Marit: Sinterklaas
Romy: kerst en oud & nieuw
Carlijn: Carnaval
Laura: algemene feesten
Bronnen:
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Ideeën
- Kies enkele feesten en zing een liedje van dat feest;
- KIjk of je zelf foto's hebt van de feesten die je bespreekt
- Zijn er misschien videofilms van beschikbaar?
- Veertel een verhaal en geef geen droge opsomming
- Zijn er verschillen met de manier waarop de Italianen dat feest vieren?
Algemene feesten (laura)
I’m going to tell you something about the general feasts. Like birthdays, weddings and funerals. Let’s start with birthdays.
Birthday
Everyone of you knows birthday. But I think that we celebrate it differently. We invite friends and family to come to our house. There we eat pie and talk a lot. Everyone takes a present with them. Like money or a book. So I’m always happy when it is my birthday, because then I get a lot of presents and money. The people stay for about an hour or longer. And then they go back home.
Most of the time, people of our age also give a big party for friends. Sometimes we watch a movie but sometimes we also do something active. I think the party with your friends is much more fun. The presents you get are much nicer. But unfortunately your birthday is only once a year. And before you know it is over.
Weddings
It depends on your culture how you get married. But now I am going to tell you something about the most Dutch weddings. Most of the time a wedding in Holland exist out:
- The wedding in the city-hall
- A photo shoot of the new husband and wife
- The wedding in the church
- A celebration dinner
- A reception for family and friends
- And a wedding party
During the dinner the parents of the new couple give a speech. And sometimes they tell a sort of story about the lives of the couple.
After the dinner some friends or family do a sketch. That is a speech with funny things in it. After the whole dinner thing, there is a big party. The bride changes her dress and then the couple goes partying with the rest of her family and friends.
Then it’s time for the wedding night. And the couple goes on vacation together, the honeymoon.
There are also some objects that are very important for weddings. Like:
- the rings
On the wedding day the man puts the ring around the finger of the woman and the woman also does this by the man. The rings are a symbol for the connection between the husband and wife.
- the pie
The pie is a symbol for fertility. The husband and wife cut a slice of the pie with one knife and then eat it.
Funerals
A funeral is a ceremony for someone who is passed away. Just like it is with weddings, every culture has a different way to celebrate it. I tell you something about the funerals in Holland.
Here in Holland the family and friends can say goodbye to the one who is passed away, before the funeral begins. Most of the time is this a very emotional moment.
For the ones that are religious there is a mass in the church. There are some speeches and sometimes children or grand-children read aloud poems.
Most of the time is there also music in the church, the favourite songs from the one who is passed away.
When the ceremony is over, some people carry the coffin to the cemetery. There the one who is passed away is getting buried. Then sometimes relatives flowers on the coffin before the hole is closed.
After this there is a reception. People drink coffee and talk a bit about the funeral or other things.
Now I told something about funerals. But there are also incinerations. There the people get burned. It’s not really to say it this way, but it’s true.
The ash of the one who is passed away can put in a urn or strew above the ocean. You can also let it put in a bracelet or a necklace.
Kerstmis (Romy) (eerst in het Nederlands)
Dit feest is in Nederland op 25 december. Met kerstmis vieren de Christen de geboorte van Jezus. Jezus was de zoon van Jozef en Maria en werd geboren in een stal in Betlehem, hier kwamen ze terecht doordat ze geen slaapplaats konden vinden.
In de buurt waren herders die door engelen werden ingelicht dat er een “redder” geboren was en dat bleek ook later, want Jezus genas mensen en was een belangrijk man voor de samenleving. Zelf zo belangrijk dat de keizer bang werd dat hij koning wilde worden en gaf zijn soldaten de opdracht Jezus op te hangen aan een kruis.
Jezus was heel belangrijk voor het volk geweest en daarom word de dag dat hij geboren is nog steeds gevierd.
We vieren het op een bepaalde manier. Bijna iedereen zet een kerstboom op, dit is een spar, en versiert die met lichtjes en kerstballen. Het is het symbool van overleven.
Onder de boom zetten we een stal, met daarin Jezus, Maria, Jozef, de kribbe en de herders. Dit is het teken van de geboorte van Jezus.
Verder eten we gezamenlijk een kerstontbijt op eerste kerstdag en ’s avonds een kerstdiner. We zetten veel kaarsen neer en de tafel wordt gezellig gedekt. Familie en vrienden komen om gezellig met zijn allen te eten. Ook worden de cadeautjes op eerste kerstdag opengemaakt die bij sommige gezinnen onder de kerstboom liggen.
Carnival (carlijn)
I’ve heard in Italy there is carnival too. But it’s a bit different. I’m going to tell you something about carnival in Holland. Especially in Prinsenbeek, the village where Romy and Carlijn live in.
Like I said before, carnival in Italy is a bit different then here. But there are things the same too. At first, why we celebrate carnival…
We celebrate carnival to say the Wednesday after is the Ashwednesday, and after that we have 40 days to fast until Easter. But what is actually the difference? In Holland we disguise us. But not like Italy. In Italy you see especially masks. But in Holland it’s different. We disguise us as something. Something like a clown, princes, cat, dog, cowboy, rabbit, farmer or something else. It seems like Halloween in America. They disguise them too but there it is to scare everyone. And with carnival that isn’t. It’s just a time to do crazy.
