Carnival

It's carnival time here again... many of you may be asking "what is that?"... well I wondered the same thing so I did what I always do and googled it. I LOVE google! Here is what I found out!

Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale — which means “to put away the meat.” As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in Europe. Then as the French, Spanish, and Portuguese began to take control of the Americas and other parts of the world, they brought with them their tradition of celebrating carnival.

So today was the carnival party at Pajha's school. The kids got to dress up in their costumes and they served them traditional Cyprus foods for lunch, which Pajha absolutely loves. I was a little disappointed though because usually I have Pajha all decked out with her hair curly and makeup on for her princess costumes but she spent the night with a friend and was dropped off at the school this morning. I didn't get to be there first thing in the morning to see all of the children in their cute costumes and the teachers in their always fabulous costumes. Oh well... she had a great time anyway and that is what really matters. She also made a new "best friend" today who she introduced to me when I arrived to pick her up. She is adorable and will be starting at the school in April. Her name is Elenia...