Comenius Project Italian meeting 30 th May – 3 rd June 2012

1. Italy Comenius ProjectItalian meeting 30 thMay – 3 rdJune 2012

2. ItalianFestivitiesCalendar 2013

3. January 1st New Year’sday 6thEpiphany 27thMemorialDay

4. New Year’sDay Itis the first day of the year. The Italiantraditionincludes a series of superstitiousrituals to be followedduring the New Year’s Eve, suchasto wear red underwear and throwoldunusedobjects from the window. Lentils are eaten at dinneras a sign of wealth for the New Year.

5. Epiphany It commemorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three wide men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for Baby Jesus.

6. MemorialDay Memorial Day is a celebration declared on January 27 to commemorate the victims of National Socialism and Fascism. It remembers, in fact, 27th January 1945 when the Soviet Red Army troops discovered the concentration camps and rescued the few survivors.

7. February 10th Remembrance Day 12th Last DayofCarnival ShroveTuesday 13thAsh Wednesday

8. RemembranceDay The Remembrance Day is a national civil Italian feast celebrated on February 10 of each year.Itcommemorates the victims of the massacres of sinkholes.

9. The Carnival In this period we organise big parades in every cities. We dress up with fancy dresses and prepares Carnival floats. The most beautiful float with its team will receive a prize on the last day.

10. Ash Wednesday Forty days before Easter On this day lent starts.

11. 8thWomen’sDay March 19thFather’sDay 31stEaster

12. Women’s Day Toremember and reflect on women’s achievements in everysectorsof society. Itremembers the firethattookplace in a factorywhere a lotof women died.

13. Father’sDay Father’sdayiscelebrated on March 19theveryyear. In catholiccountriesitfalls on St Joseph’s Day.

14. EasterFirst Sunday after the first full moon of spring This is the most important Catholic feast. It commemorates the day when Jesus rise again after three days. Eggs are the symbol of birth, so it is the symbol of Easter.

15. April 1stEasterMonday 21stRome’s Birthday 25thLiberationDay

16. Easter Monday This is the day after Easter. It’s an official national holiday in Italy. Banks and shops are closed. Some cities hold dances, free concerts, or unusual games often involving eggs.

17. Rome’s Birthday On thisdaywe celebrate the foundationofRomewhichaccordingto the legendtookplace in 753B.C. with the twinsRomolus and Remus .

18. LiberationDay On 25th April Italy celebrates the Liberation Day, it remembers the anniversary of liberation from fascism.

19. April 25 1945 rememberswhenItaly wasliberated from Nazifascisttroops. Thesetroopswereformedbetween the First and the SecondWorld War with the advent of Totalitarism, in Germany with Hitler, in Italy with Mussolini and in Russia with Stalin. Benito Mussolini founded the FascistMovementthatlaterbecame a realpolitical party: the National Fascist Party (NFP), with which he claimed an authoritarian regime characterized by force and violence. The ResistanceMovementstarted in Italy to bringfreedomand autonomyto the country.

20. May 1stLabourDay 9thEurope’sDay 13thMother’sDay

21. LabourDay Labour Day is a holiday celebrated worldwide on 1st May each year for the achievements in workingconditions of men and women. A conquest for all: the daily working time set at eight hours.

22. Europe’s Day Itrepresentsanimportant date forEurope and celebrates the speechheldby Robert Schuman in 1950 whichopend the pathtowards the presentEuropeanUnion.

23. Mother’sDay Mother’s dayiscelebrated on the secondSundayof May and itis a widespreadfestivityall the world. Thisfestivityis an occasion for sons and daughters to giveflowers, chocolates or everyotherthings to one’s ownmom!

24. June 2nd Republic Day 2ndCorpus Domini 29thSaints Peter and Paul

25. Italian Republic Day The Italian Republic Day is celebrated on June 2 to commemorate the birth of the Republic.In June 1948, for the first time, Via deiForiImperiali in Rome hosted a military parade in honour of the Republic.

