familytreehouse.co.uk

Archive for the ‘Festivals’ Category

2010 Is happening in August / September this year.

http://www.walesenvironmentalhomeeducationcamp.com/

Popularity: 5% [?]

For some time, I have been looking for something which would help me to understand the moons cycles.

I then came across a link on a friends web site, for a diary, which claimed to do such a thing.

Inspired, last week, I asked Steve to get me one. £10 felt an awful lot for a diary, so i was naturally rather worried about it. This morning my diary arrived. Its wonderful. I cannot explain to you the satisfaction of having the different calendars at ones fingertips. Knowing what celebrations are coming up for all my friends, and myself.. and the lunar cycle explained so well.

http://www.moonwise.co.uk/diary.php

Its a limited edition, but well worth still trying to get as well, i only bought mine last week!

I wish we had enough for the calendar as well, but we dont need it this year, but for any of my OU friends who are studing astronomy I can only recommend you take a look at it.

Popularity: 3% [?]

he Shortest Day
By Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

Popularity: 2% [?]

“The Holly King, represents the Death aspect of the God at this time of year; and the Oak King, represents the opposite aspect of Rebirth (these roles are reversed at Midsummer). This can be likened to the Divine Child’s birth. The myth of the Holly King/Oak King probably originated from the Druids to whom these two trees were highly sacred. The Oak King (God of the Waxing Year) kills the Holly King (God of the Waning Year) at Yule (the Winter Solstice). The Oak King then reigns supreme until Litha (the Summer Solstice) when the two battle again, this time with the Holly King victorious. Examples of the Holly King’s image can be seen in our modern Santa Claus.”
- Yule and Its Lore

“Good King Wenceslas last looked out,
On the feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel.”
- Christmas Carol

Popularity: 2% [?]

“The Lord of Misrule – December 17th. This is the first day of the Roman festival Saturnalia. It was a period of great
feasting and festivity, with a lot of drinking and eating. Slaves would become masters for the festival, and everything
was turned upside down. This part of the Roman festival survived into the 17th Century.”

Popularity: 3% [?]

Twas the Night before Christmas Poem

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Popularity: 30% [?]

I know.. but from next Thursday, were on our Christmas run down in the world of home education.

We have our presents to make, our cards to make, write and send, and our education to fit into this fun packed season.

We also need to look at things such as the pagan christianity, the green man.. and the festival of light.

Anyway.. being interested in the development of that coco cola character.. Father Christmas.

I recently came across this link.. thank you carole B

In response to a question is there a santa clause.

Enjoy :d

ight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

more

Popularity: 4% [?]

Up on their brooms the Witches stream,
Crooked and black in the crescent’s gleam;
One foot high, and one foot low,
Bearded, cloaked, and cowled, they go,
‘Neath Charlie’s Wain they twitter and tweet,
And away they swarm ‘neath the Dragon’s feet,
With a whoop and a flutter they swing and sway,
And surge pell-mell down the Milky Way.
Betwixt the legs of the glittering Chair
They hover and squeak in the empty air.
Then round they swoop past the glimmering Lion
To where Sirius barks behind huge Orion;
Up, then, and over to wheel amain,
Under the silver, and home again.

Walter de la mer.

Asha now also knows witch witchWitch, Witch

Witch witch, where do you fly?
Under the clouds and over the sky.

Witch, witch, what do you eat?
Little black apples from Hurricane Street.

Witch, witch, what do you drink?
Vinegar and good red ink.

Witch, witch, where do you sleep?
Up in the clouds where the pillows are cheap.

And the french one… C’est une sorciere

which i will type the words in sometime to…

Popularity: 9% [?]

Bats are nice
Bats are fat

I like Bats, I like Bats.

I dont know why nobody seems to like bats.
I think bats are nice.

Popularity: 8% [?]

We have been going to the fun days at Penrhyn Castle, with a friend who is a child minder, who is also home schooling.

This week the fun day was Knights and Princesses. Being slightly insane, we decided to challenge each other to wear a dress. I decided to wear my wedding dress, and D found a lovely purple dress to wear.

At Penrhyn Castle Fun Day

Not perfect enough for my little girl, she also got picked out to help Bimbamboozle to do his magic, which even tonight – she is talking about, and saying how wonderful he is, and how funny it was when he changed a nappy… so yet another picture coming up..

Them knots

We also went around the castle, and looked at the play room, and spent some time looking at the big trains in the old stable blocks..

Great fun.

Popularity: 5% [?]

On Monday we went to chester zoo with some friends. We often go to our local zoo, and over the years we have taken 100’s of photographs of the animals in chester zoo, so we didnt take many this time, instead wanting to spend time with the company we had, and to spend time enjoying the new surroundings.

Asha had a fantastic time, but we did get a few good snaps of her being Asha.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Yep she was 5 today, and we had a wonderful day on snowdon.

We got up fairly late for Asha (7.45) and had a selection of presents in bed.. including Old Bear, a Diablo,  an air ambulance helicopter, and a toy caravan!

We then had a cooked breakfast, and after feeding the birds, with the new bird feeder, went to meet granny and grandad to get the train up snowdon.

The weather today was glorious, and the scenery was magnificant, wales at its best. After our trip up, we went and opened presents from granny and grandad by the river, and daddy had to go waterproof dipping (yep a coat fell in the river) . After a while the midgies came out, so we took refuge at Lake Padarn, and fed the ducks, and swans, followed by a trip to Petes eats, and birthday cake.

A great time was had by Asha.. who is now asleep, very happy.

Popularity: 6% [?]

During Elizabethan times, Shakespeare refers to the custom of wearing a leek as an “ancient tradition”, and his character Henry V tells Fluellen that he is wearing a leek “for I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.”

