OUR CARDS ARE READY TO BE SENT!

Students of grade 3a, 4a, 5b, 6a and 6c and their teachers had fun making cards for their project partners.


Have a look at grade 6 with their teacher Elena Yakovleva

IT IS FUN TO MAKE CARDS FOR INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS!

GRADE 4

The First Cards Arrived!

The first cards came from Slovenia
How happy we were!

2009. NEW SEASON OF CARDS EXCHANGE

CHRISTMAS CARD EXCHANGE PROJECT
GROUP #1
1.Canada
Star City School
Grade: 2&3
Teacher: Agnes Salisbury
School address:
Box 400,
Star City,
SK, S0E 1P0
2. England
Welford Sibbertoft and Sulby Endowed School
Grade: Reception/Year 1
Teacher: Mrs Alison Pryce
School address:
West Street
Welford, Northampton NN6 6HU
3. USA
St. James Episcopal Day School
Grade: 5th grade
Teacher: Rebecca Richardson
School address:
445 Convention Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
4. Russia
Municipal Gimnasia # 164
Grade: 2&3
Teacher: Nelli Porseva
School address:
5A, Sovetskaya Street
Zelenogorsk
Krasnoyarsk region, 663690

5. Ukraine
Secondary School # 38
Grade: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Teachers: Elena Yakovleva
Larysa Stepanenko
Vitalina Sergeeva
School address:
137-A, Hrustalova Street
Sevastopol
99055

6. Israel
St. Michael's Orthodox School
Grade: 5-6-7
Teacher: Georgina Shibli
School address:
40 Yefet street
POB 8306, Jaffa



7. Slovenia
OS Cerklje ob Krki School
Grade: 5 - 9
Teacher: Mojca Sterk
School address:
Cerklje ob Krki 3
Cerklje ob Krki, 8293

8. USA
F. D. Roosevelt Elementary School
Grade: 1st through 5th
Teacher: Sarah Cuadra
School address:
814 E. Plaza
Weslaco, TX, 78596

EASTER EGGS

Easter Egg decoration has been inherited over each generation of Ukraine. It is now famous all over the world as a colorful Easter egg which appears at Easter now.
The Ukrainian Easter egg is called Pysanka (=singular number) or Pysanky (= plurality) in Ukraine language.
People believed "Big power exists in an egg", and had stuck and ornamented the color and the picture a long time ago before Christ appears of 2000 or more at the egg.

For the people of those days, the egg released the earth from long restraint of winter, and symbolized the starting of spring which promises a new hope, a new life, and prosperity.
In the present age, Easter egg is mainly exchanged as an intimate friend and a present, or is used as a decoration.

If pysanka is a simplest design, the work is completed in 2 - 3 hours by the wax-resist processing method (how to stick bees wax to an egg using stylus (referred to as kistka), and to dip an egg in dye of various colors) told from ancient times.

In Ukraine on Easter holidays while you enjoy Sunday meal, kids will surely involve you in their favorite Easter game: knocking the eggs – if you knock somebody’s egg and your egg is not broken – you are the winner.

EASTER BASKET

The Easter basket is the pride and joy of the family. People judge the mistress of the house according to the way her Easter basket looks, what it contains, and how it is decorated.
The basket should be lined with a newly embroidered serviette or with a white napkin. An embroidered serviette should be used to cover the basket.

Very ambitious housewives have two embroidered serviettes - one for lining the basket and one for covering it.
The basket should contain only a sampling of the foods you are going to eat at Eastertime not the entire contents of the refrigerator.
Easter basket should contain traditional Easter dishes such as:
Easter bread; eggs; salt; butter; cheese; horseradish; sausage or ham; and candle.

After priest blesses Easter basket, families go home to share Easter Bread, that is the pride and joy of the family.

EASTER BREAD

On Good Friday women bake Ukrainian Easter bread “Paska”. They place it into the oven saying:
“Holy Paska, be as grand and beautiful as the sun, because we are baking you for the sun. Let all members of our family be healthy. Let our children grow up as quickly as you grow. Come out as beautiful as you go in!"
People believe that:
When preparing Easter bread think only good thoughts.
Don’t let any strangers come into the house, they might put an evil eye on your Easter bread.
If you follow all of the instructions, the Easter Bread will be airy and tasty.

