Europack on my back 2015 calendar

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

JA N U A RY 2 0 1 5

El día de los Reyes Magos Tuesday, January 6th

The 3 kings bring 3 gifts to baby Jesus after following a bright Star. In Spain, it is the day when the children receive presents instead of Christmas day. People eat a special dessert called “el Roscón de Reyes”.

L’épiphanie Tuesday, January 6th The Epiphany in France isn’t a

bank holiday but French people

generally eat a special cake.

There is a charm hidden in the

cake and the person who finds it

becomes the “ King“ for one day

and receives the crown .

Mutlu yıllar Bonne année Feliz año nuevo Buon anno

New Year’s Day

Thursday, January 1st HAPPY NEW YEAR!

January


1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28

F e b ru a ry 2 0 1 5

Saint Valentine’s Day

February 14th

This is a special day for lovers.

Couples go out for can-dlelit dinners and ex-change presents.

El Carnaval February 15th Spain is a country with a well known Catholic tradition. The carnival is, therefore, celebrated before the 40 days of Lent as a way to let loose before the prohi-bitions of the upcoming reli-gious holidays. Most Andalucian towns stage some kind of pa-rade, and there is usually a dance and a "Carnival Queen" contest.

El dia de Andulucía February 28th This is an important day because, An-

dalucía became an independent re-

gion. It’s a bank holiday. People deco-

rate their yards, and put the andalucia

flag in their balconies. They sing the

anthem too .

February


1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

M A RC H 2 0 1 5

Saint Joseph’s day 19

th March

Some people attend special church services to honor the life of St Joseph. St Joseph's Day also celebrates fa-thers. In Valencia during the week of March 19th the city is filled with gigantic cardboard monuments, “ninots”. People work through out the night to install more than 700 statues in the streets and squares of the city. On the night of 19th to 20th, the “crema” is done, when burning in the middle of a fascinating show of light, mu-sic and fireworks. Everything is burnt except one ninot which, elected by popular vote, is saved from the flames to form part of the collection of the “Fallas” Museum.

Palm Sunday March 28th Palm Sunday commemorates the trium-phal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem when palm branches were placed on his path, before his arrest on Holy Thurs-day and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent, and the week in which christians celebrate the mystery of their salvation through Christ's death and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday is also celebrated in France,

in Italy and in Spain.

March

http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Holy_Thursday.htm

http://catholicism.about.com/od/Catholic-Dictionary/g/Lent-Definition-Of-Lent.htm


1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

A P R I L 2 0 1 5

Pâques Pascua Pasqua

5th and 6th April

Easter is one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar, cel-

ebrated throughout the world with great pomp and show. It concludes the

period of Lent. Christians celebrate the Christ’s resurrection. In France,

parents hide chocolate eggs in the garden for their children to find.

Festa della Liberazione 25

th April

Italians celebrate the liberation from nazi Germany in 1945

National sovereignty and children’s day

23rd April

It was created in 1979 by Mustafa KEMAL ATATURK, the founder of the Republic of Tur-

key. Children celebrate this festival with parades, reading poems, Anatolian folk dance

performances, songs.

April


1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

M AY 2 0 1 5

Labour day May 1st A lot of countries have a bank holiday on May 1st to celebrate workers. In France it is customary to give people a small bouquet of Lily of the valley.

Youth and Sports day

May 19TH

This annual Turkish national holiday com-memorates Mustafa Kemal’s landing at Samsun on May 19 , 1919. Youths sing the national anthem , recite poems , make pa-rades and sports and realise cultural activi-ties like performing folk dances and playing epic drama.

Happy mother's day! In May we all celebrate our mothers. 31st May Bonne Fête Maman! 3rd May ¡Feliz día de la Madre! 10th May Iyi bayramlar anne! 10th May Buona festa mamma!

May


1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

J U N E 2 0 1 5

Fête de la musique 21st June Every year on June 21, the first day of summer, all musi-cal styles are honored with the Music Festival, held throughout France and around the world. This festival, was an initiative of the Ministry of Culture.

Saints Peter and Paul in Rome 29th June Every town and small country in Italy has its own traditional festival of patron saints, with celebrations of the Eucharist, mayor’s speech and fireworks. Saint Peter and Saint Paul are the patron

saints of Rome and the Romans. Their cele-

bration begins on June 28th

in the evening, in

the Vatican Basilica where the statue of St.

Peter is dressed as a pope, followed by a se-

ries of religious rites. The most awaited mo-

ment of the evening is when the cathedral is

entirely lit up. The most striking moment is in-

stead the Pinwheel of Castel Sant’Angelo, a

fireworks show that takes place in Castel

Sant’Angelo as it did in the Middle Ages.

Today the anniversary has become the occa-

sion for a series of events, such as beauty

pageants and live concerts.

Ramadan Feast 17th 18th 19th June

The feast celebrates the end of the Ramadan. Many Turks give away sweets and desserts during the festival. They put on their best clothes. Children go door-to-door, kissing hands of the grown-ups and receiving sweets and small amounts of money in return

June


1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

J u ly 2 0 1 5

FESTA DEL REDENTORE

July 19th The Festa del Redentore is a traditional celebration in Venice which occurs on the third Sunday in July.

Redentore means "Redeemer" in Italian, and the Festa del Redentore Venice celebrates the city's deliverance from the ravages of the plague in 1577. The Venice Redentore Festival is held on the third Saturday and Sunday of July. A grand secular celebration with fes-tive dinners and fireworks occurs on Saturday even-ing. Sunday is reserved for religious observances, in-cluding High Mass at the Redentore Church and after-noon regattas in the lagoon.