Even earlier than this, entries in the household accounts of the ‘Welsh’ Tudor Kings of England, record payments for leeks worn by the household guards on St. David’s Day.

Earlier still in the fourteenth century, it is known that the feared Welsh archers adopted the green and white colours of the leek for their uniforms, perhaps at the Battle of Crecy.

Earlier than this however, myth and legend begin to intertwine. According to one legend recorded by the English poet Michael Drayton in the early 1600’s, the leek was associated with St. David the Patron Saint of Wales who died in 589 AD. It is possible that the poet made up the story; however it tells how St. David ordered his soldiers to wear the leek on their helmets in a battle against the hated pagan Saxon invaders of Britain. The battle itself is also said to have taken place in a field full of leeks.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Wales-History/TheLeek.htm

Popularity: 44% [?]

“How Form 696 could pull the plug on the capital’s music scene”;

Warning sounded over new piece of bureaucracy that forces licensees to reveal a mass of information about performers

Friday, 21 November 2008

Teenage kicks will be harder to get if publicans and managers of other small venues are forced to comply with a new piece of bureaucracy called Form 696, a former punk rock star has warned.

The form demands that licensees give police a mass of detail, including the names, aliases, private addresses and phone numbers of all musicians and other performers appearing at their venue, and the ethnic background of the likely audience. Failure to comply could mean the loss of a licence or even a fine and imprisonment.

It applies in 21 London boroughs, but professionals in the music business fear that if it becomes accepted, it will be copied in other cities. Martin Rawlings, director of the Pub and Beer Association, said: “I know of licensees faced with this saying they are just not going to put live music on. Form 696 is being used only in London so far, but there are similar things going on around the country, where the police are asking publicans to sign various protocols. It has gone too far, frankly.”

Mr Sharkey has also complained to the Equality and Human Rights Commission that the police appear to be focusing on the music enjoyed by black and Asian teenagers. One of the questions on the form requires the licensee to specify the type of music that will be performed, giving as possible examples “Bashment, R’n'B, Garage”. Another question asks, “Is there a particular ethnic group attending?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/how-form-696-could-pull-the-plug-on-the-capitals-music-scene-1028240.html

Now i know this is last years news.. BUT were you aware???

Popularity: 21% [?]

Yesterday, Asha had a go at kitchen science.

Science

The material just goes softer and wetter... it swashy mummy and drippy!

We got some items out and watched what hapend to them in tepid water overnight

milk bottle plastic – no change.

Kitchen paper  erm.. where did that go mummy!

cardboard toilet roll, strip off.. came apart.

mummy!

Oil, food colouring, water and

Food colouring.. well it change the colour of the water.. oil added.. the oil floated and the oil sank.. Why mummy?

Bicarb of soda .. just went.

xanthan gum and oil in water  – well daddy can write this bit up but.. Look at the pics!

xanthan gum , with oil and water..

Asha had a great time. Considering we are all still coughing our guts out, it went really very well indeed!

Popularity: 25% [?]

We have all been quite ill since last Wednesday. Asha started antibiotics on Thursday, and is still coughing like an old woman. Steve and I have taken it in turns to stay awake, but at times, both of us have so wanted to just sleeeep.

Asha has spent some time watching films, listened to some audio books in welsh and english, done some arts and craft stuff, and used the computer for her educational games, which she continues to enjoy.

We have also made silver mugs as in “Little Bear”

little bear mugs

Two on the box.

and she can now tell the difference between a blue tit and a great tit. She knows the three types of Swan, and there differences, Not sure if she can tell them apart yet.. We dont get Swans in our garden, to test her with

She has loved reading some of my ladybird books, and enjoyed us reading to her. She is particully fond of “beauty and the beast” i find this bizzare, as it scared me witless as a child. – it is good to know, i am doing well in not passing on my own fears tooo much!

We have made her spare bed up, and changed her curtains, made paper swans, and beautiful spring scenes. In fact considering the fact that all steve and i really want to do is sit and fester, we have done loads… Asha is a lot brighter today, but still not at all right.

asha on her teddy bed 1

this almost gives you an indication of her dolls and teddys!

Oh we have also rang granny up. Asha was keen to phone Granny to speak to her. Asha had a great laugh with grandad though. The last few times Granny and Grandad have rung, Asha has been busy and not wanted to speak to them. It is great she wanted to ring them yesterday.

Tonight Asha wanted me to read a specific book, and at the end of the book, there is a picture of an ark. Tomorrow she wants me to make an ark with her!

Popularity: 23% [?]

On Christmas Eve, after we all had our baths, the three of us sat down to a big pan of stew, and pulled some crackers. Asha, and I then had a long story session, which lead to Asha falling asleep unusually early.

This is just a cute photograph of her with one of her teddy’s which she has decided to name Hoopy!

Popularity: 15% [?]

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

From all on Familytreehouse.

Asha,

Steve,

Vicki

and Mousehole.

Popularity: 12% [?]

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his sack.
His eyes how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump,–a right jolly old elf–
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

Written by Clement C. Moore in 1822 as a Christmas present to his children.

Sir Christmas

Popularity: 13% [?]

Its 11.30 at night. Asha actually went to bed at 8pm tonight, and fell straight asleep. after three Peggy Burton Christmas Stories. :

Christmas Adventures in Hazelnut Wood,
A Happy Christmas for Mr Mole

Christmas comes to Mrs Mouse

and a Rodger Hargraves Mr Christmas (Mr Men) however she is now sitting in bed, with 25 books of the bookcase in her bedroom, having needed the toilet, and will probably have another 50 there by the morning! – Argh she wants me. got to go!

Popularity: 20% [?]