1. a) Go to GVRL, enter "world holidays" into the search feature. That presented 93 results through the "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays." I then used the "limit search" feature on the left menu, choosing "Tradition" under the "Subject" category. This gave me 15 results, which covered several seasons and countries. I read through the results to determine which were Spring holidays from around the world, and came up with a total of 3. These 3 holidays are all related to Easter celebrations from the Ukraine - Velykden Easter; Spain - Semana Santa Easter and Holy Week; Easter - USA & others.
I returned to the Search feature at the top of the page & entered the keywords, "holiday festivals", in hopes of getting more results with which to work. This was far more profitable as far as results - 169, which I then narrowed down using the "limit search by" feature. I chose "Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays" as the Publication Title, as it seemed to be the best place to find the topics requested. Once there, I looked at the table of Contents and chose the Calendar of World Holidays, to better narrow down the search. From the Calendar page, I located the following Spring holidays:
March
First Two Weeks in March
Festival of the Water of Youth (Japan)
March 3 - Hina Matsuri (Girls' Day; Japan)
Circa March 5 - Feast of Excited Insects (China and North and South Korea)
March 6 - Independence Day (Ghana)
March 8 - Women's Day (Russia)
Circa mid-March, 11/2 moons after Dosmoche - Storlog (Tibetan spring festival)
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day (Celebration of the patron saint of Ireland)
Circa March 20 - Ibū Afo Festival (Nigerian year-end festival)
Circa March 21 - Vernal Equinox
Circa March 21 and Thirteen Days Thereafter - Nouruz (Persian New Year)
Moveable: Fourth Sunday in Lent (March–April) - Mothering Sunday (Britain)
Moveable: March 22–April 25 - Easter and Holy Week (Christian commemoration of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection)
Day 28 after Easter - Ropotine (Women's Day; Romania)
Moon 3, Day 5 - Thanh-Minh (Pure and Bright; Vietnamese day of remembrance)
March–April (full moon) - Panguni Uttiram (Hindu celebration of celestial marriages)
March–April - Gājan of Siva (Hindu celebration of God Siva)
Hanuman Jayanti (Birthday of the Monkey God; Hindu)
Mahavira Jayanti (Celebration of the birth of Lord Vardhamana Mahavira, founder of the Jain religion)
April
Eight Days Beginning on Day 15 of Nisan (circa April)
Passover (Commemoration of the release of the Jews from bondage in Egypt)
Cherry Blossom Festival (Japan) Micronesian New Year
April 1 - April Fools' Day
105 Days after the Winter Solstice (April 5 or 6) - Ching Ming (Pure Brightness Festival; China and North and South Korea)
April 12 or 13 - New Year (Southeast Asia)
April 13–15 - Thai New Year
Thursday Between April 19–25 - First Day of Summer (Iceland)
April 30 - Walpurgis Night (German and Swedish spring festival)
Moon 4, Day 8 - Buddha's Birthday
April (Various Dates) - Planting Festivals
May
May (Throughout the Month) - Flores de Mayo (Flowers of May; Christian celebration of the Virgin Mary)
First Tuesday in May - Fair Ffyliaid (Fool's Fair; Wales)
May 1 - May Day (Celebration of spring)
May 1–30 - Birth of the Buffalo God (China)
May 5 - Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May; Mexican national holiday)
Tango No Sekku (Boys' Day; Japan)
May 14 - Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)
May 17 - Mut l-ard (Death of the Ground; Moroccan first-day-of-summer celebration)
May 24 - Queen's Birthday/Victoria Day (Britain)
May 31 - Memorial Day/Day of the Dead (Romania)
Day 6 of Sivan (May–June) - Shavuot (Jewish Feast of Weeks/Day of First Fruits)
May (full moon) - Wesak Day (Commemoration of the Buddha)
Moon 5, Day 5 (May–June) - Double Fifth (Inauspicious day in China)
May–June
Bun Bang Fai (Rocket Festival; Thailand)
Ganga Dussehra (Indian bathing festival)
Circa May–July - Days 1–10 of Muharram (Shi'ite period of mourning for its martyrs)
May–July (height of rainy season) - Okere Juju (Nigerian religious festival)
Given this great list of holidays around the world, I was able to choose a couple of festivals from several countries for the civic organization.
b.) Upon completion of the above lesson, I returned to the Table of Contents in the same book, Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays, 2000. I selected the Reader's Guide, to determine whether any mention of food/recipes would be mentioned in the country/holiday selections I made. Here, I learned that a favorite holiday recipe is featured for nearly every one included in the book. Hence, I returned to the Table of Contents, again selected the Calendar of Selected Holidays, and chose 3 countries with Spring (March 20 - June 20) festivals.
