www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Junkanoo: Bahamas Takes place annually on 26 December and 1 January
History The spectacular ‘Junkanoo’ festival dates from approximately the 16th or 17th century. At this time, Bahamian slaves were allowed a few days away from the plantations to be with their families and to celebrate the holiday with music, dance and costumes. Today, Junkanoo is a joyous celebration of freedom and is an important part of the Bahamian Christmas season. It takes the form of an energetic, colourful parade of brightly costumed locals dancing to a rhythmic accompaniment. Cash prizes are awarded at the end of the procession. The three main categories for the awards are: best music, best costume and best overall group presentation. Competition is fierce, with groups working secretly on their creations and dance routines for months. Junkanoo costumes are famous for their sheer extravagance and use of unusual decorative materials. Winning entries are now being preserved for posterity, being placed in the Junkanoo Museum.
Activity Hold your own ‘Junkanoo’ festival. This is great for a special assembly or as a tie-in with fêtes or similar fundraising exercises. Organise the class into small/medium-sized groups and discuss themes. Perhaps the class could have one umbrella theme, such as ‘the forest’, and each group could then devise a sub-theme around this – for example, butterflies and dragonflies, birds, minibeasts, snakes, woodland creatures, flora and fauna, and so on. When it comes to making the costumes, it’s all about imagination and the resources available. If you are lucky enough to have a quantity of fabric with which to make your class simple capes, then you will have a good backdrop for attaching bits and bobs of decoration. A thick cardboard headband is an ideal starting point for a headdress, and as the Bahamians traditionally use a wide variety of materials to decorate their magnificent creations – including leaves, shredded paper and sea sponges – anything goes! When the costumes are finished, children can parade their creations in front of family and friends in the playground or even around local streets. (This is especially good if you manage to get the whole school involved.) Organise, in the traditional style, some small drums, cowbells and whistles (or dust off the tambourines), and get the whole class making music, dancing and showing off their fabulous creations. Let the carnival begin! activities by karen hart, freelance writer
PHOTOCOPIABLE 1 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Day of the Dead: Mexico Takes place annually between 1–2 November
History ‘Day of the Dead’ is a celebration in which Mexicans remember and honour their deceased loved ones. It may sound like a gloomy affair, yet it is anything but. The origins of this unique festival lie in the cultural fusion of Indian and Spanish heritage, which have combined to shape the Mexican attitude towards death. During the festival the honouring of souls is mixed with humour and a celebration of a life well lived. Today, Mexicans honour the tradition by setting up small altars in their homes, containing offerings dedicated to the deceased and bearing reference to the four main elements of nature: earth, wind, water and fire. Marigolds, the flowers traditionally associated with the deceased, are also displayed. Market stalls sell traditional sweets, foods and toys, including sugar skulls, Day of the Dead bread and toy skeletons and masks. Adults and children take to the streets in fancy dress costume for this Mexican national holiday.
Activity An activity I have used myself, which combines drama and art, is the making and decorating of skulls in the traditional Mexican style. All that is really needed here is simple cardboard skull cut-outs, which can then be decorated using mixed-media materials – sequins, cottonwool balls, fabric scraps, and so on. These make a great classroom display when grouped on a black background. Or, why not arrange an activity that combines Day of the Dead with the more familiar Halloween. A tried-and-tested activity that always proves popular is ‘edible ghosts’. These are really easy to make and are very effective. Simply purchase multipacks of individual plain sponge cakes and a few packets of ready-to-roll soft white icing. Each child then cuts a circle of icing using a cup or cutter and drapes it over their sponge cake – this makes a great ghost. A couple of silver ball cake decorations make perfect spooky eyeballs!
PHOTOCOPIABLE 2 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Well Dressing festival: England (Derbyshire and the Peak District) Takes place annually between end of May and early September
History Well dressing is one of the best known, most popular and colourful customs in Derbyshire and the Peak District. Every year during the spring and summer months, villagers fashion intricate pictures using flower petals, berries, moss, pine cones, seeds and other natural materials. Clay is moulded into a wooden framework, into which the natural materials are pressed. Each village’s intricate designs are closely-guarded secrets, and frequently the whole community is involved in the process (which usually takes about ten days to perform). After the well dressing is erected next to the well, it is blessed in a short outdoor service; often a brass band is hired for the occasion. The true origins of the festival remain unknown, although it is likely that it dates back as far as pagan times and ancient spring fertility rites.
Activity Petals, leaves, twigs, pine cones and conkers are all fun to collect and can easily be made into pictures just like the real thing. Start by rolling Plasticine or clay into squares, draw a simple design onto the square, and then carefully press all the bits and bobs that have been collected into the clay. Most things will be fine to use, but care should obviously be taken with berries that could prove poisonous. Also, real flowers and petals are very delicate and will only last a day, if that, so petals made from paper may be a more practical alternative.
PHOTOCOPIABLE 3 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Human Castle Festival: Spain (Catalonia) Takes place annually. The main celebration is held on the first Sunday after 21 October, celebrating Saint Ursula
History For the people of Catalonia, building human castles is a tradition dating back to the 16th Century and originating from a traditional dance celebrating strength. It has since become a celebration of competitors’ teamwork, perseverance and success. Teams train to become castellers and compete against other teams for the title for the highest castle. These can rise as high as nine or ten human stories in height – so no wonder most castellers are insured! The winning team is the one that creates the highest castle without anyone falling. The street festival itself is a colourful, joyous occasion with traditional gypsy and stick dancers accompanying huge 12ft model giants and traditional folklore processions.
