Our Words for 2021

Kerr:

The word I chose is UNITY. The reason I chose it is because wishing the year 2021 will be different than 2020 in a sense of where families will reunite and fulfill their longing of hugs and kisses, friends can share a meal together and confine each other.

Gabriel:

Online learning year 2021

Carolyn:

My word for 2021 is hopeful

January 14th: Andy Warhol & Jeff Koons

Andy Warhol

• American artist, born in Pennsylvania in 1928, parents were Slovakian immigrants, passed away in NYC in 1987. 

• Leader in the visual art movement known as POP ART in 1960s 

• Successful magazine and ad illustrator originally, ventured into a variety of art forms including performance, filmmaking and video installations and writing 

• Went to school and graduated with a Bachelor of fine arts degree, then moved to NYC to pursue a career as commercial artist 

• Became one of the most successful commercial artists of 1950s, and worked at Glamour magazine as his first major position

Had a whimsical style, used his own blotted line technique and rubber stamps to create his drawings 

In the late 1950s, Warhol started painting more, debuted concept of POP ART – paintings that focus on mass-produced commercial goods i.e. Campbell’s Soup Cans 1962, Coca-Cola, Hamburgers, vacuum cleaners, etc.

• Major breakthrough and introduction of Pop Art in the world 
• Campbell’s Soup Cans at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC

His works became so popular and talked about that he started painting portraits of famous celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe,  Elizabeth Taylor, and Mick Jagger, and he would paint them often in very vivid colours. To have a portrait done by Warhol was seen to be an honour, and he would select who he was interested in painting.

In 1964, Warhol opened up his studio in NYC and called it ‘The Factory.’ It was named this because of Warhol’s fascination with mass production of products, which is something that he tried to recreate in his prints.

Warhol worked here, but The Factory became much more than a studio. He would throw large parties, often with very creative people including musicians, film stars, artists, etc. In doing so, he would allow people to express themselves creatively, and they were able to collaborate.

In the factory, Warhol worked on paintings, but he also did photography, short films, screen tests, and he founded a magazine, called Interview Magazine, which is still around today.

Andy Warhol on Google Arts and Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/andy-warhol/m0kc6?categoryId=artist

Jeff Koons

American contemporary artist, known for his works on popular culture and sculptures of everyday objects

Focuses on consumer goods (similar to Warhol) and draws inspiration from the human experience

Born in 1955 in Pennsylvania, moved to New York City where he currently lives and has his studio

Uses different materials (metals, reflective materials, fabrics, etc.), as well as computer-aided design for his works

$58.4 million was paid for Balloon Dog (orange), in a 2013 auction

The current Koons auction record stands at $91 million for ‘Rabbit,’ which is an auction record for work sold by a living artist

Fact: Play-doh took 20 years to make!!

Google Arts and Culture on Koons: https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/jeff-koons/m01n1tq?categoryId=artist

Puppy at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Gabriel’s Song Choice: “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

January 12th: Welcome back to class!!

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Communication Enrichment Class! We are excited to begin class with all of you!

The Real Reason People Sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ on New Year’s Eve

• this is the first thing people sing here as the clock strikes midnight.
• This is a Scottish folk song that has a long history of being sung to end something. No one is sure exactly who composed the music for this song.
• The title of the song is in the Scottish language and it is credited to the poet Robert Burns and could be translated as “old long since”
• but the Scottish government goes with the popular “for old times’ sake” instead.
• Canadian bandleader Guy Lombardo made it a New Year’s Eve tradition in the United States.
• Before Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve started Guy Lombardo hosted a New Year’s Eve concert each year and he was known as the last great dance bandleader by Times Magazine.

Activity:

Looking back on the past year, what is one word that you could use to describe 2020? Why?

New Year, New Us! What is everyone’s WORD for 2021? We did this activity last year, and who remembers what their word was for 2020?

• everyone choose their word as their intention for the year ahead. Please explain your choice of word to the class!

