Hello from Helge

Hello from the Czech Republic! I am having a great time here now. It is Christmas time and I partcipated at local Christmas celebrations. For Christmas Eve dinner we had fried carp and potato salad. They have lots of Christmas cookie kinds and a tree is decorated with straw decorations.

Exhibition of student photographs in Dub

On Thursday 18th December 2008 a very interesting exhibition was opened in an old tomb of the church in Dub nad Mooravou. Tomáš Jára, a talented student of 9th grade, displayed his artistic photographs there. Tomáš would like to become a professional graphic designer and the opened exhibition may be the very first step to his future.

Tomáš is the boy holding flowers in this photo.
It took lots of hours to prepare the old tomb for installing the photographs on its walls. Many of Tomas´ classmates helped him to clean the tomb area and fix his photographs.

and a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

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Jasełka

The best Jasełka in the town
Christianity is the principal religion in Poland. We have a few festivals in the Christian calendar. Christams and Easter are the best known but Christmas is the one which children are looking forward now. We celebrate the date when Jesus Christ was born. We have many traditions at Christmas which relate to this event. Every year our school gives a nativity play. This tells the journey of Mary and Joseph to Betlehem, the birth of Jesus in a stable, and the visits he received from three kings and shepards. This year in our nativity play (called „jasełka“ in Polish) we reminded the reason why Jesus Christ was sent to the earth.

Skära skära havre - Cut cut the oats (traditional Swedish song)

Skära skära havre (pdf file)

Cut cut oats, Cut cut oats. Who will tie the oats? It will be my very dearest. How do I find him? I saw him yesterday evening, in the clear moon light. When you´ll take yours, I'll take mine and the troll will stand alone. It was right, yes it was right, yes it was right and appropriate, that the troll got in the ring because noone wanted her. Shame, shame because noone wanted her.

VIljen I veta - Would you like to know (traditional Swedish song)

Viljen I veta
Viljen I veta och viljen I förstå,
hur bönderna pläga så havre?
Min fader han sådde, han sådde siså här,
och sedan så han vilade armen.
Han stampade med sin fot,
han klappade med sin hand.
Så gladelig, så gladelig,
han vände sig om i dansen.

-*-*-*-

Would you like to know, would you like to understand? How the farmers harvested their oats?
My father he sowed, he sowed like this and then he rested his arm. He stamped his foot, he clapped his hand. So happily, so happily, he turned around in the dance.

Tre pepparkaksgubbar

"Three Gingerbread men" - A traditional Swedish Christmas song.

Tre pepparkaksgubbar (Three gingerbread men)

Vi komma, vi komma från Pepparkakeland,

och vägen vi vandrat tillsammans hand i hand.

Så bruna, så bruna vi äro alla tre,

korinter till ögon och hattarna på sne!
Tre gubbar, tre gubbar från Pepparkakeland,

till julen, till julen vi komma hand i hand.

Men tomten och bocken vi lämnat vid vår spis,

de ville inte resa från vår pepparkakegris.

We come, we come from Gingerbread country,

and the way we walked together hand in hand.

So brown, so brown, we are all three,

currants for eyes and caps on sne!

Three guys, three guys from Gingerbread country,

for Christmas, for Christmas we get hand in hand.

But the Christmas man and the goat we left at our fireplace,

they did not want to travel from our gingerbread pig.

En sockerbagare

A sugar baker (En sockerbagare) - traditional Swedish Christmas song

En sockerbagare här bor i staden,

han bakar kakor mest hela dagen.

Han bakar stora, han bakar små,

han bakar några med socker på.

Och i hans fönster hänga julgranssaker

och hästar, grisar och pepparkakor.

Och är du snäller så kan du få,

men är du stygger så får du gå!

-*- -*- -*-

A sugar baker is living here in the city,
he bakes cakes most all day.
He bakes big, he bakes small,
he bakes some with sugar on.
And in his window there are hanging Christmas things
and horses, pigs and gingerbread.
And if you’re kind, you can get one,

but if you're naughty you'll go!

Christmas at the Tovačov castle

On Saturday 13th December girls from Základní škola in Dub participated in a very interesting event called Christmas at the Castle. We went to the Tovačov castle and presented our craft skills there.
All the girls who took part are members of a school craft club. They introduced their beading jewellery there and a brand new kind of jewellery made of FIMO material. The girls sold many nice bracelets and necklaces to keen viisitors and earned enough money for their other challenging craft tasks.
Our Art teacher Ms. Kremplová helped little visitors at this craft fair make their own Christmas decorations. All the children liked the white angels they made there.
We were the only school representing skilled hands of our students and we really look forward to come there next year again!

Lucia celebration

Lucia is a festival occurring on December 13, or Lucia Day. Lucia is a young girl, wearing a white garment and with a Lucia crown with candles on her head. She is followed by a number of girl attendants, also dressed in white and with candles in their hands. There are also boys, 'star-boys', participating in the ceremony. They, too, are dressed in white and they wear pointed caps. Lucia and her attendants visit places like schools, hospitals, offices and churches and sing traditional songs like Sankta Lucia. They may also bring coffee, gingerbread biscuits and 'Lucia cats', a kind of saffron bun. The Lucia tradition is based on the legend of a pious Sicilian girl who wanted to devote her life to God instead of marrying. When she refused the proposal of a nobleman she was killed, and subsequently she became a martyr.

10th of December - The Nobel Prizes

The Nobel Prizes, named after Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, are awarded to individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to fields including physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.
More pictures:

Gingerbread

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Easter

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Polish Bread

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Our proposal of photos which can be placed in the calendar. No1 Swedish Windmill

Exhibition of Christmas baking in Dub

This exhibition was organized by a local senior club. For the first time they prepared also a competition in baking bunt cakes ( bábovka in Czech ). It is a very popular cake here and the exhibition room was full of wonderful scent when we visited it! Czech students like helping with baking typical Christmas pastry which is gingerbread. The shapes are usually decorated with white icing and often hang on the Christmas tree.






Gingerbread can be used also for making a beautiful candlestick, like this one.