6th December

Saint Nicholas

Early in the Advent season celebrate a feast that has been popular for centuries in Christian countries, especially in Northern Europe. In our over-commercialized society, this holiday gives us a good "teaching moment" to remind children that Jolly Santa Claus, is, in fact, Saint Nicholas, a fourth century bishop of the city of Myra in what is now Turkey.

Saint Nicholas was renowned for his great kindness and his generous aid to those in distress. Among the kind and miraculous acts attributed to him are saving three young girls from shame by secretly providing them with dowries, raising three murdered boys from the dead, and saving sailors caught in stormy seas. For these reasons, he is considered the patron saint of children, unmarried girls, and sailors, among others.

Traditional celebrations of Saint Nicholas Day in Northern Europe included gifts left in children's shoes (the origin of our American Christmas stockings). Good children receive treats - candies, cookies, apples and nuts, while naughty children receive switches or lumps of coal.

Today, in Hungary, children still put a shoe outside their bedroom doors on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, and expect to find candy or small gifts in their shoe on December 6th.

In some households the father of the family may dress up as Saint Nicholas on the eve of his feast. He comes in, sometimes with his sidekick, Krampus, and helps each child examine his conscience. He admonishes the bad and rewards the good. If your family enjoys theatrics, this is a wonderful opportunity early in Advent to inspire children to amend their ways in preparation for the coming King.

Advent in Hungary

Advent is the 4 week period before Christmas when the Church celebrates the first coming of Christ and anticipates his second coming. Advent can fall on any date between (and including) November 27 and December 3. This year (2010) Advent begins on November 28.
The word "advent," from the Latin adventus (Greek parousia), means "coming" or "arrival." The season of Advent is focused on the "coming" of Jesus Christ.


Advent Wreath History

The Advent wreath was likely first used as a Christian devotion in the Middle Ages. The design was borrowed from the customs of pre-Christian (primarily Germanic and Scandinavian) peoples, who used candles and greenery (often paired together) as symbols during the dark and dead winter, to represent light and life. The Advent Wreath is a circular evergreen wreath with four or five candles, three purple, one rose.

However, Catholics still use the traditional colours because they dually symbolize both royalty and penitence, two important Advent themes. A wreath may be hand-crafted of real or artificial materials, or may be purchased at craft and candle stores. The candles symbolize the light of Christ coming into the world. The evergreen symbolizes renewal in Christ, the kind of renewal hoped for by those before Christ's first coming, and the ultimate renewal we long for in Christ's second coming. The circular shape symbolizes the completeness of God. It is likely the symbolism came after the actual wreath was conceived of, but that does not detract from the power of the symbols.

The candle colors are derived from the traditional liturgical colors of Advent and Christmas, purple and white respectively. The rose color likely is derived from an old Catholic custom of wearing rose coloured vestments on the third Sunday in Advent and fourth Sunday, called Gaudete Sunday, i.e. "Rejoice" Sunday. Each candle is first lit on the appropriate Sunday of Advent, and then the candles may be lit each day as a part of the individual or family's daily prayers. Certain candles have been given various names.

Some systems name the candle as follows:
Candle 1. Hope (purple)
Candle 2. Peace (purple)
Candle 3. Joy (rose; the corresponding Sunday is "Gaudete Sunday")
Candle 4. Love (purple)

All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day is a celebration of all Christian saints, particularly those who have no special feast days of their own, in many Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant churches. In many western churches it is annually held November 1 and in many eastern churches it is celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It is also known as All Hallows Tide, All-Hallomas, or All Hallows' Day.

Background

According to some sources, the idea for All Saints' Day goes back to the fourth century when the Greek Christians kept a festival on the first Sunday after Pentecost (in late May or early June) in honour of all martyrs and saints. Other sources say that a commemoration of “All Martyrs” began to be celebrated as early as 270 CE but no specific month or date is recorded. Pope Gregory IV made All Saints' Day an authorized holiday in 837 CE. It is speculated that the chosen date for the event, November 1, may have been an attempt to supplant the pagan Festival of the Dead.

All Saints' Day is not to be confused with All Souls’ Day, which was first instituted at the monastery in Cluny in 993 CE and quickly spread among Christian.

The liturgical colour is white on All Saints' Day.

All Saints' Day is observed by Christians in many countries around the world. In countries such as Spain, Portugal and Mexico, offerings are made on this day. In countries such as Belgium, Hungary and Italy people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives. In other parts of Europe, such as Austria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania, it is customary to light candles on top of visiting graves of deceased relatives. It is also observed in parts of Asia, such as the Philippines, where people visit graves of deceased relatives and clean or repair them. They also lay flowers on the graves and light candles.

Church services in memory of all the saints are held on November 1 but by the evening the focus turns towards the dead. Cemeteries everywhere are crowded with people who come to clean and decorate family graves. All Saints' Day is closely tied with All Souls' Day, held on November 2, which is dedicated to prayers of the dead who are not yet glorified.

Tradtions - S. Martin Day in our school!

The seller of chestnuts came to school to revive the traditions - November 11th - "Day of St. Martin " .
The students really liked the roasted chestnuts and they enjoyed the Seller, too!
Who guesses his real name? :))

"yerli malı", - Turkey

Customs, traditions are likely in many countries.. We have some days like cookie day, but not same exactly, we called it "yerli malı", means: home produce. We celebrate it in a whole week of the second week of december in every year, particularly in primary schools. We make some cookies, some pastries, some other food and we share these each other and of course the pupils do as it...

Celal

Portuguese Traditions - Day Cookie and "Day of all Saints"

November 1th
" DAY COOKIE" and "ALL SAINTS"

Source Is the millennial day celebrations on November 1, designated by the Catholic Church as the "Day of all Saints".Still today in many localities with the highest incidence in the villages of Portugal, people celebrate this holiday. In popular tradition the All Saints ' day is known as the "Day cookie" or "bread of God" as the uses and customs from region to region. At Leiria, early in the morning, groups of children with their made - bags , go door to door by streets and alleys, repeating with enthusiasm and joy the traditional auction "o aunt! gives cookie? ". It is interesting to know that, especially in rural areas, there are people who take very strictly speaking this tradition and are dedicated to making cookies which add to its mass, walnut, dried grapes and the pinion (dried fruit of the season) so that on this day, can give your family, friends and all the children who will happily banging all ports.
In our school we have celebrated the tradition "Cookie day",with delicious cakes made in the kitchen of School. Students made their cloth - bags, and have been asking for "Bread for God" to the neighboring classes. It was very fun and interesting!

Until next year and next "Day Cokie":))

In: 1th Novemberhttp://florliriodocampo.blogs.sapo.pt/19923.html

Photos about the Hungarian meeting

Dear Our Friends!

Just a little surprise for everybody, look at some photos of the third Comenius-meeting on my own homepage.

www.missdiana.hu/Albums/Hungarian%20Project%20Meeting/index.html

Greetings,

Diana

Hello!Hi:

Everything was perfect on the third meeting, in Gödöllö

Planned activities, dance performances, visits, meals were highly organized and succesful...

By the way talking with youngs was unforgettable experience for me and for other turkish participants. THere are many things to say, yes.. I'll publish some photos and videos and my remains of the thouhts, on the blog soon.

My king regards to Diana, Katalin and Judith, (and of course thanks for great meals to Great Istvan) and other colleagues. You'd managed king performance during the meeting.. Yes, great potantial great performance...

Congratulations,