It consists on:The 24th of December, at evening, we celebrate the born of JesusChrist. We join all the family and have dinner at one home (normally at home of the parents). We eat seafood, pig, typical sweets from every region and drink champagne to celebrate it. Every year it is more common that Santa Claus comes to our children´s houses and leaves them presents in their Christmas trees the night of 24th of December.The following day (25th of December) it´s party day for everybody in all the country. In this day, we celebrate having lunch with our family again. Some people go to mass to celebrate the born of Jesus.

The 31st of December, at night we celebrate the end of the year. Most of people join with the family or friends to have dinner. At twelve o´clock we listen the chimes and we have one grape for every chime, in total 12 grapes. The reference clock is one situated on the square of “Sun Door “ in Madrid. We provide with champagne or sidra. After this, the young people go out to the bars or discotheques to dance and celebrate the beginning of the new year, and the less young people stay at home speaking, singing Christmas songs, drinking, providing for the new year, eating sweets…

The 1st of January is a day when most of the people get up late, because they have gone to bed late too. It is a party day in all the country to celebrate the beginning of the year.

The 6th of January, we celebrate the Kings day. It consists on that the 5th of January at night, the three Kings (Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar) who took the presents to Jesus to the manger in Belén when he was born, share presents to all the children who have behaved correctly for all the year before. The children who haven´t behaved correctly, they only receive sweet coal. The presents are left under the Christmas tree. The 6th of January the children get up early(they get up to the parents too) and run to see the presents. Every present has the name of every child. The adults can receive presents too, but only if they have behaved correctly for all the year before, if they haven´t, they will receive only sweet coal, like the children. The children from Spain are very lucky because they receive presents from Santa Claus and the Three Wise kings.

At our school, we celebrate Christmas holidays before these days, because we are on holidays from 22nd (more or less) till 7th or 8th of January. What we do at our school to celebrate these holidays are:-A theatre about Christmas: Some children of the school make a performance for all the children of the school. Every year, the theatre is different, although it is always refered to Christmas. For example, this year the children interpreted two plays:

- Sing Christmas songs: All the groups prepare a Christmas song that interpret for the rest of the school pupils, in town hall.

- The Kings visit the smallest pupils of the school to take the letters where they write the presents they prefer, because the kings bring them the night of 5th of January.

CLASS OF 2º PRIMARI 7 YEARS OLD 28 JANUARY 2011

The General Assembly, in resolution of 7 September 2001, decided that, beginning in 2002, the International Day of Peace should be observed on 21 September each year. The Assembly declared that the Day be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day. It invited all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate the Day in an appropriate manner, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in establishing a global ceasefire.

"There is special poignancy and purpose in this year's observance of the International Day of Peace. The troubling events of the last year -- the conflicts, violence and hatred, the bomb attack on the United Nations itself in Baghdad, the deep divisions among states -- have raised fundamental questions about the efforts of the international community to promote peace and well-being for all the world's people."

-- Kofi Annan --United Nations Secretary-General21 September 2003

In Spain, we celebrate the  30th   of  January as Peace´s Day and  the children of our school listen, learn and sing great song as “we are the world” composed by Michael Jackson, “heal the world” by Michael Jackson or “Imagine” by John Lennon.All together in the pabillion make different activities.

The last year we released on four enormous balloons with peace´s messages and they appeared the next day in a little village in the north of Spain, 500 km far away. 

CHON AND OUR HEADMASTER, MIRIAM FEBRUARY 2011

TEACHERS OF CEIP “SANTO CRISTO” URDA (Toledo) IN HIPPIE´S DISGUISE

Of all the crazy Spanish fiestas that take place throughout the year,  there is nothing wilder than the Carnival celebrations in late February. The week leading up to Lent is a time for wild partying in some parts of Spain when the country plays host to Europe's biggest and best Carnival festivals.