Upcoming topics:

• Visual artists – painters, sculptors, art installations

https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/contemporary-art/m0h0vk?hl=en

• Emotions – why do we feel different emotions? What causes us to feel different emotions? When is it hard to understand how we feel?

• Space – the solar system, shooting stars, blackholes, space travel, current space missions

Let us know what you would like to learn about!

January Newsletter – will be sent out to everyone today!

Dec. 10th: Class Christmas Party!

North Yorkers wishes all the participants of class a very happy holiday season, and we look forward to seeing everyone in the new year!

Christmas Trivia Questions:

How many reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh, excluding Rudolph?

a) 8

b) 9

c) 6

What country developed the Christmas tree tradition?

a) Canada

b) Germany

c) The United Kingdom

What was the gift on the seventh day of Christmas, according to the 12 days of Christmas song?

a) 7 French hens

b) 7 pipers piping

c) 7 swans a swimming

Why was Rudolph added to the team of reindeer?

a) because he was really, really strong

b) because Donner was his father

c) because he could guide the sled on a foggy night with his nose

What is a traditional holiday season flower?

a) Rose

b) Amaryllis

c) Pointsetta

In what modern day country was St. Nicholas born?

a) Germany

b) Turkey

c) Poland

In the song “Frosty the Snowman,” what made Frosty come to life?

a) an old silk hat

b) a pipe

c) a red scarf

What Christmas decoration was originally made from strands of silver?

a) tinsel

b) wreaths

c) garland

What Russian ballet is Christmas-themed?

a) Swan Lake

b) The Nutcracker

c) Romeo and Juliet

What is the name of the Grinch’s dog?

a) Peter

b) John

c) Max

According to the song, Elvis won’t have a white Christmas, he’ll have a____________?

a) green Christmas

b) blue Christmas

c) cold Christmas

Name the Christmas Carol:

Famously sung by Mariah Carey….

a) Santa Baby

b) All I want for Christmas

c) Jingle Bell Rock

What song has the lyrics: “Word on the street Santa’s coming tonight/reindeer flying through the sky so high/I should be making a list I know”

a) Last Christmas by Wham

b) Baby it’s Cold Outside

c) Mistletoe by Justin Bieber

How many Christmas songs can we come up with that contain the word “bells?”

Christmas Music!!

Funny Christmas skits:

Let’s reflect!

This year has been unpredictable to say the least, so let’s think of what we have learned in the past year. The entire world has felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, so let’s think about how it has affected our year and our perspective going into 2021.

What have we learned in 2020? How did we feel during this year? Who was there to support us and what did they do? Did we gain any new hobbies or learn any new skills? What are we most excited for when the pandemic ends?

If you’d like to send a written reflection to Sarah or Bobbi (or both of us!) on the past year we can post it on the blog so that everyone can see and comment on one another’s! 🙂

We hope you have a magical holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!!! We are so grateful to all of you for continuing to participate virtually in class throughout the year, and we look forward to when we can be in-person again.

Dec.8th: Chinese and German Traditions

Chinese Traditions

• the Christmas holiday leads up to the Chinese new year.
• Families will decorate their houses with paper lanterns. They also decorate Christmas trees which they call trees of light. They will decorate them with paper chains, paper flowers and paper lanterns.
• Even though Christmas is not viewed as a public holiday Christmas celebrations are becoming a little bit more popular in China.
• In the city you may find Christmas trees, lights and other decorations on the streets in stores and in homes.
• Santa Claus is called Dun Che Lao Ren which means Christmas old man.

• Children hang muslin stockings the night before Christmas and wait patiently for this generous man to come to the house.
• Christmas eve mass is also becoming very popular.
• Less than 1% of the Chinese population in China is Christian so the main winter holiday is the Chinese new year.
• This takes place near the end of January or beginning of February.
• To date this holiday is called the Spring Festival and the children received new clothing and toys. People and family get together to eat beautiful meals and enjoy a firework display.
• During this festival it is very important to honour ancestors of the family so portraits and paintings of the ancestors are brought out and will be hung in the main room of the house.

