Festa do Espirito Santo

FESTIVALS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

On the archipelago of the Azores, the famous Festivities of the Holy Spirit take place from April to September and exhibit different characteristics from island to island and from village to village. Brought from mainland Portugal by the first colonists, the festivities of the Holy Spirit maintain their medieval origin as regards their popular features and the colour of the ceremonies. The invocation of the Holy Spirit during natural disasters that have tormented the archipelago and the fame of its miracles, the hard life and the isolation of the islands contributed to the worship taking root and lasting, while it disappeared on mainland Portugal. 

The rituals have hardly been altered. An emperor is crowned in the parish church. With a sceptre and a silver plate as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, he presides over the festivities every Sunday during the seven weeks following Easter. On Whit Sunday, there is a great feast in the town. The centre of the ceremonies is a small chapel, or ‘empire’, used for the distribution of the soup of the Holy Spirit, with meat and vegetables. This is where the crown, the plate and the sceptre can be viewed on the altar. 

The passing of time has given the festivities of the Holy Spirit individual characteristics on each island, although some common elements have remained like the coronation of the ‘emperor’, the viewing of his insignia - the crown and the sceptre - the procession of the ‘emperor’ and the ‘empress’ with their escort, the day of the feast when offerings of bread, meat and wine are distributed.

Festlichkeiten des Heiligen Geistes auf den Azoren - Religiöse Hingabe mit mittelalterlichen Ursprüngen. 

Auf dem Azorenarchipel finden an jedem Sonntag von April bis Juni die Festlichkeiten des Heiligen Geistes statt. Von Insel zu Inseln und von Ortschaft zu Ortschaft besitzen sie die unterschiedlichsten Ausprägungen.

Von Kontinentalportugal kamen mit den ersten Siedlern auch die Feierlichkeiten des Heiligen Geistes Noch heute bewahren Sie ihren volkstümlichen Charakter und in der Farbenpracht ihrer Zeremonien ihre mittelalterlichen Ursprünge.

Die Anrufung des Heiligen Geistes wenn Naturkatastrophen den Archipel heimsuchten und der Ruhm seiner Wunder, das harte Leben auf den Inseln und die Isolation bewirkten, dass der Kult während er in Kontinentalportugal unterging auf den Azoren tiefe Wurzeln schlug und fortbestand.

Die Rituale blieben praktisch unverändert. Ein Imperator wird in der Gemeindekirche gekrönt. Mit Zepter und Silberplatte steht er als Symbole des Heiligen Geistes den Feiern vor, die jeden Sonntag während der sieben Wochen nach Ostern abgehalten werden.

Am Pfingstsonntag gibt es dann in der Stadt ein großes Fest. Der Mittelpunkt der Zeremonie ist eine kleine Kapelle, das "Imperium", die benutzt wird für die Verteilung der Suppe des Heiligen Geistes, mit Fleisch und Gemüse. Dort werden die Krone, die Platte und das Zepter am Altar ausgestellt. 

Im Lauf der Zeit erlangten die Feierlichkeiten des Heiligen Geistes auf jeder Insel besondere Eigenheiten, obgleich ihnen nach wie vor verschiedene Elemente gemeinsam sind, wie etwa die Krönung des "Imperator", die Ausstellung seiner Insignien - Krone und Zepter - der Umzug von "Imperator" und der "Imperatorin", gemeinsam mit ihrem Gefolge sowie der Festtag, an dem die Geschenke an Brot, Fleisch und Wein verteilt werden.

Quelle: http://www.visitportugal.com/NR/exeres/304E28FA-E339-4F3A-BC61-94B809F41376,frameless.htm?order=1&parentGuid={92107397-6DCD-4F62-9FFA-1B02B0C4835B}

Comenius in the regional newspaper

Today our (Deolinda Estevao, Susana Rosa e me) article about the Comenius Assistantship on Corvo got published in one of the regional newspapers.
In this article we introduced the program and its objectives and reported about our work and activities in the school and community.
We are still working on extending our involvement and dedication.

So far it is good to hear that the school has been accepted for another Comenius Assistant in the following school year.

If you are interested in reading the article, check out the following link.

http://www.jornalacores9.net/educacao/a-escola-do-corvo-e-uma-escola-de-acolhimento-assistentes-comenius/

Another rainy day!

The weather is not doing us any favors. The last two days have been very stormy and rainy again. A proof of that were the numerous adult Cagarros (Gelbschnabel-Sturmtaucher) we found last night. Those birds spend most of their life out in the open sea. They come back to their place of birth to mate and breed. 

During the night their orientation relies on the stars. Due tue the strong winds and streetlights in the "city" some of the birds get lost in the streets. 

This mostly happens to the young birds leaving their nests in September/October. 

The SPEA Team then organizes rescue teams to collect up to 20/30 birds a night so theyy won't be harmed by preditors such as cats. They are put in boxes, checked for injuries, measured and "ringed".

About a month ago "the Cory's" returned to Corvo. They make the most funny and unique sounds and just belong to the sounds of the Island.

Today, during one of the storm breaks we released the three adult birds we found last night. 

BUT one wonderful thing to learn on this island, and I am trying to value it, is that in most bad things, such as repeatedly bad weather you can find something beatuiful and nice. My beautiful and nice today was getting close to those birds. Moreover, Corvo has to offer some really amaying waterfalls and creeks that only come alive with heavy rain. 

More Pictures of Cagarros by google.

Also see azoren-blog.de or wikipedia.com; wikipedia.de.

My favorite toy!

This week our youngest English learners brought their favorite toy to school. They did a real good job describing the colours or finding the right toy according to a description.

Meet:
Nicole (1° Ano) and her pink doll; 
Rafael (1° Ano) and his orange, red, green and white fish; 
Amanda (1° Ano) and her pink, green, blue, yellow doll; 
Martim (1° Ano) and his green, yellow, orange and black tractor; 
Sara (4° Ano) and the picture she drew of her doll Maria. Maria has got black hair and brown eyes. She is wearing a pink dress.

The kids workshop!

Ja, ich spreche deutsch! 

Filipa, Ana Sofia, Andreia, Rui
Tánea and Goncalo (missing in the picture: Nádia)

After one week of practising German the seven participants of the German Workshop for Kids can proudly say that. After long ours of hard work and fun they know the numbers and colours as well as some basic communication skills as introducing oneself, asking about age and origin, and talking about how they feel. In the following lessons everyone worked hard in order to create a portfolio. Parts of the portfolio were to write a profile in German. In order to translate the texts and write about themselves the students used different medias such as a dictionary and an online dictionary. Another task was to do a jigsaw of the German "Bundesländer" and transcribe their names and capitals into a map of the portfolio. Moreover, the kids translated and created their own timetable, translated and wrote postcards with the help of a German postcard, labeled a map of Vila do Corvo for German tourists and designed their cover pages.

Congratulations everyone on completing the course and putting in a lot of effort in your free time. Well done!

Thank you for your interest and participation.

For more pictures see: The kids workshop

German Workshop for Students!!!

Since our students are very busy during the school year, we have decided to offer a German Holiday Workshop for them.
It will take place in the second week of our Easterholidays and will be open to all 2° and 3° cycle students.
We will meet 90 minutes daily for one week and learn some basic German vocabulary as well as cultural and fun facts about that country "far far away".

Please register in the school secretary or directly with me.

Ordering food

In order to practice how to order and behave in a restaurant we took our seventh grade to the local bar today. After practicing in school all students ordered something to drink and a snack in English. Of course the conversation while enjoxing our snacks was English as well just as the English speaking service. 

Thank you so much Joao e Angela (BBC)