Village life
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The Frisbee at the Oktoberfest
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a wedding tradition
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´Oascheim´ on Easter
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a Christkindlmarkt at Munich
Festivals in Bavaria

Every year there are many different festivals in Bavaria. One of the most famous festival is the Oktoberfest in Munich and people come from all over the world. Of course there are many other festivals too. We will tell you about the:

Oktoberfest

A wedding in Bavaria

Easter

Christkindlmarkt
                        
                                         Oktoberfest
                            -the biggest carnival all over the world-


First something about the history:
The first Oktoberfest was held 200 years ago in Munich because of the wedding from prince Ludwig (25th august 1786 to 29th february 1868) and princess Therese (8th july 1792 to 26th october 1854). They had a big celebration and a horse race at the “Theresienwiese” at that time an wide open field in Munich. Since this wedding the place is called the Theresienwiese or the “Wiesn”. Prince Ludwig wanted to hold a festival like theOlympic games and the next year they wanted to do the horse race again and so the tradition of the Oktoberfest began.In the 19th century the
Oktoberfest has become bigger: There was the first roundabout, the statue of Bavaria, the first chicken sale, large beer halls and music chapels were
playing. In the 20th century the  “Wiesn” celebrated 100 years. At this time the people drank 12.000 hl beer in the currenty biggest beer tent with 12.000 seats.
Today every year about 6-7 million people come to Munich. It lasts for two weeks and always takes place in the last week of September and the first week of October.  People come from all over the world. Most people wear
‘Bavarian costumes for example Lederhosen and Dirndl. But there are often problems with alcohol because many people drink too much beer. There are 14 large and 15 small beer tents and 200 attractions including 80 Stage Technologie.


                                Wedding traditions
                                     There are two traditions

On the one hand there is the 'Hochzeitslader,
on the other hand there is the'Kranzlpaar'.

The 'Hochzeitslader' is a bavarian style wedding planner.
He takes care for the course of the wedding and supports the bride and groom in the the wedding planning. On the wedding day he is the master of ceremony and if applicable a morderator. He knows all Bavarian wedding traditions. For example he organizes the order for the procession for leaving the church. He can be recognized by a cane that is decorated with four colored ribbons, a red one for love, ablue one for faith, a green one for hope and a white one for virginity.

The ' Kranzlpaar'
are two, not married friends of the wedding
couple, that support them on their wedding day. For example they distribute the ribbons for the cars of the guests. Beyond that they are the first couple that enters the dance floor after the bride and groom.


                                              Easter

On Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. A typical thing of Easter are the colorful eastereggs. Some people put colored plastic easter eggs on bushes in their garden.Today we have many traditions for example “Easter eggs hide” but mostly for small children. The Easter bunny brings the Easter eggs in a nest and hide them in the garden or in the flat. But the Easter bunny doesn’t really exist. It’s just a belief.
“Egg curling” called “Oascheibn” is a Bavarian tradition too. It goes like this:  There is a small ramp with two rakes where the hunters, one after the other leave the eggs rolling down. When they are lying on the floor everyone puts one cent above the own egg. The following persons do the same and try to hit another egg. The hunter get all the cents which fall down after the shot. After each round the owner of the egg has to put another cent on the egg. The person who collects the most cents is the
winner.
Many people also decorate some things for example a nice easter bunch in the living room. There are many easter eggs which hang on branches.

Spezial food on Easter:
”Osterlamm” (a cake that looks like a sheep)
ham, eggs, bread and salt 
All these foods we put in a basket to the church and the priest
blesses them.
            
                                        Christkindlmarkt 

Every year, 4 weeks before Christmas, there is a market in Germany, called„Chriskindlmarkt“. There are lots of stands where you can buy: mulled wine, cookies or cakes, hot dog or Bosna, or little things, which decorate your house or the Christmas tree or which you can give to your
friends.

There is also a stage at the Christkindlmarkt
and every evening there are some little performances of Christmas
songs.Every year, before the market starts, you can vote for one Christkindlein. If you want to be the Christkindlein you have to be older than 14. 

(by Regina Schrobenhauser, Julia Bachmayer and Verena Öttl)
 
Dia duit!!! Conas ata tu? Ta muid Katelyne agus Amy.

That was us saying in Irish: Hello!!! How are you? We are Katelyne and Amy. Irish is a main language we need to learn over here in Ireland as its out national language. As we always say 'A nation without a language, is like a body without a soul.'

