed costumed nobles to mingle with ordinary people.

In Spain, the carnival party was prohibited during the reign of Carlos I, his son Felipe II and continued until Felipe III. It was Felipe IV who allowed the carnivals to be celebrated again.

The carnival goes before Ash Wednesday. This year it falls on February 18, so Shrove Tuesday is February 17 and the party is held the weekend before. This year the carnival and Valentine's Day coincide.

 

Who was Valentine?

Saint Valentine was a Roman Catholic priest who was also a physician and lived in Italy during the 3rd century AD.

Saint Valentine became famous because he secretly celebrated marriages, since many couples were in love and could not legally marry in Rome because Emperor Claudius II prohibited it.

The Roman emperor wanted to recruit many men to form an army, and he thought that marriage would be an obstacle to their training as soldiers. For that reason he forbade them to marry.

Upon learning that Valentine was secretly celebrating weddings, he ordered his arrest and sentenced him to death.

During his capture, Valentine befriended his jailer, Asterious, who was so impressed with the priest's that he asked her to help his daughter Julia with her lessons. She was blind and needed someone to read her books for her to learn.

The Emperor Claudius also grew to love him, and even offered to forgive him if he renounced his Christian faith and agreed to worship the Roman gods.

Valentine not only refused to give up his faith, but also invited the emperor to trust Christ. This infuriated the president so much that he sentenced him to death.

Before the punishment was served, the saint wrote one last note to Julia, encouraging her to stay close to Jesus and also to thank him for being her friend. At the end of the note he signed: "From your Valentine." This was what inspired people to start writing love letters.

The priest was executed on the Via Flaminiana, where later Pope John Paul the First (523-526) requested that a temple be erected under his invocation and of which most of his relics are still preserved in the church of Santa Praxedes.

Prior to this event, in 496, Pope Gelasius designated February 14 as the official Valentine's Day.

February 14 is the Day of Love and Friendship. Some also call this date as Valentine's Day.

In the Catholic saints' calendar, 14 February is celebrated as St. Valentine's Day, which is why this saint is known as the saint of lovers

PEACE EVERY DAY

 

Peace Day, why is it celebrated on 30 January?

Since 1965, every 30 January has been the date chosen to commemorate the death of Mahatma Gandhi, India's pacifist and spiritual leader who defended non-violence and resistance to the injustice to which his people were subjected. In 1948, he was shot dead by a Hindu fundamentalist.

The idea came from the Spanish professor Llorenç Vidal, who wanted to promote education in and for tolerance on a day like today under the slogan "Universal Love, Non-Violence and Peace". This Saturday, 57 years later, schools and educational centres are once again becoming instruments of peace and understanding between people regardless of their race, education, culture or religion.

• What can we do for Peace?

Educate for peace.

Respect life.

Reject violence.

Share with others.

Listen to understand.

Preserve the planet.

Rediscover solidarity.

Light a Candle for Peace

Light a Candle for Love

Light a Candle that shines all away around the World

Light a Candle for me

Light a Candle for you

That our wish for world peace will one day  come true

Sing Peace around the world

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles, you must go step by step

NEW LITTLE STORIES

 

THE PRINCES OF THE YEAR

    It happened, many centuries ago, that a powerful king thought of appointing three princes to travel continuously throughout his kingdom. The king called them: Summer, Autumn, Winter.

    The king sent the prince Summer to his people, but within a few days of his arrival, the springs dried up and thirst and heat threatened to devour the lives of all the inhabitants of the kingdom.

    The king then sent Prince Autumn, who arrived accompanied by many fruits as a gift. But within a few days the trees lost their leaves, the sky was covered with grey clouds laden with water, and the wind whipped through the fields and villages.

    The cold, majestic Prince Winter arrived later, accompanied by hundreds of vassals holding his heavy ermine cloak. The cold heart of the prince froze everything around him.

    Seeing the sadness of his people, the king had compassion on him and decided to seek a solution.

    In golden and dreamy regions, lived a princess called Primavera. The monarch sent for her, and as soon as the princess entered the king's domain, the earth was covered with flowers, the birds sang happily building their nests and the trees dressed their branches in green. A soft, clean sun shone in the sky, and at night the stars shone with extraordinary brilliance.

    The king then left the country in the hands of the four princes, and they travelled through the kingdom always in this order: Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter.

• Answer these questions about the story :

What did he call the three princes?

What happened to Summer?

What happened to Autumn?

What happened to Winter?

Who managed to fix everything?

FLYING STARS

- Mommy, Mommy, run, come to the window! -shouted Maria.

- What's the matter?

- Look, there are little flying stars in the garden!

- How beautiful they are! -replied the mother. But they are not stars: they are fireflies. You can usually see them on summer nights.

- Are fireflies dangerous? Do they bite? -asked Maria.

- They're not dangerous at all," answered her mother.

Maria went down to the garden. After a while she went back upstairs screaming:

- Mummy, Mummy! I took a firefly and put it in this glass jar. I'm going to put it in my room and it will light me up all night.

- Oh, poor firefly! Do you really think it will give you light? Can't you see it's out of light?

- Because fireflies have light only in the dark," said Mary. Let's turn off the light and you'll see, Mama.

The mother turned off the light. But the firefly in the jar didn't give a single ray of light.

- Why doesn't it light up? -asked Mary.

- Because she is sad and feels like a prisoner. What would you do if you were locked up?

Mary understood that she had to let the firefly go. She went to the window and opened the jar. The firefly flew away leaving a trail of light.

•  Answer these questions about the story :

What was really flying in the garden? 

When do you usually see fireflies?

Where do you keep the firefly?

Why doesn't the firefly light up?