the deceMber issUe A magazine published by 2M students Liceo “Vittoria Colonna” AREZZO December 2017

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To get prepared for the magic atmosphere of DECEMBER people start celebrating on 31st of October with the frightening night of Halloween……..but let’s see how teenagers all over the world and in our town, AREZZO, live this night…………

We have decided to write about Halloween in various countries, especially in Mexico, Germany, China and Ireland.

Mexico: Halloween here is called “Dia De Muertos” and the festivities last 3 days, from 31st of October to 2nd of November. In this country people tidy up the graves of the dead people, cutting grass and painting the graves. On 2nd of November, the relatives of dead people come to the cemetery and remember them having picnics and drinking tequila.

Ireland: Halloween culture dates back to the Druids, a Celtic culture that comes from Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. This culture was celebrated as feast of Samhain (“summer’s end”) that was a harvest festival with very big bonfires indicating the end of the Celtic year. The Celts believed that the souls of the dead went around the villages at night and for this reason gifts were left out to pacify them. This costume developed into “trick or treat”

Germany: Here Halloween is celebrated as in other countries with the “trick or treat” tradition, apart from the fact that during this night, people hide knives because they want to be sure that knives won’t hurt the spirits.

Sweden: Halloween is celebrated for seven days, from 31st of October to 6th of November and is called “Alla Helgons Dag”

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The scariest night of the year:

The story of Halloween: Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain . The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in Ireland, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druid, to make predictions about the future. Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people burned crops and animals as a sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. In the nineteenth century Americans began to dress up in costumes and around houses asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick and treat” tradition. In the late 1800s, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

D o the following quiz?

Do you know everything about Halloween? Mmmmmmmòòò  Which country started the traditions leading to celebrating Halloween?

1. Ireland 2. Mexico 3. China  According to the novel “Dracula”, what region of the world did the famous vampire live in? 1. In a cave in Colorado 2. Rural England 3. Transylvania, Romania  The odour ofC whoat ssttroungm smellisng ofoofd His oaftelnl tohowughet teo knee:p Bvaemcapusiree os fa twhea yC?e ltic legends, is not a 1. Limburger cheese 2. suGrparrisliec that the first Halloween costumes are really creepy and spooky, or even down-right frightening appeaThe 3. mToustn pao fpisuhla r were the witch, the bat and the ghost costumes. Then, with the debut of Hollywoodian films, the varietyof costumes ideas has increased. For example the werewolf from the movie: “ the Wolf”, the vampire, a character based on a legend of Transylvania.

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The scariest night of the year:

Costumes of Halloween: Because of the Celtic legends, it is not surprise that the first Halloween costumes are really creepy and spooky, or even now the most popular are witches, bats and ghosts. Then, with the debut of Hollywoodian films, the variety of costumes ideas has increased. For example the werewolf from the movie character based on a legend of Transylvania.

Do you know?

A full moon is extremely rare during the Halloween night, the most recent full moon was in 2011, and the next one won’t occur until 2020.

IT: it’s a 1986 horror movie by American author Stephen King. The story follows the experiences of seven children that are scared by an entity that exploits the fears and phobias of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of a clown to attract its preferred prey of young children. It deals with themes that are: the power of memory, childhood trauma and its recurrent echoes in adulthood and overcoming evil trough sacrifice. For the 20th anniversary of the release of the original film, Andy Muschietti has elaborated the original plot of IT again. This film has had an enormous success.

Do you know?

Halloween is the second most commercial American holiday of the year, after . The candy industry makes an average of $2 billion annually thanks to Halloween.

4 hOW dO teeNAgers ANd chiLdreN ceLebrAte it?

Nowadays many teenagers and children celebrate it in different ways.

 TEENAGERS: usually they hang out with their friends, going to the disco or to the city centre. They dress up, but they don’t do trick or treating.  CHILDREN: they dress up and enjoy doing trick or treating (going door to door asking for candies).

WhAt Are the MOst POPULAr hALLOWeeN cOstUMes?

o Ghosts o Vampires o Monsters (like Zombies) o Skeletons o Witches

Alcohol frightening night

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The night of Halloween is an extraordinary event for all teenagers and it involves trick-or-treating, attending Halloween fancy dress parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, divination games, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, watching scary movies, going to the disco and drinking alcohol.