• On December 27 in Hong Kong a Taoist festival called Ta Chiu happens and during this time people will enjoy fireworks, food and friendship.

• At the end of the festival it is tradition for a priest to read the names of all the people that live in that area.
• Once the priest is finished reading all the names the names are attached to a paper horse that burned. This is done in the hopes that all the people will rise to heaven. 
•  Families in China will enjoy huge feast on this holiday. Some of the food for this holiday will include Peking duck, Cantonese roast duck, Kung Pao chicken, cookies, five spice peanuts, sesame seed balls and spring rolls. 
• Families will gather their entire family and together they will also have a traditional tea ceremony before the meal.

German Christmas Traditions

• a big part of Christmas celebrations in Germany is the advent calendar. The most common one is the card calendar but there are more traditional ones made of wreath of fir tree branches with 24 decorated boxes or bags hanging from it. Each bag or box had a little present in it.
• Another one is called Advent Kranz. This is a ring of branches that has four candles on it. This is just like the Advent candles that are sometimes used in churches. One candle is lit at the beginning of each week in Advent.

• Christmas trees are also very important in Germany. If there were young children in the house the trees were secretly decorated by the mother. The trees were traditionally brought in on Christmas Eve and the family would read the Bible and sing Christmas songs such as O Tannenbaum and Silent Night.
• Wooden frames covered with coloured plastic sheets and electric candles inside are put in the window to make the house look pretty from the outside.
• Christmas Eve is when German families exchange presents.
• Germany is well known for its Christmas markets where a lot of Christmas foods and decorations are sold. The most famous of German decorations are glass ornaments that are usually handblown glass and were even sold in the US in the 1880s in Woolworth stores.

• In Southeast Germany children right to the das Christkind asking for presents. The letters are decorated with the sugar glued to the envelope to make them sparkly and attractive when they leave them on the windowcill at the beginning of Advent.
• theChristkind (the Christ child) is not the baby Jesus. In fact it’s a young girl with Christ like qualities. Usually a young girl is chosen every year to participate in a parade as the Christkind. She wears a long white and gold dress and has long blond curly hair and wears a gold crown and sometimes wings like an angel.
• She opens the Christmas market on Friday for Advent starts. Before Christmas she has over 150 official duties including visiting hospitals, nursing homes and children’s nurseries. She also has to get TV interviews.

• Santa Claus or father Christmas brings the main Christmas present on December 24. Children from other parts of Germany write a letter to him. Some people say that it Santa/ father Christmas and other people still think it’s Christkind.
• Some children also hope that they will receive some small gifts like chocolate and candy on December 6 St. Nicholas Day. He comes during the night between the fifth and sixth of December and puts the presents into the shoes of the children that are placed by the door.
• He may also knock at the door and the children will have to sing a song, play a song on an instrument or tell a story to St. Nicholas before he leaves them their presents.

Ellen’s 12 Days of Giveaways

Dec 7th: Celtic Christmas Traditions

Celtic culture dates back to 1200 BC, making it extremely old. Celtic traditions have been developed over centuries, and some are still practiced in Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Here are some typical Irish traditions that take place during Christmas in Ireland:

Origins of Celtic Christmas

• Christmas has been celebrated in Ireland since Saint Patrick brought Christianity to the island in the fifth century.
• Over time pagan Celtic customs came together with Christianity which produced some very unique Celtic Christmas traditions for the winter festival.

Winter Solstice

• before Christianity the people of Ireland practice of pagan druidic religion which gave them a sense of their connection with the natural world.
• Similar to a lot of early peoples in the world winter solstice was on December 21 and was very important to the Gaelic Irish peoples.
• Winter solstice was the shortest date or longest night of the year.
• But to the Celtic Irish this was a turning point in their year. During the dark and cold winter months at solstice time the sun begins the long journey Back towards its Midsummer peak. Which meant Summer was coming.

