EASTER !



                                                           


Easter at Covent Garden (London)  2013


 How well do you know about the history of Easter?Test your knowledge!!



A few historical reminders :
Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.
The Christian missionnaries who wanted to convert them decided to do so by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner. And as the pagan festival of Eastre happened  at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ.....
A few symbols :
 
The Easter Bunny  : it was the symbol of the goddess Eastre   
 
The Easter egg  : The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a very old custom .  The egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures 




EASTER RECIPES:
The Hot Cross Buns   . Yummy and scrummy !
 These buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday ( Vendredi Saint) , with the cross standing as a symbol of The Crucifixion.

 

 

Baby Chick Easter Cupcakes     

Ingredients:
  • 1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. devils food cake mix
  • 2 (16 oz.) can vanilla ready to spread frosting
  • Yellow food coloring
  • 48 white dessert mints
  • 48 miniature baking chip
  • 48 pieces of candy corn
Preparation:
  1. Prepare and bake the cake according to the package directions for 24 cupcakes.
  2. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
  3. Tint both cans of frosting with the yellow food coloring.
  4. Using a pastry bag with a #17 star tip, pipe the frosting to cover each cupcake.
  5. Pipe on 2 wings per chick by pulling back on the bag as the frosting is released.
  6. Pipe a small mound of frosting onto each cupcake for the chicks head.
  7. Place two dessert mints on the head of each chick for eyes. 
  8. Use a toothpick and dab a very small amount of frosting in the middle of each dessert mint.
  9. Attach a miniature baking chip to each of the chick's eyes.
  10. Place 2 pieces of candy corn, large ends slightly angled one up and one down into the frosting to make the beaks.
Makes 24 cupcakes
Preparation Time:  approximately 30 minutes
Total Time:  approximately 1 hour 25 minutes + cooling time
EASTER TONGUE TWISTERSto tangle your tongue...
 
Can you say these ten times fast??!
1.  Busy bunnies bring blue baskets. 
2. Each Easter, Eddie eats eighty eggs.
3. Six peeping chicks cheeping cheerily.
4. Jogging jellybeans joke and giggle,
    jogging jellybeans jump and jiggle.
5. Run, Red Rabbit, run!
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ST PATRICK 'S DAY


Today is 17th March : HAPPY ST PATRICK 'S DAY !!!!



 What do you know about St Patrick's Day? Test your knowledge !

Do the following quiz 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4810000/newsid_4816300/4816346.stm
                                                                

There is a little problem on the photo ..What is it ???

Special thanks to Enzo for his oral presentation !!!


                                                         Enzo found gold !!!!!



 In the United States and in Great Britain , the Irish communities celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day which is on 17 March.
The Irish community in the USA is very big. During the 1800’s thousands of Irish immigrants went to America to escape poverty and have a better life. They settled in all parts of the country and took their traditions with them.

Who is Saint Patrick and why is he important to the Irish ?




 
Saint Patrick is the patron of Ireland. He left several writings about his life and work in Ireland.

Saint Patrick whose father was a landowner and a Christian was born in Britain in 389 AD. When he was sixteen years old he was captured and taken to Ireland where he became a slave. After six years he escaped to France where he became a priest. (un prêtre)

In 432 AD he returned to Ireland as a bishop in order to convert most of the Irish to Christianity. He was a generous man and dedicated man  who also introduced the Roman alphabet to Ireland.

There are legends about Saint Patrick. One legend says that he banished all the serpents from Ireland, which  is probably not true ! Another legend says that he used a shamrock to teach the Irish about the Trinity. (= The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit), St Patrick used a shamrock.
Today the shamrock he used is still a symbol of Ireland and the Irish.

Saint Patrick died in 461 and his tomb which is at Downpatrick is a centre of pilgrimage.

Today on March 17th there are big parades in big American cities in honour of the Irish . Marching bands dressed in green play lively Irish music. The Irish community organises parades and other colourful events 

 


American and British people wear green clothing on Saint Patrick’s Day. 
The Chicago River is even dyed in green


 Most people wear a green shamrock. Many shops and restaurants are decorated with green shamrocks in honour of the Irish.
Not to forget the Leprechaun who is a solitary creature, whose principal occupation is making and mending shoes, and who enjoys practical jokes.He is said to possess a treasure and if you capture him and theaten( menacer) him , he can tell you where he has hidden it...  
 