There are a few speculations on the origins of Carnival in Spain. Most popularly, it is believed the term Carnival derives from the words "farewell to the flesh," a reference to the excesses that led up to the sombre Lent. Some suspect Carnival is derived from the Roman solstice festival, the Saturnalia, where participants indulged in much drinking and dancing. Saturnalia is believed to have had the first parade floats, called the 'carrus navalis'. With these pagan roots, its easy to see why the dictator General Franco banned them for forty years!

Carnival in Spain is celebrated nationwide though the most raucous festivities are in the Canary Islands, Cadiz and Sitges. While each town has its own unique flavour of celebration, they all have a devotion to having a good time. In these main destinations during Carnival it seems that no one sleeps as the drinking and dancing go from dusk until dawn. You'll see extravagant costumes and people in masks everywhere, and in any of Spain's Carnivals, you'll have a lot more fun participating in the masquerading than you will just watching.

Carnival in TenerifeThe Carnival in the Tenerife city of Santa Cruz is possibly the biggest party held in Europe. It is perhaps the most like the infamous Carnival of Rio, with a strong emphasis on beauty pageants and contests of every sort. One of the first and most publicized events of the Carnival of Tenerife is the crowing of the Queen of Carnival. Girls in outrageous, extraordinary costumes parade across the stage in dresses made of beads and satin and feathers, each one more flamboyant than the last. Keep in mind that you need tickets for many of the competitions (a few others include a children's Carnival Queen and traditional vintage car competition), but if you can't get tickets that you can always head to the open air parties, called the 'Mogollones' by the locals. The celebrations take up whole chunks of the city and everyone is eager to have a good time and help you do the same!

Carnival in Cadiz

Off the southern coast of Spain, you'll find a different sort of Carnival happening in Cadiz. While it's definitely a match for the Carnival in Tenerife in terms of fun and over-the-top partying, the Carnival in Cadiz is defined by its music. At any point in the crowded streets, you'll find musical groups stationed in plazas or in open air carts and accompanied by guitars and lutes. The majority of these songs are satirical; the people in Cadiz are known to have amongst best senses of humour in Spain, and the music of Carnival reflects this. Politicians, clergy and celebrities are all cheerfully mocked, and the costumes, while still extravagant, have a focus on cleverness and wit. You can find rock music at the Plaza Catedal and a competition for satirical group songs at the Gran Teatro Falla. Between street theatre and daily fireworks displays, the Carnival at Cadiz strives to entertain and succeeds in leaps and bounds!

Carnival in URDA

If you can't make it to one of these fabulous parties, not to worry, Spain has several other Carnivals that are definitely worth your time.

Urda doesn't have the wild parties of Tenerife or Cadiz but there are parades and fancy dress events culminating in the traditional Burial of the Sardine on Ash Wednesday. This marks the beginning of Lent when formally dressed "mourners" carry a cardboard sardine to bury it. In our school, takes place a parade which travel all around the village. And a contest in the gymnasium building of the college. Here you are some pictures about our Carnival.

No matter where you are in Spain, you can reach out and touch the Carnival spirit and let it touch you in return!

Easter is a religious holidays. We celebrate these holidays because we are a Christian country. Every year changes the date of these holidays. They depend on the first full moon in spring. It´s because when Jesus died 2011 years ago, there was full moon. At school, these holidays are one week long. The children and the teachers don´t go to school for these days. There are two important days in these holidays, and which are very important days for Christian people.One of these days is Saint Friday: This is the day when we commemorate Jesus´death in the cross by the romans. The people don´t eat meat from this Friday till Sunday, as a symbol of respect to Jesus.The other most important day is Sunday: This day we commerate Jesus´ resurrection. In this day the Christian people, join with their families or friends to have lunch together. In this day, everybody eat meat, and other many products.

One of the most important events in Spain at Easter holidays are the processions. In all around the country there are processions. It consist on walking around some streets of the village, town or city with some images of Jesus or his mother María carried by a group of persons at their backs. They carry the image for a long way, because the people can watch it and pray. Moreover, there are people who are going walking beside the image, to go along with the image and the people who carry it. Some of these people who are going walking with the images, are dressed with a special costume. They are covered all their body, included their heads, they are called penitents.Some photos of processions.

