SPECTACULAR ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA OF THE SUMMER

 

The June solstice is the astronomical phenomenon that marks the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. This year, it will occur on Sunday, 20 June at 22:32.

This will be the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, with 13 hours and 25 minutes of sunlight, a pattern that will diminish as the year progresses, until it reaches its antithesis, the shortest day on the winter solstice.

Summer will also mark the farewell of the biggest and brightest moons of the year.

The last supermoon of 2021 will take place on 24 June.

The Perseids are one of the most eagerly awaited astronomical phenomena of every summer in the northern hemisphere. This shower of stars originates from comet Swift-Tuttle, a distant visitor to Earth that completes an orbit around the Sun every 133 years.

When the debris of dust, ice and cosmic rocks that it left behind during its last passage hurtles towards our planet, it causes meteors to streak across the celestial vault in a matter of tenths of a second.

Also known as the Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseids are the third most intense meteor shower of the year.

 

The gas giant of the Solar System will reach its closest point to Earth and the best time to observe it on 19 August, just two weeks after Saturn's opposition.

Jupiter will appear brighter than normal once night falls in the east.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

 

Mother's Day is a day dedicated, in many countries around the world, to paying tribute to our mothers.

We have many reasons to be grateful for their infinite love, devotion and generosity since we were born; therefore, on this day we make them the absolute protagonists and we try to ensure that they enjoy a few unforgettable hours, if possible in our company.

It seems that in Ancient Greece, celebrations were held in honour of Rhea, the mythological goddess daughter of Uranus and Gaea. Rhea was the goddess of female fertility and motherhood.

In classical Rome, Cybele, the Magna Mater associated with the fertility of the earth and nature, was venerated.

After the emergence of the Christian religion, believers gradually transformed this pagan celebration into a feast in honour of the Virgin Mary, mother of their only god, Jesus of Nazareth.

In contemporary times, Pope Pius IX established 8 December as the official date for celebrating the Immaculate Conception. It was in 1854 and, since then, some countries have kept that date to celebrate Mother's Day.

It is important to note that the current holiday has a lot to do with two social activists in the United States: Julia Ward Howe and Anna Reeves Jarvis. In the early 20th century, these women succeeded in establishing a day to honour mothers.  Thanks to their efforts, in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made the second Sunday in May officially Mother's Day.

The second Sunday in May, a date established more than a century ago in the United States, was adopted by many countries around the world, but not in all cases.

In Spain it is celebrated on the first Sunday in May.

Mother's Day is emotional for everyone, but undoubtedly those who experience it most intensely are the children because it gives them the opportunity to prepare a beautiful gift made with their own little hands.

The schools know how important this is for the little ones and they tend to get involved in this task by coming up with cool presents and providing the material to make them. Others make them at home, with the help of their parents, siblings or grandparents.

If children want to create something at home, they don't need to make elaborate or expensive crafts. Mothers will love any detail that their son or daughter has put a lot of love into.

A classic that can't be missed is a card written by the children themselves. All it takes is a piece of cardboard folded in half and a few crayons/coloured pens to express how much they love their mum.

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