Fires and candles

Hill of Tara

• the Celtic people celebrated the turning point of the sun fires sacred places such as the Hill of Tara.
• Using fire to mark the winter solstice may contribute to the more recent Irish tradition of placing a candle in the window of your house during the 12 days of Christmas season. 
• During this time of year the Celtic people want to bring about the light at love and hope in their lives.
• This tradition is seen as a way of welcoming travellers to your home. 
• This candle in the window marks a way to warmth and hospitality that people might find themselves in,  just like Mary and Joseph did, without a place to stay at Christmas time.

In Celtic tradition, a candle lights the way for weary travelers at Christmastime.

A traditional Irish Christmas blessing in English is: ‘May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.’

Greenery

• The druids of the ancient kilted tradition used evergreen branches to symbolize the eternal nature of the human soul.
• In the present Christian times the tradition of bringing evergreen branches into someone’s home in Ireland has continued as a symbol of eternal life was because of Christ’s resurrection.

The killing of the Wren             

• this tradition is similar to the one we studied last week when we learned about the Welsh Christmas traditions.
• this bird was believed to be an unlucky bird because of an old legend and on St. Stephen’s date which is December 26 young men would dress up and go to the countryside hunting the bird with slingshots. 
• Once the bird was killed it was carried on a pole from house to house.
• This was an important Christmas tradition in rural Ireland but it is no longer taking place.  But instead people continue to visit each other’s houses to enjoy each other’s company.

Irish Christmas Blessings

• In Irish (Gaelic) Nollaig Shona Duit means ‘Happy Christmas to you.’ It is pronounced no-leg show-na ditch.
• At New Year’s, it is traditional in Ireland to say ‘Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.’ In English, this means ‘May we be alive at this time next year.

Gabriel’s song choice: “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber

Dec. 3rd: Dutch Christmas Traditions

The Dutch have several traditions in the month of December, which makes this a very exciting season in Holland.

Sinterklaas

On December 5th, people in The Netherlands celebrate Sinterklaas, when St. Nicholas comes. There are many festivities that are held on Dec. 5th, which is the day that Sinterklaas arrives to Holland by boat. The legend is that he travels by boat from Spain about two weeks before, and then makes the journey to a village or town in Holland.

When Sinterklaas arrives in Holland, he rides a white horse, and leads a procession of people through the town. Sinterklaas is accompanied by his helpers, Zwarte Pieten, or ‘Chimney/Sooty Peters.’ The tradition of Zwarte Pieten is very controversial, and seen as discriminatory, as it involves white people wearing blackface. More recently, it has become a source of major protests in Holland.

On the evening of Dec. 5th, children will leave a shoe out by the fireplace or windowsill in the hopes that Sinterklaas and a Zwarte Piet will visit them and leave them little presents. Sometimes they leave hay or carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas’ horse. They are told that at night, Sinterklaas rides on the rooftops of houses on his horse, and Zwarte Piet will climb down the chimney or enter into the window. Children are normally left candies and small goodies in their shoes. In the past, children who were considered to have been bad would be left a potato in their shoe.

On top of the festivities, normally each person gets another person a gift, in a similar way that is ‘secret Santa.’ With the gift, people write each other poems, normally making fun of one another. People also may wrap the gifts in very extravagant ways, and it can be a very creative time. On Dec. 6th, which is called St. Nicholas’ Day in Holland, Sinterklaas leaves by steamboat and travels back to Spain.

Sinterklaas Kapoentje song:

Christmas trees are traditionally not allowed to be put up until Sinterklaas leaves Holland, and this is a general rule for the country.

Sinterklaas is not in place of Christmas!

Christmas in Holland

In The Netherlands, people celebrate Christmas on both Dec. 25th and on Dec. 26th. This is meant to be a family time, where people spend the two days playing games, watching movies and eating Christmas food. Sinterklaas is usually seen as the big celebration, and Christmas is meant to be more of a relaxed time.

Traditionally, the two days of Christmas enable people to see both sides of their family for the holiday.

Dutch treats!

Traditional sweets are gingerbread men, spiced cookies, including pepernotten and speculaas, marzipan and chocolate letters. Every year kids are usually given a chocolate letter from Sinterklaas or to celebrate Christmas.

