Fundacion Vicente Ferrer and our school

Christmas holidays have just started and everything is back in its place again. Last week the school’s hall was a bit messy because of our Jumble Sale. Although I don’t know yet  how much money we got from the Sale and from the Xmas Hamper tickets, what I know is what Fundación Vicente Ferrer has done with the money we raised last year. Click here and you’ll see a report of their job with our contribution. It’s a pleasure to know that our effort has proved valuable.

Enjoy your Christmas and don’t forget English!

The Song of Christmas Lottery Advertisement

Have you wondered about the music in the national lottery advertisement? The guy who sings is Lionel Neykov and his life has changed since he uploaded his theme “Freeze my senses with your kiss” in Youtube! We can say that this guy has already won the jackpot! Congratulations!

 by David B

 

 

Freeze my senses by Lionel Neykov

 

Your eyes have more power than vampires
You bit my mouth and then left me
On the floor shivering and aching for more

Your smile is more dangerous than reptiles
You shot your poison in my skin
And now I can’t get you out of my mind

[Chorus:]
Help me babe, I got a hole in my heart
My head is spinning I feel so high
Release me darling from this pain in my side
And please, freeze my senses with your kiss

Your lips more addictive than sugar sticks
Make me dizzy and so light I could fly
I think my brain has melted down

[Chorus]

So there, now that you know
That I care for you, yeah
Be fair cos I’m a fool in despair
And you got your hands round my neck

Christmas stockings

While there are no written and reliable records of the origin of the Christmas stocking, it is thought that the tradition of stockings started in Holland during the 16th century. There are popular legends that attempt to tell the history of this Christmas tradition and the following is a good example:

Long ago, there lived a poor man and his three beautiful daughters. He had no money to get his daughters married, and he was worried what would happen to them after his death.
Saint Nicholas was passing through the village when he over heard the discussion of some villagers who were talking about the situation of the three girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help them, but he knew that the old man won’t accept charity. He knew that that man was a good person and He decided to help in secret. He waited until it was night and crept into their house through the chimney.
He had three bags of gold coins with him, one for each girl. As he was looking for a place to keep those three bags, he noticed stockings of the three girls that were hung over the mantelpiece for drying. He put one bag in each stocking and off he went. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning, they found the bags of gold coins and were of course, overjoyed. The girls were able to get married and live happily ever after.

The word about St. Nicholas being so generous spread throughout the village and then all over the land.
This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas.

by David B.

Candy Canes

Tradition:
Candy Canes
Describe the Tradition
Candy Canes are hard cane-shaped sticks, usually white with red stripes and flavored with peppermit, grape or cinnamon, altought they can also be made of many other flavours and colours.

When?
It’s believed that candy canes were invented in France by priests in the early 1400s. The cane shape is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight sugar sticks into canes to represent a shepherd’s staff, and gave them to children at church service or children that behaved properly in church.
Candy canes became popular in America by the 1800’s and were used to help decorate Christmas trees.
In the early 20th century, the canes gained the beautiful red striping they bear today. Bob McCormick of Albany, GA, is the confectioner responsible for reinventing the candy cane into the model we buy today.

Where?
There are many theories around where and when candy canes where invented. For example, we have the theory that supports its French origings. We can also find theories that place candy canes’ origins in Sweden, Italy; or even Indiana (USA). There’s an urban legend that says that a candy maker wanted to symbolize the birth of Christ with the use of a piece of candy, so he took a hard candy stick which was pure white then shaped it into a letter ‘J’ for Jesus and added some red stripes to represent God’s love and the trinity.

Symbolism?
The first symbolism we can think of is its shape, wich reminds us to a “J” for Jesus. Turned the other way, candy canes remind us of the shepherd’s staff. The first people to hear of Christ’s birth were shepherds guarding their flocks at night. Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd and the Bible frequently compares the actions of the Messiah to those of a shepherd searching for his lost sheep, feeding them, gently leading them, and carrying them in his bosom.
The sweetness of the candy reminds us that we are fed on the sweet milk of the Gospel of our salvation and peace.

by Fernando

Christmas cards

Everybody post Christmas cards but it isn’t an old tradition at all. It started in Britain in 1840, just after the beginning of the National Post Service and the Railway System.

At the present times everybody post greeting cards to their family and friends an most of them will be hung on the walls of their homes.