Le quatorze Juillet

July 14th

The French National Day com-memorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. Celebrations are held throughout France. The oldest and largest regular mili-tary parade in Europe is held on the morning of 14 July, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of the Republic, French officials and foreign guests.

July

Santiago el Apostol 25th July

In Spain, St James is called El Senor Santiago, the patron saint of horsemen and soldiers, and his great shrine at Santiago de Compostela in that country has been a place of pilgrimage for centu-ries. Many events are organized on and be-fore Saint James' Day in the Basque Country and Galicia. These include:

Special church services to honor the life and work of Saint James.

Exhibitions of art work by artists born or living in or near Santiago de Composte-la.

Theatre productions and street shows.

Concerts of modern and traditional mu-sic, including bagpipe performances.

Traditional dance events held outside.

Special services are held in the cathe-dral in Santiago de Compostela on July 25. Church officials swing a large in-cense burner at full speed during this service. They fill the whole church with incense smoke.


1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

AU G U S T 2 0 1 5

Victory Day

30th

August

Military parades and ceremonies at monuments to Musta-

fa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the Turkish Republic, are

some common ways to celebrate Victory Day in Turkey.

Ferragosto 15

th August

The Catholic Church celebrates this date to commemorate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The term Ferragosto is derived from the Latin expression Feri-ae Augusti (Augustus' rest), which is a celebration introduced by the emperor Augustus in 18 BC. The popular tradition of taking a trip during Ferragosto arose during Fascism. In the second half of the 1920s, during the mid-August period, the regime organised hundreds of popular trips through the Fas-cist leisure and recreational organisations of various corpora-tions, and via the setting up of the "People's Trains of Ferra-gosto", which were available at discounted prices.

Nowadays, in all the Itali;an cities which

are near the coast, families organize a

day-long picnic at the beach, where the

most traditional food is a big fresh water-

melon.

August 15th is also a bank holiday in France and Spain

PALIO DI SIENA

2nd and 16th August

It’s a competition between districts, in the form of

a horse race. It’s of medieval origins and is linked to historical and religious reasons.

It takes place twice a year in Summer, on July 2nd and August 16th

August

lun. mar. mer. jeu. ven. sam. dim.

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 5

Sacrifice Feast

24th-27th September

Many people in Turkey may sacrifice an animal (uually a goat, a sheep

or a cow) in remembrance of their dead relatives on this day.The meat

is given to the poor or distributed among the neighbours.

Kurban Bayram

Back to School September is also the month when the new school year starts in Turkey, Italy, Spain and France.

September


1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

O C TO B E R 2 0 1 5

Cumhuriyet Bayrami 20

th October

This holiday commemorates 29th

October 1923, when Mustafa Kemal declared that Turkey would be a repKurban Bayramıublic.

Halloween

31st

October. During this celebration, people, mostly the youth of today, dress up and collect sweets and chocolates from their neighbours. At their homes, people decorate their houses, carve faces onto pumpkins and get

ready for “trick or treaters”. There are also numerous events that happen in towns

and cities like firework displays, fairs, carnivals.

October El dia de la hispanidad

12th October Hispanic Day marks the anniversary of the date that Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas. It is a public holiday in Spain on October 12. The king of Spain su-pervises the raising of the Spanish national flag in the center of Madrid on Hispanic Day. He and the prime minister lead a military pa-rade after that. The parade includes repre-sentatives from most of Spain's military units and various military vehicles. Armed forces' planes perform aerobatics above the parade route and display yellow and red smoke to represent the Spanish flag.


1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 5

All Saints’ Day 1st November It is a religious day celebrated on 1

st November by the Catholic Church, in honour of all

the saints, known and unknown. All Souls' Day is on November 2

nd: people remember their dead they offer flowers

and go to pray on their graves.

Armistice day 11th November It is a bank holiday; France commemorates the end of the First World War in 1918. There are ceremonies in all the cities, towns and villages and wreaths are taken to the cenotaphs.

November

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church


1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

D e c e m b E R 2 0 1 5

Il giorno di Santo Stefano

December 26th

It is a bank holiday in Italy.

In some places, St Stephen’s feast day is traditionally a day for many Italians to visit the Nativity scenes at the churches. Other events on St Stephen’s Day in different parts of Italy include markets, carnivals and festivals.

Dia de la Constitucion

6th December

Constitution Day marks the anniversary of a

referendum held in Spain on December 6th,

1978. Each year, a selection of high school

students is invited to read the Constitution in

the Lower House of the parliamentary build-

ings in Madrid a few days before December 6.

To celebrate this important day the congress

of deputies celebrates an open day in the Pa-

lacio de las Cortes.

New year’s eve 31st December

Nochevieja

People who live in Madrid go to the square “la puerta

del sol “ in the center of the capital to follow the tradi-

tion which consists in eating 12 grapes at the same

time as the 12 strokes of midnight to be lucky all year

long. Many people follow the tradition on television.

L’Immacolata Concezione December 8 th Immaculate Conception, a holi-day celebrated on December 8th, is the start of Italy's winter holiday season. It is tradition to decorate your Christmas tree on that day. It is a bank holiday.

Christmas Day 25

th December

On Christmas Day fami-

lies get together to cel-

ebrate. Houses are dec-

orated with a Christmas

tree and children re-

ceive presents from

Santa Claus.

December

!!

Europack on my back 2015 calendar

Documents

special day

important day

christmas day

saint josephs day

st josephs day

saint valentines day

french people

special cake