In these time, there are typical foods too. Some of these foods are these:

Torrijas: It is made with bread, milk, sugar, egg and cinnamon. The bread is wet with milk, then it is wet with egg, then they are breaded with sugar and cinnamon and the last they are fried with olive oil.

Empanadillas: They are made with pieces of mass, olives, tunna and fried tomato. The olives are cut in very small pieces. Then we mix the olives, the tuna and fried tomato. When it is very well mixed, we put it into the pieces of mass. Finally, they are fried in olive oil.

ÁLVARO RUIZ LÓPEZ-CARRASCO 12 YEARS OLD

1ST PRIZE SPECIAL NEEDS CATEGORY

MAY 2011

Cecilio Mariano Guerrero Malagón (1909-1996) was a very famous Spanish painter. He was born the first day of February of 1909 in Urda, our village, and very soon his talent as painter and sculptor in wood and stone set him apart of the rest at the same time he worked as a shepherd in this little village.

In these times he got a grant to study Art in Toledo, Madrid and Paris. Finally he settled down in the Imperial city, Toledo. He had got the essence by Goya, El Greco and Van Gogh. His most famous works are

In 2001, his son, painter and sculptor too, donated a part of his works to the Santo Cristo Brotherhood, and a new building was built as museum. It´s name, “Guerrero Malagón” Museum. There´s also a street with his name in our village. Urda will never forget him.

He never forgot his roots in Urda and often visited us. In 1974 Guerrero Malagón created the painting contest that nowadays is wellknown in our region. The next year will celebrate the thirty-ninth uninterrupted edition.

From 1974, It´s celebrated in Urda this painting contest. In the earliest years we sent invitations to the neighboring villages, Consuegra, Madridejos and Los Yébenes, but nowadays is extended to many towns in the provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real. In the las edition, nearly 700 pupils participated in the contest.Next year, we´ll include the participation of an Italian, Turkish and Lithuanian school. Our partners: “Istituto Garibaldi” (Agrigento, Italy), “Sehit Etem Yasar” (Gemlik, Turkey) and Zaliosios Vinco (Vilkaviskis, Lithuanian) will arrive to Spain in the first week of May and their pupils will take part in our contest.. This activity is a part of the Comenius Project “Culture and Traditions”.Pupils are previously selected in the schools in order to their skills for painting.Education for Creativity

Painting at school is not a new topic but we try to develop in children a creative spirit as a resource for them and so they could express this artistic essence.

Contest Objectives

1.- Development of the imagination through painting and modeling.2.- Development of plastic expresión.3.- Development of constructive imagination.4.- Development of the observation and memory ability.5.- Development in the use of the colours, mixing them, its relations and qualities.6.- Construction of creative habits and skills.

Ceremony programme

1- The day of the contest, at 9:30 a.m., all the participants will be in the local Park. They will be grouped by categories and will go to the chosen places for making their works.

2- Once they have finished the Works, they will visit “Guerrero Malagón” Museum and will go to our school for enjoying a children funfair.

3- Teachers, authorities and children will have a meal in the hall of our school.

4- After that, Jury will select the prized Works, ten in each category.

Finally, the Jury will write an act and send it to each school.

Contest Rules

1.- There will be five categories:

•Special Needs Pupils.•Pre-school Pupils (3, 4 and 5 years old)•1º Primary Cycle.•2º Primary Cycle.•3º Primary Cycle and more.

2.- Works will be copied from Nature in different technics. 3.- Our school will give you paper and material for Works. 4.- Works will be a property of the contest. 5.- Each category has got ten prizes, in total there will be 50 prizes.

Next year, probably we´ll stablish a special category for our partners´pupils in attention to the age of them.

Mass media Our contest´s got a great public distribution in newspapers, television and radio. We enclose a press article of our last contest (38th edition) and images about the participation.