Most of the pictures show religious subjets like the birth of Christ or the Virgin Mary although lately some of these cards reflect a lot of differents matters like natural ladscapes. The only thing, at least from my point of view, is to wish the best to your family and friends.

During the present Christmas days 100 million cards are spected to be sent only in Britain.

by Ojeda

POINSETTIAS

 

 

A poinsettia is a small tree, typically reaching a height of 0.6 to 4 m (2 to 16 ft). The plant bears dark green dentate leaves that measure 7 to 16 cm (3 to 6 inches) in length. The top leaves, known as bracts, are flaming red, pink, or white and are often mistaken as flowers. The actual flowers are grouped within the small yellow structures found in the center of each leaf bunch, which are called cyathia.

Origin:

When?

The poinsettia became associated to the Xmas season because Mexicans in the XVIII century believed the plants were symbolic of the Star of Bethelem.

Where?

Poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico, and native to the Pacific coast of the USA. The name “Poinsettia” is after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant into the US in 1828.

Symbolism?

There is an old Mexican legend about how Poinsettia’s and Christmas come together, it goes like this:

There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked to the chapel, sadly, her cousin Pedro tried to cheer her up.
‘Pepita’, he said ‘I’m sure that even the smallest gift, given by someone who loves him will make Jesus Happy.’

Pepita didn’t know what she could give, so she picked a small handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present to Jesus. As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said. She began to feel better, knelt down and put the bouquet at the bottom of the nativity scene. Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers, and everyone who saw them were sure they had seen a miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the ‘Flores de Noche Buena’, or ‘Flowers of the Holy Night’.

by Juan Carlos

ORIGIN OF SANTA CLAUS

 

 

Tradition:

In North American poetry and illustrations, Santa Claus, in his white beard, red jacket and pompom-topped cap, would fly on the night before Christmas in his sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer, and climb down chimneys to leave his gifts in stockings children set out on the fireplace’s mantelpiece.

Children naturally wanted to know where Santa Claus actually came from. Where did he live when he wasn’t delivering presents? Those questions gave rise to the legend that Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, where his Christmas-gift workshop was also located.

In 1925, since grazing reindeer would not be possible at the North Pole, newspapers revealed that Santa Claus in fact lived in Finnish Lapland.

Old Origin:

In looking for the historical roots of Santa Claus, one must go very deep in the past. One discovers that Santa Claus as we know him is a combination of many different legends and mythical creatures.

The basis for the Christian-era Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna (Izmir), in what is now Turkey. Nicholas lived in the 4th century A.D. He was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often he gave joy to poor children by throwing gifts in through their windows.

The Orthodox Church, in honored St. Nicholas by building the Russia’s oldest church. Nicholas was considered as one who helped children and the poor. St. Nicholas became the patron saint of children and seafarers.

In the Protestant areas of central and northern Germany, St. Nicholas later became known as der Weinachtsmann. In England he came to be called Father Christmas. St. Nicholas made his way to the United States with Dutch immigrants, and began to be referred to as Santa Claus.

20^th Century:

The American version of Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century.

This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem “A Visit From Saint Nicholas”, more commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas” by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus’s laughs, winks, and nods; and the method by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney.

The American image of Santa Claus was further elaborated by illustrator Thomas Nast, who added such details as Santa’s workshop at the North Pole and Santa’s list of the good and bad children of the world. A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of Moore’s poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations for Coca-Cola advertisements introduced in 1931. In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, with a red and shiny nose, was invented in 1939 by an advertising writer for the Montgomery Ward Company.

by Alberto

The mistletoe and the holly

When you meet your girlfriend/boyfriend under some mistletoe you are supposed to kiss her/him, this is a well known symbol of peace and luck.
This tradition has it s origins in the North and Celtic cultures, on which Balder Balder, the son of the Norse goddess Frigga, was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe by Loki, and evil spirit, she wept tears of white berries which brought him back to life. Overjoyed, Frigga blessed the plant and bestowed to kiss all who passed beneath it. When Catholicism became the religion of these cultures some of their ancient symbolism were conserved as it happened with the mistletoe.

The holly was traditionally used in the ancient Roman Empire in the Saturnalia Fest celebrated in honour to Saturn, during this times roman houses were decorated with holly and so used do the Christians, afraid of the persecution hey suffered. When most Romans became catholic the holly kept being used as decoration and this tradition continued to those days.

by Daniel