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Pancake Day

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Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the day before the start of Lent (Σαρακοστή)* on Ash Wednesday. It always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9.

Why is it called Pancake Day?

Shrove Tuesday was named after the custom of Christians to be “shriven” before the start of Lent. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and parts of the Commonwealth, Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, as it became a traditional custom to eat pancakes as a meal. It is also called Fat Tuesday (‘Mardi Gras’ is French) as it was the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before fasting of the Lenten season. The tradition dates back to 600 A.D., when all animal products, not just meat, were banned during Lent. Christians made pancakes on Fat Tuesday to use up their supply of butter, milk, and eggs before Lent.

Pancakes are thin, flat cakes, made of batter and fried in a frying pan. A traditional English pancake is very thin and is served immediately. Golden syrup or lemon juice and caster sugar are the usual toppings for pancakes.

The fun part of Shrove Tuesday celebrations includes pancake races! Large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, race down streets tossing pancakes. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying at the same time a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run! Other traditional activities are ‘Mob Football’ games in many towns throughout England, or skipping on one rope.

Pancake races

Mob Football

Skipping the rope

Skipping rope (Photo by Miss Diane)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find delicious recipes for the day here:

Pancake Day

 

*Lent (Σαρακοστή) is a period of fasting for 40 days before Easter Sunday (in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert during which he endured temptation by Satan). Lent is mostly observed by the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denominations, and also by Roman Catholics. Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Orthodox Easter.

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Valentine crafts

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Here are two ideas to do for your sweetheart on St. Valentine’s Day!

No.1

Make a great origami heart corner bookmark, scribbling a special little love note on it!

Watch the instructions here: Heart corner bookmarks

or follow the advice given here: Heart Corner Bookmarks by Easy Peasy and Fun

And how about placing it in the corner of a book with love poetry for your beloved one?

 

No.2

Paint the following pictures (or make your own!) using Keith Haring’s unique style!

Who was Keith Haring? 

Keith Haring was a well-known street artist and pop artist in the 1980s and 1990s. Inspired by art and graffiti in New York City subways, artist Keith Haring created iconic cartoon-like figures in public spaces all over the world.His drawings were quite simple – pyramids, flying saucers, human figures, winged figures, television sets, animals, and babies. Soon his drawings became a kind of signature, and the people of New York first (where he lived) and then all around the world recognised his style immediately.

Learn more about his life here: Let’s learn about Keith Haring! and here: Intro to Keith Haring!

Here are the 2 colouring pages:

 

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St. Valentine’s Day

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Every year, on 14 of February, people all over the world celebrate St. Valentine’s Day: they show their affection or love for their beloved ones or sweethearts by giving gifts, chocolates, flowers, or cards with messages of love.

The day gets its name from a famous saint. But who was he?

There are several stories of who he was. The popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed “from your Valentine”. (“From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today.)

Have a look at this video: Valentine’s Day.

Follow the story of Valentine’s Day on Google Earth ! 

The tradition of celebrating love, though, already existed.  The Romans had a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February – officially the start of their springtime. Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. As part of the celebrations, boys drew names of girls from a box. They’d be boyfriend and girlfriend during the festival and sometimes they’d get married.

Later on, the church wanted to turn this festival into a Christian celebration and decided to use it to remember St Valentine too. Over the years, St Valentine’s name started to be used by people to express their feelings to those they loved. Nowadays it is a fully commercialised celebration, with all things lovey!

How do animals celebrate the day? Have a look! Animals in love

What about special Valentine’s food?

Have a look at this Valentine’s Day story with Nature Cat (with an environmental twist!)

Here’s a host of acivities you can find here: Holiday: Valentine’s Day

Other love figures / saints

In Ancient Greece people celebrated the god of love, Eros, son of Aphrodite and Ares. He had a special power which allowed him to make two people fall in love with each other: Eros could point his bow and arrow at someone and they would fall in love with the next person they saw. This power worked with both mortals (another name for humans, who could die) and gods!

There are a lot of myths about him. The most famous one is Eros and Psyche. 

Cupid and Psyche by Antonio Canova

Their story inspired so many artists! Have a look at this famous statue above. 

Later on, in Roman mythology Eros became the Roman god Cupid, who is often shown as a naked chubby child throwing his arrows to unsuspecting lovers!

The Orthodox church celebrates the saints Priscilla and Aquila on 13 February. 

Sts. Aquila and Priscilla

Priscilla and Aquila were friends of the apostle Paul. They set an example of hospitality, seen in opening their home to Paul and using their house as a meeting place for the church. Priscilla and Aquila are a fascinating study in men and women working together for the good of the church. 

GROUNDHOG-DAY-2019

Groundhog Day (Η μέρα της Μαρμότας)

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Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada (having originated in the town of Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania).

It is the day when people look to the groundhog (also known as woodchucks, or marmots) to predict the weather for the next six weeks. Folklore says that if the sun is shining when the ground hog comes out of his burrow(λαγούμι, φωλιά), then the groundhog will go back into its burrow and we will have winter for six more weeks. However, if it is cloudy, then spring will come early that year.

The origins of Groundhog Day can be traced to German settlers (άποικοι) in Pennsylvania. These settlers celebrated February 2nd as Candlemas Day. On this day if the sun came out then there would be six more weeks of wintry weather. In 1886 the Punxsutawney newspaper declared February 2nd as Groundhog Day and named the local groundhog as Punxsutawney Phil.

There are a number of celebrations throughout the United States. The largest celebration takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania where the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil has predicted the weather each year since 1886. Large crowds of well over 10,000 people gather here to see Phil come out of his burrow at around 7:30am. Punxsutawney Phil normally lives in a nice climate controlled home in the local library throughout most of the year. He is moved up to Gobbler’s Knob on February 2nd, where he makes his annual (ετήσιος) weather prediction. Phil was named after King Phillip.

How accurate (ακριβείς)  the predictions of the groundhogs are is up for debate. People who organize the day say that they are very accurate. However, others say it’s just luck.

The 1993 movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray took place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and made the holiday even more popular.

adapted from: https://www.ducksters.com/holidays/groundhog_day.php

Have a look at this short video:

https://video.link/w/4fhPb

Let’s make these simple crafts:

CUPCAKE LINER GROUNDHOG DAY CRAFT

EASY GROUNDHOG PAPER PLATE KIDS CRAFT