Here's where I ran into some snags. Because I had the countries chosen, I went about searching for the festivals I wanted to research by typing the country into the search feature at the top of the page. The results varied, per country and still were too vague, as far as finding recipes/holiday foods. It was here, however, that I noticed there was a Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World. *facepalm* In choosing this particular publication, I was able to first choose a volume from the 4 (four) possible.
From Volume 1, I chose - Algeria: Two local festivals that are celebrated every spring are the cherry mousse (festival) in Tlemcen and the tomato moussem in Adrar. Here, I discovered two Spring festivals, which might serve a typical holiday menu as described below...
Cucumber and yogurt soup
Stuffed dates and walnuts
Roast stuffed leg of lamb
Tomato and raisin-stuffed eggplant
Potato & chickpea salad
Cooked carrots
Fresh fruit medley
Here is one recipe, which might be simple enough for the organization to create & serve -
Cucumber & Yogurt Soup
Ingredients: 1 large cucumber
2½ cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lemon rind, finely grated
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅔ cup ice water
Mint leaves, to garnish
Directions
Rinse the cucumber and trim the ends. Do not peel.
Grate the cucumber into a bowl.
Stir in the yogurt, garlic, lemon rind, and chopped mint.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Cover the bowl and chill 1 hour.
Stir in ⅔ cup ice water. Add more water if the soup seems a little thick.
Adjust the seasoning, then pour into chilled soup bowls.
Garnish with mint leaves.
Makes 6 servings.
Another country, Argentina, celebrates a large festival, El Carnaval del Pais, the week before Lent, which is the 40-day period preceding Easter in the Christian year. During Carnaval, people eat spicy foods, dress in costumes, and dance. Due to the tradition in the Roman Catholic Church to avoid eating meat during Lent, many Argentines eat more seafood dishes then. One of the favorite dishes they enjoy is Bocaditos (finger sandwiches), a popular lunch/snack food made with shrimp. The recipe below is just one variation of the festival food -
Bocaditos (Finger Sandwiches)
Ingredients:
12 thin slices French bread
1 container (3-ounce) cream cheese with chives
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
4 to 6 precooked shrimp
4 cherry tomatoes, sliced
Directions
Trim crusts from the bread.
Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each slice of bread.
Place cucumber slices, tomatoes, and shrimp on one slice, and cover with another slice of bread to make a sandwich. (Any combination of these ingredients may be used.)
Cut into triangles or rectangles.
Serves 8 to 10.
c.) To locate some spring festival games or pastimes, I recalled seeing in an earlier search, the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays lists not only arts/crafts/game, but also recipes, traditions and more in relation to holidays around the world. So, I began searching within this publication for answers to the games/pastimes of Spring festivals.
For Carnaval (Argentina), it is common to see parades (a pastime/tradition) and parade participants throwing candy/cheap necklaces and fake doubloons at the crowds.
Easter, another spring celebration that is observed by many countries is another. In Spain, many towns do not participate in the typical fun involved with Easter eggs. There is one town, Pola de Siero, which creates elaborately decorated Easter eggs. They begin two months before Easter, washing thoroughly, creating designs on the eggs or drawn on paper and transferred to the eggs. Then the eggs are cooked and dyed, followed by being painted. The decorated eggs are given to friends or sold to tourists from all over Spain during an Easter Tuesday fiesta. For the fiesta, there is a parade, with children and adults dressed in native costumes. The streets are decorated with tree branches tied with wire, and large barrels of cider line the parade route to take care of the thirsty.
2. For this lesson, I returned to the home page, chose "Title List" and sorted by "Publication Date (Descending). This gave me 27 results. From these I chose the below topics to review:
Here's where I ran into some snags. Because I had the countries chosen, I went about searching for the festivals I wanted to research by typing the country into the search feature at the top of the page. The results varied, per country and still were too vague, as far as finding recipes/holiday foods. It was here, however, that I noticed there was a Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World. *facepalm* In choosing this particular publication, I was able to first choose a volume from the 4 (four) possible.