We always celebrate carnival in 6 days. It starts at Thursday and finished at Tuesday. The day after Tuesday it’s the Ashwednesday.
But what is carnival in Prinsenbeek? I’m going to start with the important people. I’ll tell you the names in Dutch but I’ll explain to you what people they are.
De Prins: That’s like the Prince. He’s the most important person of carnival. He’s always present on the carnival traditions and the leader of the whole carnival. There is just 1 prince, but every year it’s an other.
Then we have the servants of the prince, de hofdames. They’re always beside the Prince, so they’re present on the carnival traditions too. There are 2 Hofdames. Every year there are other hofdames.
But it’s a lot more then just a prince and servants. There is a “Raad van Elf” too. This is a group of 11 persons. All male. There are 11 of them cause 11 is the crazynumber. Just like the whole carnival in Holland. Crazy and beautiful. It’s important to have fun, and there are 7 girls who help with it. They’re around the 8/9 years old. The name of this girls is “Dansmarietjes”. It’s something like dancegirls, that’s because they dance a lot. They studied a dance to show to the other people. Most of the girls around the 8 years wants to be a dansmarietje in Prinsenbeek, that’s why every year the girls change.
But, what are we actually doing with carnival? In Prinsenbeek is it a bit standard to have a cavalcade the Saturday and Sunday. So we have 2 cavalcades. For the people who don’t know cavalcade: it’s a parade with people and special cars. On Saturday there is a small parade, and on Sunday a big one. That means, the small parade has small cars and the big big ones. But that’s a bit logical.
I’m going to explain you something about the cars, cause they aren’t just cars. Not like automobiles. No, it’s really different. We call the cars “carnavalswagens”. Carnavalswagens are built by a club. A Carnivalsclub. Most of the time a carnivalsclub is a friend group. They celebrate carnival together and make a car. I can tell you, there are só many clubs! So there are a lot of cars to. In fact it’s a competition. The clubs all want to make the most beautiful car. There is a lot difference between the cars. There are cars of 1 meter high, but there are cars of 11 meters high too. 11 meter is the limit. You can see a few picture’s of cars, small and big. Actually the parade is biggest thing of carnival in Prinsenbeek. But there are other things too. Like a trip over the street with fairy-lights or the fireworks on the end of carnival.
The trip over the street with fairy-lights is for the children. It’s on the Monday when they walk in the evening over the street. It is beautiful to see all that lights.
And the fireworks on the and of carnival is beautiful too. The most people in Prinsenbeek come to the square of Prinsenbeek to see the firework.
This are the most important things with carnival, but the most people just party a lot. They are going to the cafés to drink with each other and to dance on special music for carnival. And all of this with crazy clothes, or a clubshirt. We call it a “kiel”. It’s a shirt with the colour of your club and with a logo on it. Then every one can see in which club you are.
Sinterklaas (Marit)
Another feast in Holland is St. Nicholas. It’s a fantastic feast. Especially for little children. The feast is in December. That’s because St. Nicholas’ birthday is at the 6th of December. We celebrate it at the 5th of December. Not each country celebrates it. Many countries know St. Nicholas, but each with another name. Czech Republic and Hungary know him as Mikula’s. The people in Indonesia call him: Sinyokolas. Poland know him as: Swiety Mikolay. In Germany he has different names: Pelznichel, Bullerklas and Zinterklos. Belgium and Holland call him Sinterklaas.
There are two stories about the origin of St. Nicholas.
The first story;
In 270 Nicholas was born. He was very good for the humanity. He served
people in distress. Nicholas died at the 6th of December 340. A year after his death he was declared holy. Because of it, he may call himself ‘Saint’.
The second story;
Once there was a German God. His name was Wodan. Wodan was so holy, that only a popular saint like Nicholas could replace him. Wodan had a beard, rode a horse and wore a mitre and a coat, like Nicholas.
Little children are not interested in all those story’s. They only want to know when we celebrate the feast so they get their presents. The feast is a popular event in Holland. It’s a big happening. Not each family celebrate it, but most parents let their children believe that St. Nicholas exist.
St. Nicholas loves children. You can see that at his appearance.
Marks of St. Nicholas:
- He always wears a mitre;
- He always has a staff with him;
- He always wears a red dress;
- He always wears white gloves;
- He always rides on a white horse, called Americo;
- He has black Peters who help him;
- He visits the countries with a steamboot;
- He is very old;
The black Peters also are an essential part of the feast.
They are the servants of St. Nicholas.
Marks of black Peters:
- They are black;
- They wear bright colours;
- They scatter sweets;
- They always wear a cap with a big feather;
- They all have a name that’s ending on ‘Peter’.
- They wear a white collar;
- They have golden earrings;
Like saying before, the feast is a big happening. When St. Nicholas arrives with his steamboot, there are thousands of screaming kids who are waiting for St. Nicholas. The children go at home and celebrate it with their parents and family. They believe that the blackPpeters and St. Nicholas bring the presents in the night. The parents buy the presents of course.
The children are allowed to set their shoe in front of the stove. The story tells that the black Peters enter the house through the chimney. That’s why they are black. Usually the children put something in their shoe, like a drawing or a carrot for the horse Americo. The black Peters take this and put something in the shoe instead. If you were a sweet child the whole year, it’s a present. You get a rod if you were naughty. The next morning the children goes downstairs very excited and hope they will find a present!
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