Speculaas is a common spiced cookie, that is traditional for Sinterklaas, St. Nicholas’ Day and Christmas. Here is a recipe: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/dutch-speculoos-cookies/

Irene’s Song Choice: “Mary’s Boy Child” sung by Boney M.

Dec. 1st: Welsh Christmas Traditions

Throughout the world, Christmas and New Year celebrations are a favourite time of the year, not least in Wales. It is often asked, What is Christmas in Welsh and What is Happy New Year – the answer is “Nadolig Llawen” or Merry Christmas and “Blwyddyn Newydd Dda” or Happy New Year. The other important question is, “What is Father Christmas in Welsh” and the answer is “Sion Corn”

Special Traditions in Welsh:

Plygain

• happens in rural North admitted Wales and dates back to the Catholic. When services were held on Christmas day.
• It’s one of the oldest Welsh Christmas traditions and the earliest Plygain service is thought to have happened in the 13^th century.
• Service would stop at first light and everyone would go home and celebrate Christmas. After the service there would be a day of feasting and drinking.
• This is an unaccompanied Carol singing of a Welsh Christmas song sung in harmony with a small group of men.
• It is still going on today with the younger generation. New singers and parties have started and new services have been established where older carols and some and new original carols are sung as well.
• This tradition is done in places such as Tintern Abbey and St David’s Bishop’s Palace and also with Welsh Societies in London

NOSON GYFLAITH (TOFFEE EVENING)

• this activity is done in order to stay awake so they can go to church.
• Rule farms and other homes would invite friends and family to make toffee and play games and tell stories.
• Some places in Wales still have this tradition and some tourists are even able to make their own toffee and join in this tradition.

GWYL SAN STEFFAN 

• this event takes place on Boxing Day December 26. It is also called St. Steffan’s Day (St. Stephen’s Day)
• this includes an activity called holly beating or Holming.
• This involved young men and boys would gather holly branches and beat the arms of young females with those prickly branches until they started to bleed.
• This strange custom stopped because it was cruel before the end of the 19^th century.

MARI LWYD – GREY HORSE (MARE)

• this is a pre-Christian tradition and is thought to bring good luck in the new year to people.
• The horse figure is made and clothed with ornamental ears and eyes. And it is also decorated with coloured ribbons, bells and coloured paper.
• Then the people would pull it around town. And different houses would challenge each other to a battle and it was called Pwnco.
• After this battle people would gather at houses and share food and drink.

Wassail       

• this tradition is a very important part of all Christmas festivities. As mulled wine is drunk today, drinking from the wassail bowl would have been part of any Welsh Christmas.
• Wassail is hot mulled cider and is usually drank around Christmas and it was originally intended to toast and hope for a good harvest of cider apples the following year.

Wren Day

• groups of men would go out hunting the Wren in the 19^th century. Once the tiny bird was captured it would be caged in a wooden box and carry door-to-door for everyone to see.
• It was celebrated in Wales between the 6th and 12th January.
• The wren procession was a group of men carrying a small wren in a wooden cage door-to-door through the town and people would pay to see the bird.
• These groups of men were sometimes called wrenboys.
• Why was the wren bird chosen because it is seen to represent royalty and prestige.

Calennig

• children go door to door singing and are given sweets or money or both this is known as calennig.
• This is a Welsh word meeting the first day of the month but it also means a new year celebration or a new year gift. This celebration takes place on January 13.

Carolyn’s song choice: “Silver Bells” by Bing Crosby

Nov. 30th: The History of Santa Claus

• the legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a month named St. Nicholas.
  • His real name was St. Nicholas of Myra. He was a Christian monk who lived in the third century A.D. in what is now the country called Turkey.

• Nicholas had become the centre of a lot of folk legends. Today Nicholas is considered the patron saint of sailors, children, wolves and pawnbrokers.
  • He is the patron saint of Russia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. It was in the Netherlands where began to see the image of the first Santa Claus.
  • Just like we leave out a glass of milk and some cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, Dutch children will fill their clogs with straw and leave them for the donkey. In the morning the straw was gone but their clogs were filled with presents.