From Volume 1, I chose - Algeria: Two local festivals that are celebrated every spring are the cherry mousse (festival) in Tlemcen and the tomato moussem in Adrar. Here, I discovered two Spring festivals, which might serve a typical holiday menu as described below...
Cucumber and yogurt soup
Stuffed dates and walnuts
Roast stuffed leg of lamb
Tomato and raisin-stuffed eggplant
Potato & chickpea salad
Cooked carrots
Fresh fruit medley
Here is one recipe, which might be simple enough for the organization to create & serve -
Cucumber & Yogurt Soup
Ingredients: 1 large cucumber
2½ cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lemon rind, finely grated
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅔ cup ice water
Mint leaves, to garnish
Directions
Rinse the cucumber and trim the ends. Do not peel.
Grate the cucumber into a bowl.
Stir in the yogurt, garlic, lemon rind, and chopped mint.
Season well with salt and pepper.
Cover the bowl and chill 1 hour.
Stir in ⅔ cup ice water. Add more water if the soup seems a little thick.
Adjust the seasoning, then pour into chilled soup bowls.
Garnish with mint leaves.
Makes 6 servings.
Another country, Argentina, celebrates a large festival, El Carnaval del Pais, the week before Lent, which is the 40-day period preceding Easter in the Christian year. During Carnaval, people eat spicy foods, dress in costumes, and dance. Due to the tradition in the Roman Catholic Church to avoid eating meat during Lent, many Argentines eat more seafood dishes then. One of the favorite dishes they enjoy is Bocaditos (finger sandwiches), a popular lunch/snack food made with shrimp. The recipe below is just one variation of the festival food -
Bocaditos (Finger Sandwiches)
Ingredients:
12 thin slices French bread
1 container (3-ounce) cream cheese with chives
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
4 to 6 precooked shrimp
4 cherry tomatoes, sliced
Directions
Trim crusts from the bread.
Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each slice of bread.
Place cucumber slices, tomatoes, and shrimp on one slice, and cover with another slice of bread to make a sandwich. (Any combination of these ingredients may be used.)
Cut into triangles or rectangles.
Serves 8 to 10.
c.) To locate some spring festival games or pastimes, I recalled seeing in an earlier search, the Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays lists not only arts/crafts/game, but also recipes, traditions and more in relation to holidays around the world. So, I began searching within this publication for answers to the games/pastimes of Spring festivals.
For Carnaval (Argentina), it is common to see parades (a pastime/tradition) and parade participants throwing candy/cheap necklaces and fake doubloons at the crowds.
Easter, another spring celebration that is observed by many countries is another. In Spain, many towns do not participate in the typical fun involved with Easter eggs. There is one town, Pola de Siero, which creates elaborately decorated Easter eggs. They begin two months before Easter, washing thoroughly, creating designs on the eggs or drawn on paper and transferred to the eggs. Then the eggs are cooked and dyed, followed by being painted. The decorated eggs are given to friends or sold to tourists from all over Spain during an Easter Tuesday fiesta. For the fiesta, there is a parade, with children and adults dressed in native costumes. The streets are decorated with tree branches tied with wire, and large barrels of cider line the parade route to take care of the thirsty.
2. For this lesson, I returned to the home page, chose "Title List" and sorted by "Publication Date (Descending). This gave me 27 results. From these I chose the below topics to review:
- Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: Extinction, 2v, 2013 (9781414490700) appears to be a publication I'd really enjoy reading. It covers a huge variety of information on several topics within the subject of Extinction. It explains the role of Zoological Gardens, the role of natural history museums, Extinction rates, species monitoring, population dynamics, extinction through history and so much more. I've got to bookmark this one!
- Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans: A Guide to Education-Related Financial Aid Programs for Students and Professionals, 29th ed., 3v, 2012(9781414463322) was my second choice, since it cannot hurt to review the information for potential patrons whom might be graduating. I discovered the topic is covered within 3 volumes. These volumes contain information regarding federal programs, State Higher Education Agencies, a User's Guide, AmeriCorps and an incredible list of foundations, Associations, Organizations which all contribute to scholarship recipients. This is definitely a very helpful article to share with any hopefuls for a scholarship!
Great discoveries in GVRL! There are a lot of spring festivals!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to promote the ebook Scholarships, Fellowships and Loans to your patrons!
Thanks for your post,
Julie