Irish Music

Irish Traditional Music is at the heart of Irish culture and history; the traditional is alive and vital, open to change yet conservative of its core values. Many historical songs came from the 1916 Easter rising. The traditional instruments used in Irish culture are the Bodhran (pronounced bowron, a portable drum played with one stick) the Fiddle, the Harp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W22gpBv00gg This is just a quick clip of Irish Dancing (River Dance)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So1qiyLaypk this is a classic Irish song that would be played at any Irish Party or celebration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrQaKNLRgu0 This is the National anthem of Ireland. If you can hear it properly, the singer is singing it in Irish. On screen there should be lyrics in Irish and English.

Irish Dancing

Irish Dancing is a big part of Irelands tradition. This type of dancing is known all over the world. Irish Dancing was popularised in 1994 by the world famous show River Dance. River Dance is widely known for the rapid movement of the feet and legs; as well as the body and arms being kept largely stationary. In Irish Dancing there are two kinds of dances you have the solo dances and a ceili dance. A solo dance is when you dance on your own where as a ceili dance you dance from 2 to 16 people. You would know an Irish Dancer from the pointed toes in the black soft sole shoes to the curly bouncy hair and the dazzling costumes. Irish Dancing music is based on reel and jig type of music. It is vital while dancing to have a straight back and arms by your side with pointed toes and turned out feet. This is what makes Irish Dancing so special.

Irish Dancing Dresses

There are two different types of Irish Dancing Dresses. You have your class dresses and your solo costumes. For over here in Ireland we have those two types of dresses. The class costumes is for if your dancing a ceili dance so that everyone looks the same in the same costumes, shoes and head piece (most likely a hair band). There different stages in dancing. You have easy dances first and they get harder as you win more. When you get to a higher level you can use a solo dress if you have one. A solo costumes doesn't have to have a particular design it can have any colour or accessories on it once they don't fall off. All Irish Dancing dresses have to have some sort of sash at the back along with a long sleeved and knee length dress.

Irish Dancing Shoes

There are two different types of Irish Dancing shoes. There are the soft sole shoes (Pomps) and the hard sole shoe (hornpipes). You use the soft shoes for most dances along with the ceili dances and the hard shoes are used for solo dances and ceili as well. The hornpipes make a loud banging sound but the pomps don’t make any noise when dancing. All Irish dancers have to wear white puffy socks called poodle socks while at a competition (feis) until they are 18. When doing a dance with girls over 18 they have to wear black tights.

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Hornpipe shoes
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Soft Pomp Shoes used for Irish Dancing
 
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by Ellie Whelan, Robyn and Shauna Grogan.

This is our project about Ireland. We hope you enjoy and understand it.

The little country highlighted in green is Ireland and this is the country we will tell you about. 

Ireland is quite small and Irish people think it shaped like a teddy bear (Look at the pictures above and below).

There are 32 counties in total in Ireland. Six of them are in Northern Ireland and the other 26 are in the Republic of Ireland.

The counties in the Republic are:
Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Claire, Tipperary, Limerick, Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Offaly, Carlow, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Longford, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo.

The counties in Northern Ireland are: Fermanagh, Antrim, Tyrone, Down, Armagh and Derry.

Ireland attracts many tourists every year. In Dublin people like to visit sights such as the Book of Kells at Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, the Phoenix Park and its surroundings, some seaside resorts like Bray and Howth. Our favourite place in Dublin is the Zoo located in Phoenix Park. It has lots of different animals from all over the world and a great atmosphere.

More Facts about Ireland (taken from Wikipedia)

Native names: IrishÉireEnglishIrelandUlster-ScotsAirlann

Nickname: the Emerald Isle; the Island of Saints and Scholars

Location: Northern Europe or Western Europe

Area: 84,421 km2 (32,595.1 sq mi) 

Coastline: 2,797 km (1,738 mi)

Highest elevation/mountain: 1,041 m (3,415 ft), Carrauntoohil
Largest city/capital city of the Republic of Ireland: Dublin

Largest city in Northern Ireland: Belfast

Thanks for reading our project!

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The 32 counties of Ireland and their population density.
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A popular destination for visitors in Dublin, is Temple Bar in the heart of the city.

    The Authors:

    We are the students of 8A at the Maria-Ward-Schule in Traunstein, Germany and of 2AB at Loreto College Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland.

    This blog was created for our first virtual exchange project. Every week we will upload different topics about school life, tradition, culture and leisure in our home countries and exchange ideas and comments about these.

    Feel free to join in our discussions!

    We are looking forward to a fun and enriching exchange of ideas!

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