Teens prefer going clubbing or going to the cinema. In our city the main discos are Class125, Mirage and Officina7. Every year something bad happens: this year in one of these discos a boy broke his leg, and some other people suffered from alcohol poisoning.

Alcohol is dangerous for young people, it prevents them growing properly and it can also be lethal if you drink large quantities of it. In our town, 20 people went to hospital on Halloween night because of alcohol, 12 of them were teenagers and some were in a coma.

Do you think that drinking and smoking can help you enjoying your Halloween night or party? What do you think about teenagers that now enjoy losing control? In your opinion is society responsible for this?

Before doing things that you will probably regret, you must reflect on them, because you can enjoy your night or party in another way, without losing control, dignity and sense of affiliation. It’s important to know your own limits without risking your life or other people’s.

So a lot of teens prefer going to the cinema to watch a horror film, because it is quieter. This year the most popular movie was “It”, and one of the main characters of the film inspired one of the most popular costumes this year, that is Pennywise, a scary clown. No matter what they choose to do, people always have a lot of fun during Halloween!!!!

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Sport events haven’t helped create the right atmosphere and our national pride………

DISAPPOINTMENT SADNESS AND ANGER…….all in 90 minutes!!!!!!

The Italian national football team did not beat the Swedish football team so it won’t be in the World Cup Championship 2018 in Russia. The football match took place in Milan in the stadium of San Siro on the 13th of November. Italian people are very angry with the coach Ventura and they are very disappointed. Players did not play badly, but Italy did not manage to score a goal.

Gianluigi Buffon, the goalkeeper for Italy, at the end of the match said that he was very sad because he thought that his team mates could play better; this match was the last one of the career of Gianluigi Buffon in the national football team. The next day, all over the world, people made fun of the Italian Football team. And these are a couple of the front pages of some international newspapers.

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DECEMBER PROBLEMS

One of the major problems of teenagers during the Christmas holidays is what to wear.

As you know Christmas is a day to stay with your family, eat a lot and have fun. But, what are you going to wear this Christmas? Let’s found out with a quiz!

Answer these questions by crossing the answer that is true for you:

1) What do you usually wear when you go to school? a. Jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers b. Skirt or an elegant dress c. tracksuit 2) What is your favourite dish? a. A piece of cake b. Sushi c. Pizza 3) What’s your favourite subject? a. Art b. Italian c. P.E. 4) What’s your hobby? a. Doing sport b. Reading a book or listening to classical music c. Watching a film or TV series keeping warm under a blanket 5) Where do you prefer hanging out? a. Cinema b. City center c. Staying home on the sofa

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Results

Mostly a): You have a casual style and you like to dress in a simple way. We suggest you to wear a pair of jeans with a Christmas jumper.

Mostly b): You like to dress in an elegant way even if you have to stay with your family. We think that if you are a girl you should wear a sparkling dress, and if you are a boy you could wear a pair of black trousers and a white shirt.

Mostly c): You are a couch potato and on Christmas morning you prefer staying on the sofa, so in our opinion you can wear a Christmas pijamas.

______In the month of December you can do many things in Arezzo to get into the magic

CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE

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Walking through the “PRATO” of Arezzo you can find people carving ice………to have a butterfly for one of our VIPs: FRANCESCO PETRARCA

You can also decide to pay a visit to the most famous TREE in town………

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MercAtiNi di NAtALe

From December to January there are “Mercatini di Natale” in our town and we went there to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. They are in Piazza Grande, the main square of Arezzo and here you can find people from all over the world selling food, souvenirs and clothing. Going there is really exciting because you meet different people coming from countries far away and you can discover typical Christmas food and objects.

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What happens in other parts of the world?

Let’s see for example……….

CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA

Many Australian people originally came from England and Ireland, bringing their Christmas costums with them. Australia is also the place where the seasons are opposite to ours. Actually when Australians celebrate Christmas on 25th December, it is during summer holidays. Christmas festivities begin in late November, when schools and church groups present Nativity plays. What Australians do on Christmas:

. The most popular event of the Christmas season is called . People come together at night to light candles and sing Christmas carols outside.