• It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D.  in Patara near the country Turkey.
  • He was admired for his kindness and it is said that he gave away all his wealth and travelled the countryside helping for and sick people.
  • He used to help the people in secret so that no one knew it was him.
  • He said he wanted to do it in secret because he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Nov. 24th: Oprah Winfrey

• Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, media executive, actress, and billionaire philanthropist. Her TV show the Oprah Winfrey show aired for 25 season from 1986 to 2011.
• In 2011 she launched her own network called Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
• She was born in the town of Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954 she had a troubled she lived in a small farming community and had a difficult adolescence suffering abuse by a number of relatives and friends of her mother.
• Oprah moved to Nashville to live with her father a barber and a businessman.
• It 1971 she entered Tennessee State University and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville.

Early Broadcasting Career

• in 1976 she moved to Baltimore Maryland and hosted the TV show called People Are Talking she was with the show for eight years and it was extremely popular.
• Then she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show called A.M. Chicago.
• Her biggest competitor was Phil Donahue and within months her warmhearted and open style won her over 100,000 more viewers that Donahue and she was first place in the ratings.

The Oprah Winfrey Show

• the show launched in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program. It had an audience of 10 million people and the show grossed 125 million by the end of the first year which Oprah received 30,000,000 for.
• She took ownership of the program from ABC and it went under her new production company called Harpo productions which is Oprah spelt backwards.
• In 1994 Oprah promised to keep her show free of tabloid issues and even though her ratings fell she earned the respect of viewers and gained in popularity.

Other Projects

• Oprah’s book club started as a part of her talk show it was responsible for helping authors get to the top of the best-seller lists and gave reading a new kind of popularity.
• In 2018 she interviewed former First Lady Michelle Obama for her memoir called Becoming.

• Oprah struggled for many years with her weight. She even went on a liquid diet and starved herself for months. But by 1992 four years later she gained most of her weight back.
• In 1995 she lost another 90 pounds and completed the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC.
• In 2015 Oprah bought 10% of Weight Watchers stock.
• She became an advisor for the company and was a board member and appeared on many TV ads as a spokesperson for the company.
• In early 2017 she revealed that she lost 42 pounds by using the Weight Watchers diet.
• In 2019 she wrote a letter to the Weight Watchers members saying that she was diagnosed with prediabetes before her most recent weight loss but now that she’s lost all the weight or blood pressure and sugar were now under control.
• The O magazine was first published in 2000.

Oprah’s Favourite Things

• in 1997 She Introduced Oprah’s Favourite Things which was an annual list of holiday gifts given away on her talk show.
• For the 20^th edition in 2017 her list was featured on Amazon and she became the first celebrity voice behind Alexa. This allowed shoppers to hear Oprah’s voice explain her top picks for the next season.

Her wealth Charity and Awards

• Forbes magazine dubbed Oprah as the richest African American in the 20^th century. She was also the world’s only black billionaire for three years running.
• September 2002 Winfrey was named the first recipient of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Bob Hope Humanitarian Award
• in 2005 Business Week named Oprah the greatest black philanthropist in American history. 
• Angel Network raised more than $50 million for charitable programs including girls education in South Africa and relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Famous Movies

• The Colour Purple this movie came out in 1985 and she was nominated for an Academy award for best supporting actress.
• In 2005 Oprah helped to bring the Colour Purple to Broadway as one of the producers. It was nominated 11 times for a Tony award for Best musical and ran on Broadway until 2008. 
• The musical came back in 2015 and won a Tony award.
• The movie Beloved Oprah signed a multi-picture contract with Disney. Her first project was in 1998 which brought Beloved to the screen. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize winner novel by Toni Morrison and starred Winfrey and Danny Glover. It got mixed reviews and didn’t live up to expectations. 

Christine’s Song choice: “Hey Jude” by The Beatles