AFTERNOON TEA
A very British tradition.

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
Henry James.

Tea, that most quintessential of English drinks, is a relative latecomer to British shores. Although the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium BC in China, it was not until the mid 17th century that tea first appeared in England.

Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o'clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.

This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880's upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o'clock.

Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of dainty sandwiches (including of course thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches), scones served with clotted cream and preserves. Cakes and pastries are also served. Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from silver tea pots into delicate bone china cups.

Nowadays however, in the average suburban home, afternoon tea is likely to be just a biscuit or small cake and a mug of tea, usually produced using a teabag. Sacrilege!

For tea lovers: http://blog.englishteastore.com/

Do you prefer tea or coffee?

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day, although not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, familiy members, enemies, and neighbours, or sending them on fool´s errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, the jokes only last until noon: like UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool". Elsewhere, such as in Ireland, France, and the USA, the jokes last all day.

Source: Wikipedia

WEAR GREEN ON SAINT PATRICK´S DAY!!

It´s St. Patrick´s Day this coming Tuesday and we´re planning to celebrate it at our school. How? Wearing something green!!

But, why celebrate it?

St. Patrick is Ireland´s patron saint, and March 17th , St. Patrick´s Day, marks his Roman Catholic feast day.

He is most known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, and there probably never have been.... Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to pagan practice. While not the first to bring christianity to Ireland, it´s St. Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.

Saint Patrick´s Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck and it is celebrated all around the world. Parades worldwide are decked out in colourful green and it is a day when everyone aspires to be Irish, and there are festival parades in all of the major cities of the world on March 17th, most particularly where there is an Irish diaspora.

HAPPY ST. PADDY´S DAY TO ALL YOU GUYS THAT CELEBRATE IT!!!

If you don´t, may you have the luck of the Irish anyway!!!

Your teachers.

CARNIVAL

Notting Hill Carnival (August)

Hi there !
The weekend is over but Carnival is approaching and I guess you are looking forward to it.
I’ve been doing some research on how Carnival is, or used to be, celebrated in Britain and Ireland, and I’d like to share it with you.

In England the period immediately before Lent was called “Shrovetide” (from “to shrive”: to confess sins), but not many of the festivities survived the English Reformation in the 16th century.
The day before Ash Wednesday was called Shrove Tuesday. It is also known as Pancake Day, because traditionally pancakes were made to use up the fat, eggs, milk and butter which could not be eaten during Lent.
Nowadays pancakes races are held in many towns in the UK. Each runner carries a pancake in a frying pan and tosses it while they run. The most popular race takes place in Olney, in the south of England, where it has been run each year since 1445. Some charities also organize races to raise money.

Another event that has survived is the Royal Shrovetide Football Match, which has been played in the town of Ashbourne, in the East Midlands, since at least the 12th century! However, don’t expect a traditional football match. In fact there are not many rules, one of which being “the prohibition of committing murder.”

Royal Shrovetide Football Match

Notting Hill Carnival, which, according to Wikipedia, is the second largest street festival in the world after Rio, takes place in August.

Most traditions connected with Carnival have fallen into disuse in Ireland, too, but many still make and eat mountains of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
In the past, because of the prohibition of marriage during Lent, Shrovetide was a traditional time for marrying and most churches had at least one wedding on Shrove Tuesday.
Unmarried people did not have the same status as those who were married and practical jokes were played on them on Pancake Day. One of them was tying the door and blocking the chimney so that the house was filled with smoke.
Another custom associated with marriage was the tossing of pancakes. The eldest unmarried daughter was allowed to toss the first. If it fell among the ashes, she wouldn’t marry that year.

Pancake Tossing in Ireland (1850)

One practice that I was surprised to read about – because of its cruelty and also because something similar was common in some towns in Spain – has to do with cocks. In the 19th century a cock was tied to a stone. People paid a penny to throw a stick at the poor bird. If you killed it you could take it home.
What some people still do in Ireland during Lent is to abstain from (to give up) something they like, for example sweets, alcohol or cigarettes.

I hope you tell us what you are planning to do at Carnival.

Chema

Happy Groundhog Day!!!!

There are many interesting traditions and holidays around the world. One of my favourite is 'Groundhog Day', which is celebrated today, February 2nd, in the United States and Canada.

I discovered it a few years ago thanks to the film by the same name (Title in Spanish 'Atrapado en el Tiempo') starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. It's an absolute classic that my sister and I, both studying English when it came out, watched many many times.

Excellent film.

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where every year the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicts the weather. According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.

Today is the big day, so stay tuned... in a few hours we'll visit Punxsutawney Phil's web page (isn't technology amazing?) to find out what he predicted...

While we are waiting, are there any other interesting traditons or holidays around the world you would like to tell us about?

PLEASE, COMMENT!!!


TTYL Cristina

Happy (Chinese) New Year.

Although the Chinese New Year falls on January 26, 2009 (year 4707 on the Chinese calendar), the London celebrations are usually held on the first Sunday after Chinese New Year’s Day, that is, February 1, 2009. This year about 300,000 people are expected to attend the lion and dragon dances, fireworks and acrobatic performances in Chinatown, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square. At home people eat special food to bring in good luck. You can watch the videos at the bottom to know more.

The present Chinatown, a commercial area where very few people actually live, is located in Soho and dates back to the 70’s, when the area was a run-down district and the rent was cheap. The first Chinatown was in the East End, but much of it was damaged during the Blitz ( the sustained bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941)in the Second War World.

2009 is the year of the Ox. People born under the sign of the Ox are said to be good leaders, methodical and good at making things. Famous oxen include Barack Obama, Napoleon Bonaparte, Princess Diana, Walt Disney, Vincent Van Gogh, Bruce Springsteen and Robert Redford. If you like predictions, horoscopes and the like, click here to find out what your Chinese birth sign is. When you do, you could post a comment and let us know.

Interviews with Londoners





Traditions




Chema