Comenius ProjectItalian meeting

30 th May – 3 rd June 2012

Italy

Italian Festivities Calendar 2013

January1st New Year’s day 6th Epiphany

27th Memorial Day

New Year’s DayIt is the first day of the year. The Italian tradition includes a series of superstitious rituals to be followed during the New Year’s Eve, such as to wear red underwear

and throw old unused objects from the window.

Lentils are eaten at dinner as a sign of wealth for

the New Year.

Epiphany

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

Memorial DayMemorial 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.

February

13th Ash Wednesday

12th Last Day of Carnival Shrove Tuesday

10th Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day

The Remembrance Day is a national civil Italian feast

celebrated on February 10 of

each year.It commemorates the victims of the

massacres of sinkholes.

The CarnivalIn 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.

Ash Wednesday Forty days before Easter

On this day lent starts.

March

8th Women’s Day

19th Father’s Day

31st Easter

Women’s DayTo remember and reflect on women’s

achievements in every sectors of

society.It remembers the fire that took place in a factory where a lot of women died.

Father’s Day

Father’s day is celebrated on March 19 th every year.In catholic countries it falls on St Joseph’s Day.

Easter

First 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.

April

1st Easter Monday21st Rome’s Birthday25th Liberation Day

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.

Rome’s Birthday

On this day we celebrate the foundation of Rome which according to the legend took place in 753B.C. with the twins Romolus and Remus .

Liberation DayOn 25th April

Italy celebrates the Liberation

Day, it remembers the anniversary of liberation from

fascism.

April 25 1945 remembers when Italy was liberated from Nazifascist troops. These troops were formed between the First and the Second World War with the advent of Totalitarism, in Germany with Hitler, in Italy with Mussolini and in Russia with Stalin.

Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Movement that later became a real political party: the National Fascist Party (NFP), with which he claimed an authoritarian regime characterized by force and violence.

The Resistance Movement started in Italy to bring freedom and autonomy to the country.

May1st Labour Day9th Europe’sDay13th Mother’s Day

Labour DayLabour 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.

Europe’s Day

It represents an important date for Europe and

celebrates the speech held by Robert Schuman in 1950 which opend the

path towards the present European

Union.

Mother’s DayMother’s day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and it is a widespread festivity all the world.

This festivity is an occasion for sons and daughters to give flowers, chocolates or every

other things to one’s own mom!

June

2nd Republic Day

2nd Corpus Domini

29th Saints Peter and Paul

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 dei Fori

Imperiali in Rome hosted a military parade in

honour of the Republic.

2 nd June nowadays

Today we celebrate this civil feast with a big parade. The “Frecce

tricolori” do their show in this day at the presence of

military forces, the President of the Republic

and other authorities.

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.

The Constitutio

n

This Document is the basis of the Italian Republic. It ensures

human rights, establishes rights and

duties of all Italian people.

Infiorata di Genzano

«l’Infiorata» is a religious festivity which is held to celebrate the Corpus Domini in June each year.One of the most famous example in Italy is the one taken in Genzano, a small town near Rome, not far from Aprilia.Its origin goes back to the XII century and is characterized by the preparation of a floral (flowered) carpet along the way followed by the religious procession.The floral carpet occupies almost 200 square metres of ground and is composed different representations. About 350.000,00 flowers are necessary to create these pictures; it is said that the «infioratori», the artists, use each petal as painters use their colours.The festivity is divided into 3 phases: on Saturday, painters start drawing the

different images on the ground. on Sunday, they proceed with the laying of

the petals to carpet the ground. on Monday, children «destroy» the drawings

running from the steps of Saint Mary’s Church.

August15th Assumption of Mary - Ferragosto

August Bank HolidayAugust 15 is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.

That day the Church celebrates Mary the mother of Jesus received in Heaven.

It is a typical Italian Festivity not celebrated in other European countries.

Deeply rooted in pagan tradition, the feast of the Assumption was then recycled by the Church, which, like other pagan festivals, first tried to

suppress them and then wrap them of Christendom. The imprint of religious holiday is felt in the many religious processions that take place everywhere.

Usually, the statue of Madonna is carried in procession through the streets of old towns.

This summer date for most of us is the apotheosis of the holidays!

August is a word of Latin origin, derives from ‘’Feriae Augusti’’, which means ‘’Rest of August’’. In the month of August where harvested cereals

and ancient Rome celebrated the end of the main agricultural work.

Today, August Bank Holiday is by definition the day of the holiday, excursions, long week-ends, in one word the occasion for outings and picnics out of

town.

September 29 th Saint Michel (local festivity)

S. MichaelWe 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.

November1st All Saints Day

2nd Commemoration of Deads

4th National Day and of the Armed Forces

November 1: All Saints Day

It is celebrated in honour of all Catholic saints and martyrs, known and

unknown.

November 2: Day of the Deads

It is celebrated in honour of the Deads.

Day of National UnityThe 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 .

December

8th Immaculate Conception Day24th Christmas Eve25th Christmas Day

26th Saint Stephen’s Day31th New Year’s Eve

Immaculate

Conception It

commemorates the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

Christmas DayIt 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.

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.

Students:Maximiliano Ezequiel BarrabinoEleonora CiervoAmbrogio GalloAlison OrlandiSara Totaro

Teachers:Maddalena Caracciolo

Cristina Miglionico

Ada SeguinoAlessia Serpa

Thanks to our Religion and History Teachers, Mrs. Mariangela Cangemiand Maria Luisa Iorio, for their collaboration.