Here is the video : St Patrick's Day parade 2013 in Dublin.  Enjoy!



In New York (2012)
 

                     QUIZ  
  http://www.brownielocks.com/stpatrickstrivia.html
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RED NOSE DAY !

 Today is Red Nose Day !!

 Special thanks to Elisa and Léa for their oral presentation and the delicious cakes !!




There’s something a little bit funny about the Beefeaters of the Tower of London today!



Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia.
The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief. 
  Comic Relief is one of the two high profile telethon events held in the United Kingdom.


 The Red Nose Day campaign with ONE DIRECTION:
 http://www.rednoseday.com/whats-going-on/one-direction



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HISTORY: VICTORIAN BRITAIN (1837-1901)

Special thanks to Camille bnd Pauline for their oral presentation:



GAME !! walk through a Victorian House!Travel back in time to Victorian London!

Travel back in time to 1870 and help Ruby & Michael look for their missing dog Sam. Have fun !!
     

Who were the Victorians?
(1837 to 1901)
The Victorian age in British history is named after Queen Victoria, who was Britain's queen from 1837 until 1901.
What was life like for Victorian children? There were big differences in homes, schools, toys and entertainments. No TV, no computers, no central heating, no cars (until the last few years of Victoria's reign). No air travel - unless you went up in a balloon! Many children went to work, not to school.
 

The British Empire

Britain ruled the British Empire. Victoria was Empress of India as well as Queen of Britain, Canada (the biggest country in the Empire) and small countries such as Jamaica. Trade with the Empire helped make Britain rich. Some British children emigrated with their families to new homes in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. Children were taught about the Empire in school.

 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution changed Britain from a land of small towns, villages and farms into a land of cities, large towns and factories. The population grew from 16 million in 1801 to over 41 million by 1901. Cities grew fast, as people moved from the countryside to work in factories.
 Men, women and children worked in factories, and in coal mines. Factory and mine owners became rich, but most factory and mine workers were poor. They were paid low wages, and lived in unhealthy, overcrowded slums.

                                                       FAMOUS VICTORIANS

 Victoria was born in 1819 in Kensington Palace in London. Her name was Alexandrina Victoria. When Princess Victoria was 18 years old her uncle King William died and she became queen. She was crowned at Westminster Abbey in 1838.  Victoria married her handsome cousin Albert a young prince from Germany. (She had proposed to him). Albert didn't speak English very well and lots of people didn't like him.


 Lord Shaftesbury (1801-1885)
Anthony Ashley Cooper, the eldest son of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury, was born on 28th April, 1801. He became the Earl of Shaftesbury in 1851.
Lord Shaftesbury was a politician who attempted to improve children's lives during the Victorian times

At the age of 25, he became a member of Parliament. He began to take an interest in the plight of poor children after reading newspaper reports about labour in industry.

1833 He proposed that children should work for a maximum of 10 hours a day

1834 the Factory Act was made law. It was now illegal for children under 9 to be employed in textile factories

1842 Coal Mines Act
No child or woman should work underground

He was also interested in education for working children. He was chairman of the Ragged Schools Union - an organisation that set up over a hundred schools for poor children


  



 ALEXANDER  GRAHAM BELL : (1847-1922)
 
He was the inventor of the telephone
CHARLES DARWIN (1809 -1882)
Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. In 1831 he joined a scientific expedition bound for South America and the Pacific Ocean on a sailing ship called The Beagle (1831 - 36). He was to be the ship's naturalist, the expert on plants and animals.
In the Galapagos Islands Darwin noticed how the same species of birds, cut off from centuries on different islands, had developed in quite different ways. This and many other amazing discoveries led him to his theory of 'evolution by natural selection'. This theory lies behind all modern ideas on how different species of living things have become to be the way they are and how they will change in the future.
 
Charles Dickens 1812-1870
Great novelist of the victorian age. His novels were outstandingly popular in his time and are still popular now. His books include stories about thieves, convicts and schoolboys. He wrote about ordinary people and how they lived, about terrible prisons, bad schools and the workhouse. His famous characters include Oliver Twist, Scrooge and David Copperfield.

                                        2012 : DICKENS BICENTENARY !


VISIT THE CHARLES DICKENS MUSEUM IN LONDON !!

 http://www.dickensmuseum.com/




 Celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens
     http://www.dickens2012.org/



         
                                                QUIZ                    
 
To revise your lessons , do the following quiz
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz29672121f8500.html
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