Carnival Time

Carnival is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent and its origins date back in ancient times.
The etymology of the word carnival is still under discussion, it could come from Carna-aval (that invites not to eat meat ) or Carnalia (name of a Roman feast in honor of Saturn) or even from the medieval Carnem-laxare (fasting).

The origins of this feast are ancient and religious. Masks were used since paleolithic times during magical rites to dispel the evil souls. But it is mainly in ancient Rome that we can find the origins of our carnival. As a matther of fact the feasts in honor of Bacchus were done on the streets of the city with masks, wine and dances. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance carnival feasts were introduced in European courts and became more refined connected with theatre, music and dances.
Today Carnival is an occasion to have fun expressed trough camouflaging, masked parades and parties.
The most famous carnivals are held in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans - where the climax is reached on Mardì Gras, and of course in Venice.
Here in Triest we celebrate Carnival with street parades and parties where people dress up or masquerade to sing, dance and have fun together. Our school closes for two days to give us the possibility to really enjoy the spirit of Carnival !

Marko and Azzurra (IVB)

Carnival Sweets

At Carnival in Triest there are many traditional delicious sweets like “Crostoli” or “Chiacchere”, “Castagnole” and “Frittole" we like to prepare and taste.
This is the recipe for Frittole. Try it and let us know!!

Ingredients:
-3 whole eggs;
-4 spoons of sugar;
-A bit of salt;
-Flour (250g);
-Grappa (small glass);
-Raisin;
-Pine kernels;
-1 orange skin;
-1 lemon skin;
-1 bag of yeast;
-Oil.

Put flour and eggs in a bowl and mix with a spoon; then, add all the other ingredients and at the end add yeast. Amalgamate everything. Put oil on a saucepan and when it boils, take the dough with a spoon and put it in the hot oil. Fry and then put the “Frittole” on blotting-paper. Complete recipe sprinkling sugar. And now enjoy the “Frittole”.

Noemi and Francesca (IV B)

Conference on Women's Rights

We are working on a project on inter and multi culture and so we took part in a conference on Women's Right. Here, some immigrant women spoke about their experiences. All the stories were different, but each of them, spoke about the difficulties of beginning a new life in a new country, of being accepted and of the courage to go on. They all shared a strong will, motivation and a family to take care of, and this gave them the strength to carry on and succeeded. Racial prejudices shouldn’t exist, because all worthy people should deserve a chance.

At the conference three foreign women were present. One was born in Senegal, one in libano and one in Colombia.

They moved to Triest for several reasons,however,encountered similar difficulties in the integration in italian society.

one of these women is alba Torres. She is a single mother of two children. She moved from Colombia to Triest under pressue of their parents because she had problems with the father of her doughters. Here in Triest she was helped by an aunt, but her life was no easy because she didn't know the language and so she had to attend courses, and in the meantime she had to work. Another problem is that she could see her children and her mother rarely because they were in Colombia and it was difficult to obtain the resident permit.

Martina (4B)