Activity A fun idea on the human shape-building theme and good for PE lessons is making human sculptures. After talking about the Catalonian human castle festival, see if the class can make some human sculptures of their own – without actually standing on each other! Working in groups of five or six, encourage the children to use their ingenuity and imagination to arrange themselves into the best possible representation of a given animal or object. Some good ideas to get started on are: a bridge; an elephant; a car; a snake; a house; a telephone. I have always found this activity goes down well with a class, and it proves to be lots of fun. It works well as a drama session warm-up activity, too.
PHOTOCOPIABLE 4 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ La Tomatina: Spain (Bunol) Takes place annually on the last Wednesday in August
History La Tomatina is the highlight of a week-long local festival in honour of the Spanish patron saint San Luis Bertran and the Virgin Mary. The actual tomato throwing lasts for only two hours, between 11am and 1pm. The week leading up to the tomato war sees parades, fireworks, music, dancing and the paella cook-off contest, drawing visitors to Bunol from far and wide. The first Tomatina took place in 1945, but the origins are somewhat unclear. Some people say it all began with an argument between stallholders who, grabbing the contents of a nearby vegetable stall, started throwing tomatoes at each other. Today, the festival ends with the streets of Bunol awash with tomato juice and squashed tomato pulp – but the big clean-up is all part of the celebration. Indeed, the whole community lends a hand in what has become an eagerly anticipated social event.
Activity Rather than throwing tomatoes, why not organise a fruit and vegetable printing session? Simply cut a selection of different fruits and vegetables in half, supply some large sheets of paper and small trays containing paints in various colours, grab the aprons and it’s all systems go! I’m always surprised by how lovely these patterns turn out, with the shapes of the seeds still inside. Some especially good choices are peppers, apples, celery, crinkly lettuce leaves, and tomatoes – of course! If everyone contributes to one big classroom poster, it will make an eye-catching and unusual wall decoration.
PHOTOCOPIABLE 5 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ The Pulilan Caribou festival: Philippines Takes place annually during May
History Many farmers in the Philippines rely on caribou. All year long the beasts plough, sweat and toil the muddy fields for their masters – with little reward. So, each May, the town of Pulilan celebrates this faithful and hardworking farm animal. The origins of the festival are unclear, but it has certainly been around, like the caribou, for many years. The animals remain the centre of attention during the two-day celebration. On the first day, farmers not only shave their caribou, but rub oil into their skins to make them nice and soft. They then lavish them with perfumes and decorate them with paint and ribbons. In the afternoon, the farmers and animals parade in the town square and are blessed before a church. On the second day of the festival there is a race. The caribou pull their masters along in carriages – first over the finish line wins.
Activity If you were thinking that caribou racing sounded like fun but were unsure where you could get hold of a couple of caribou – fear not! Old-fashioned wheelbarrow races are just as much fun. For those of you unaware of this traditional English form of caribou racing, it goes like this: one child stands and holds the ankles of another child, who walks along the floor using their hands, in a sort of wheelbarrow shape. This is fairly tricky for young children, but it’s really good for coordination and as a ‘working and cooperating with others’ strategy. The first ‘wheelbarrow’ to cross the line is the winner, and maybe everyone could get a little handmade medal or bookmark for taking part. But if you do have a couple of caribou handy…
PHOTOCOPIABLE 6 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Women’s Day: China Takes place annually on 8 March
History First designated a national holiday in China in 1922, on 8 March each year China celebrates Women’s Day in honour of all females. Most women take the day off and have a relaxing day. Girls bring out special dolls dressed all in red; these only come out once a year and are placed on special stands. Men cook a nice meal for the women, take care of all the chores, and some families even have special parties. After the meal, men give out presents to their wives and daughters. Flowers are traditionally given to females and are often handed out in schools. Although it is a happy, light-hearted occasion, Women’s Day carries a serious message of honouring those women who have worked hard for their country and their families.
Activity Everyone knows that mums are special, and we celebrate this on Mother’s Day, but it is often the little things they do for us that go unnoticed. One way to focus on these little acts of love is to make a list of all the lovely things that our mums or other special loved one do for us. Younger children can draw pictures of nice things their mums like – for example, make-up, chocolate, beans on toast, and so on. This activity doesn’t have to be about ‘my mum’ or even anyone female. It’s just nice to spend some time thinking about the people who really love us all day long.
PHOTOCOPIABLE 7 www.scholastic.co.ukPhotocopy or download from: www.scholastic.co.uk/childedplus september 2008 www.scholastic.co.ukhttp://www.scholastic.co.uk/ Tulip Day festival: USA (Holland, Michigan) Takes place annually in mid May
History The Tulip Day festival, held in Holland, Michigan, is just one of many tulip festivals around the USA founded or largely inhabited by Dutch settlers. The Holland Tulip Day festival has been celebrated since 1929 and is currently the largest of the bunch. Activities at the celebration include parades, fireworks, shows/concerts, Dutch markets, Klompen dancing, and much more. The city of Holland has thousands of tulips lining its streets, and is ranked as America’s third largest town festival. It is a truly gorgeous display of colour and a celebration of the beauty of nature.
Activity When it is the right time of year, planting individual tulip bulbs in flower pots is a good activity to get the class thinking about plants and where they come from. It’s often surprising to find that many children at Key Stage 1 have little idea of the nature of plant bulbs – seeds yes, but bulbs often leave them flummoxed. encourage each child to bring a flower into school so that the class can study the differences. Carefully cutting a flower in half (daffodils are good for this) and studying its reproductive system makes an informative science session. Try cutting various types of flowers, seed heads, and so on in half and examining what’s found inside. Observing these things is a useful exercise in itself, but older children can draw and record their observations.
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