. Families decorate their homes with ferns, palm leaves, and evergreens, along with the colorful flowers that bloom in summer called Christmas bush and Christmas bellflower. Some families put up a .

. On , families attend church together. Some children expect to leave gifts, and others wait for to visit and deliver gifts.

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On Christmas Eve in families that observe Irish traditions, the father sets a large candle in a front window of the home to welcome Mary, Joseph, and the Baby . The youngest child in the family lights the candle. The family goes to .

. After opening presents on Christmas morning, the family sits down to a breakfast of ham and eggs. Then the family goes to church again.

. Christmas Day is when families and close friends gather together from all over Australia. Some families enjoy a traditional British of roast turkey or ham and rich plum pudding doused in brandy and set aflame before it is brought to the table. The person who gets the favor baked inside will enjoy good luck all year round.

. The day after Christmas, December 26, is . Australians with British and Irish backgrounds leave tips for the grocer, postman, newspaper carrier, and others to thank them for their help in the past year.

. New Year's Eve is always a special time, with dinners, dances, and parties. On , January 6, there is one last party to end the Christmas season.

Christmas at the seaside is not bad but what about our Italian Christmas lunch? Very special!!!!!!

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Christmas is near and people are thinking about what to prepare for the Christmas lunch.

In our country there are some typical dishes eaten during the Christmas lunch.

The starter can be characterized by “crostini neri”,“crostini rossi” and typical Tuscan cured meat like “salame”,”finocchiona”,”prosciutto crudo” and “capocollo”.

As first courses there are “tortellini in brodo”,”lasagne” and “tagliatelle al ragù”,or pasta with any kind of sauce.

The second courses can be roast chicken or other types of roast meat (rabbit or lamb) and boiled meat with roast potatoes, salad or boiled vegetables (asparagus and cabbage).

As dessert there can be “Pandoro” or “” that are typical Italian Christmas cakes, or any other kind of sweet like “Tiramisu”,”Torrone”,and ”Chocolate Cake”.

Italian people can have different kinds of Christmas lunch, but the feelings and the sensations of Christmas atmosphere are the same for everyone!

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Arezzo is the town where GUIDO MONACO was born, he invented the musical notes

And in town music is everywhere MUSIC

Everyone loves music: it is listened by children, teens and adults. It is loved by everyone because it transmits a lot of different emotions, it is a great way to spend time and is suitable for almost every situation. It is played in parties, in free time, and it is also for difficult moments: indeed, every song tells a story which can reflect your situation and you can feel better when you listen to it because you understand that someone has lived the same situation, then he felt better and he wrote that song.

There are different kinds of music like pop, which has become really popular during these years, rock, techno, or country, and there are also Christmas songs. They are usually played only in December, even if there are some people who are really into Christmas, so they start listening to them in October. There are a lot of Christmas

15 songs, and some of them are really old, but today the most popular singers record Christmas album with old songs.

In Arezzo every year in the main square of the town there is the Tyrolean village. There are a lot of stalls and also Tyrolean people who often sing or dance with the

typical music of their region.

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Don’t forget in December our school is open

In December and January our school will be open to whoever wants to visit it, especially to show students from middle school how our institute works and what it can offer. On these days you can enjoy presentations about different aspects of our high school.

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 2017 17.00 - 19.00

SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 2018 17.00 - 19.00

SATURDAY 27 JANUARY 2018 17.00 - 19.00

There will be teachers but also students, so you can have various points of view, students share their experiences here as well and teachers help them to give you the best referee. You can exploit this day to walk around the school and you can enter the numerous rooms and laboratories, then you can also enjoy a little buffet!

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MerrY christMAs!!

Class 2M

ABAZI DRITON MARRAGHINI CHIARA

BAGLIONI SOFIA MENCARONI ELISA

BERTOCCI GIOVANNI MORANDI ARIANNA

BICHI ASIA PACILI SOFIA

BOCCUZZI GABRIELE PIERI FRANCESCO

COZMA ANDREA ROMANI RICCARDO

DORCU LUISA SALUCCI NICOLE

FORTE GIULIA VERDELLI SERENA

GHELLI GIULIA VIGNOLI ZOE

GIUSTINI ANDREA VITI BENEDETTA

VITTORIOSI ELISA

ZANONI FRANCESCA

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