IMS - The International Montessori School, an IMEF School

HOLIDAYS AND THEIR CELEBRATIONS: we introduce holidays from different cultures to the children to help them understand their meanings and how they are celebrated. At school we have many opportunities to provide meaningful holiday experiences by incorporating them in the daily classroom work of music, literature, history, language and art. This is the perfect way to increase the children’s appreciation of other cultures as well as their own.

Purim (Israel) Purim is the most festive of Jewish holidays, a time of prizes, noisemakers, costumes and treats. The Festival of Purim commemorates a major victory over oppression and is recounted in the Megillah, the scroll of the story of Esther. Purim takes place on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar. This year Purim begins at sundown on the 6^th of March.

St. Patrick's Day (Ireland, USA) - March 17^th The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. He was sold into slavery at the age of 16 by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. He escaped from slavery after six years and went to Gaul where he studied in a monastery for twelve years. After his studies, he longed to return to Ireland, and was finally allowed to do so two years later. Patrick traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries, schools and churches across the country. Patrick died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a celebration of Irish heritage, when people wear green, decorate with shamrocks, participate in balls, ceilidhs (kay-lees) and parades, and even drink green beer and lime-aid. In the United States, some cities with high populations of Irish immigrants even dye their rivers green for the day!

Vernal Equinox (Japan) – March 21^st Vernal Equinox Day (春分の日) is an official national holiday in Japan, and is spent visiting family graves, and holding family reunions. The vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere is the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. The equinox occurs around March 20-22, varying slightly each year according to the 400 year cycle of leap years in the Gregorian Calendar. At the present time, the vernal equinox occurs as the sun moves through the constellation Pisces. 2000 years ago the equinox was in Aries and by 2600 it will be in Aquarius. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs at the same moment, but at the beginning of autumn. At the equinox, the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. In the northern hemisphere, before the vernal equinox, the sun rises and sets more and more to the south, and afterwards, it rises and sets more and more to the north.

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MARCH HOLIDAYS
HOLIDAYS AND THEIR CELEBRATIONS: we introduce holidays from different cultures to the children to help them understand their meanings and how they are celebrated. At school we have many opportunities to provide meaningful holiday experiences by incorporating them in the daily classroom work of music, literature, history, language and art. This is the perfect way to increase the children’s appreciation of other cultures as well as their own. Purim (Israel) Purim is the most festive of Jewish holidays, a time of prizes, noisemakers, costumes and treats. The Festival of Purim commemorates a major victory over oppression and is recounted in the Megillah, the scroll of the story of Esther. Purim takes place on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar. This year Purim begins at sundown on the 6^th of March. St. Patrick's Day (Ireland, USA) - March 17^th The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. He was sold into slavery at the age of 16 by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. He escaped from slavery after six years and went to Gaul where he studied in a monastery for twelve years. After his studies, he longed to return to Ireland, and was finally allowed to do so two years later. Patrick traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries, schools and churches across the country. Patrick died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a celebration of Irish heritage, when people wear green, decorate with shamrocks, participate in balls, ceilidhs (kay-lees) and parades, and even drink green beer and lime-aid. In the United States, some cities with high populations of Irish immigrants even dye their rivers green for the day! Vernal Equinox (Japan) – March 21^st Vernal Equinox Day (春分の日) is an official national holiday in Japan, and is spent visiting family graves, and holding family reunions. The vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere is the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. The equinox occurs around March 20-22, varying slightly each year according to the 400 year cycle of leap years in the Gregorian Calendar. At the present time, the vernal equinox occurs as the sun moves through the constellation Pisces. 2000 years ago the equinox was in Aries and by 2600 it will be in Aquarius. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs at the same moment, but at the beginning of autumn. At the equinox, the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. In the northern hemisphere, before the vernal equinox, the sun rises and sets more and more to the south, and afterwards, it rises and sets more and more to the north. Back to main page