26. 2 nd June nowadays Today we celebrate this civil feast with a big parade. The “Freccetricolori” do their show in this day at the presence of military forces, the President of the Republic and other authorities.

27. 2nd June 1946 It commemorates the institutional referendum of 1946 when the Italian population was called to decide what form of government (monarchy or republic) to give the country after the Second World War and the fall of Fascism. This is the first time that women used the right of vote.

28. The Constitution This Document is the basis of the Italian Republic. It ensures human rights, establishes rights and duties of all Italian people.

29. Infiorata di Genzano

30. «l’Infiorata» is a religiousfestivitywhichisheld to celebrate the Corpus Domini in Juneeachyear. One of the mostfamousexample in Italyis the onetaken in Genzano, a small townnear Rome, not far from Aprilia. Itsorigingoes back to the XII century and ischaracterized by the preparation of a floral (flowered) carpetalong the way followed by the religiousprocession. The floralcarpetoccupiesalmost 200 squaremetres of groundand iscomposeddifferentrepresentations. About350.000,00 flowers are necessaryto create thesepictures; itissaidthat the «infioratori», the artists, use eachpetalaspainters use theircolours. The festivityisdividedinto 3 phases: • on Saturday, painters start drawing the different images on the ground. • on Sunday, theyproceed with the laying of the petals to carpet the ground. • on Monday, children «destroy» the drawingsrunning from the steps of Saint Mary’s Church.

31. August 15thAssumption of Mary - Ferragosto

32. August Bank Holiday August 15 is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Thatday the Church celebrates Mary the mother of Jesusreceived in Heaven. Itis a typicalItalianFestivitynotcelebrated in otherEuropeancountries. Deeplyrooted in pagantradition, the feast of the Assumptionwasthenrecycled by the Church, which, likeotherpaganfestivals, first tried to suppressthem and thenwrapthem of Christendom. The imprint of religiousholidayisfelt in the manyreligiousprocessionsthat take placeeverywhere. Usually, the statue of Madonna iscarried in processionthrough the streets of oldtowns. Thissummer date for most of usis the apotheosis of the holidays! August is a word of Latin origin, derives from ‘’Feriae Augusti’’, whichmeans ‘’Rest of August’’. In the monthof August whereharvestedcereals and ancient Rome celebrated the end of the mainagricultural work. Today, August BankHoliday is by definition the day of the holiday, excursions, long week-ends, in one word the occasion for outings and picnics out of town.

33. September • 29th Saint Michel (localfestivity)

34. We commemorate the Archangel S. Michael, who is our patron. We organise a week of celebrations, which finish on Sunday with the procession of S. Michael. There is a show of fireworks at midnight. S. Michael

35. November 1stAllSaintsDay 2ndCommemoration of Deads 4th National Day and of the ArmedForces

36. November 1: All Saints Day It is celebrated in honour of all Catholic saints and martyrs, known and unknown.

37. November 2: Day of the Deads It is celebrated in honour of the Deads.

38. Day of National Unity The Day of National Unity and of the Armed Forces falls on November 4, in commemoration for the anniversary of the end of World War I for Italy, the feast of Italian Armed Forces and the Party of National Unity .

39. December 8thImmaculate Conception Day 24th Christmas Eve 25th Christmas Day 26th Saint Stephen’sDay 31th New Year’sEve

40. Immaculate Conception It commemorates the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

41. Christmas Day It commemorates the day when Baby Jesus was born. We celebrate this with a big dinner with all parts of family on December 24. When the clock strikes midnight, Christmas Day starts and we put a symbolic Baby Jesus into the cradle in the nativity scene.

42. St. Stephen’s Day St. Stephen was the Christian Church’s first martyr and his feast day is celebrated on December 26, the day after Christmas.

43. Students: MaximilianoEzequielBarrabino Eleonora Ciervo Ambrogio Gallo Alison Orlandi Sara Totaro Teachers: Maddalena Caracciolo Cristina Miglionico Ada Seguino Alessia Serpa ThankstoourReligion and HistoryTeachers, Mrs. Mariangela Cangemi and Maria Luisa Iorio, fortheircollaboration.