Paska is an Easter bread served at Easter in many Slavic countries. Paska is an enriched bread, made using butter, eggs, and sugar; an egg/water mixture is used as a glaze.
The inside of paska can be a swirl of yellow and white. The yellow represents the risen Christ in Christian faith, and the white represents the Holy Spirit. The Christian faithful in many Slavic countries honor this bread during Easter.

On Holy Saturday people decorate Easter eggs, basket and go to church for the Easter mass which lasts all night. When Saturday turns into Sunday people use traditional Easter greeting: “Christ has risen”, “Indeed, He has risen”

GOOD/BLESSED FRIDAY

The Friday before Easter is called Good or Blessed Friday.
On Friday morning family members get together and colors egg. They blend color in warm water, deep boiled eggs into the color and let them dry for an hour. Sometimes people paint ornaments on them later. Decorated eggs are called “Pysanky”.
In the afternoon “paska“, traditional Easter bread that is baked in special forms. The rest of the time is devoted to cooking a holiday meal.

CLEAN THURSDAY

First of all, by last Thursday before Easter which is called Clean Thursday, the following should be accomplished: all the major shopping should be done, the house should be carefully cleaned, pets and children should be washed, and the refrigerator should be filled up with food.

It is very important to go to bed after you take a long bath and get clean from head to toes.

WILLOW SUNDAY

Willow Sunday is the last Sunday before Easter. The first necessary item for this Sunday is Willow branches.
The willow is the first plant to get back to life after winter. The willows (used instead of palms) represent the scourging of Christ. One can get willow branches in any flower-shop in Ukraine. But always make sure the willows are fresh and fuzzy before you get them.
Next, by tradition you may take these branches to church, where willows are blessed during the special ceremony.
People used to tap each other with blessed willows and say
“Be as healthy as the Willow and as rich as the Earth; the willow is hitting,
I’m not hitting, a week from today, it will be Easter.”

According to old popular beliefs the week before Willow Sunday (Palm Sunday) "one should not either sow or plant anything which grows in the soil: potatoes, beetroots, carrots, radishes, onions and garlic because all these plants would
grow tough as willow.

EASTER in UKRAINE

In Ukraine Easter is celebrated on the 19th of April this year.

In Ukrainian, Easter is called Velykden (The Great Day), a term used in early Rus’ translations of John Damascene.

In Ukraine Easter has been celebrated over a long period of history and has had many rich folk traditions that are no longer fully preserved.

We would like to introduce some Ukrainian traditions connected with Easter.

OLD NEW YEAR

The Old New Year or the Orthodox New Year is an informal traditional Slavic Orthodox holiday, celebrated as the start of the New Year by the Julian calendar. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Old New Year falls on January 13/14.

Although Soviet Ukraine officially adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, the Orthodox Church continued using the Julian calendar. The New Year became a holiday which is celebrated by both calendars.
The New Year by the Julian calendar is still informally observed, and the tradition of celebrating the coming of the New Year twice is widely enjoyed.

Usually not as festive as the New New Year, for many Ukrainians this is a nostalgic family holiday ending the New Year holiday cycle with traditional large meals and parties.
I am planning to make a big dinner tomorrow too.

Malanka - New Year's Eve
(G)Dec.31; (J)Jan.13.
Malanka is a Ukrainian folk holiday celebrated on January 13th, which is New Year's Eve in accordance with the Julian calendar.

Malanka commemorates the feast day of St. Melania. On this night in Ukraine, carolers traditionally went from house to house playing pranks or acting out a small play, with a bachelor dressed in women's clothing leading the troop.

Malanka caps off the festivities of the Christmas holidays, and is often the last opportunity for partying before the solemn period of Lent which precedes Easter.

MALANKA is called SHCHEDRY VECHIR.(It means generous/big supper) On this, the last night of the year, New Year's carols called Shchedrivky are sung. One of the most famous of them is the popular"Shchedryk" by Leontovich which is known in English as "The Carol of the Bells."
While Christmas is a religious event, Malanka is a secular, merry-making celebration. In some communities Ukrainian professional and business clubs or youth organizations sponsor a dress up Malanka Banquet and Ball.