Totally Tockington Edition 49

8/13/2019 Totally Tockington Edition 49

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Christmas Around the Worldby Aditi Mehendale

This weeks theme is Christmas, and quite honestly, therewerent really many options - everyone knows how atraditional Christmas is celebrated here. So this week, Idecided to tell you about other Christmases, the waypeople celebrate on the other side of the planet.

Africa

Many African countries celebrate Christmas, although inmany places the season is barely commercial. As most ofAfrica is in the Southern Hemisphere, our winter is theirsummer. This means some families have a barbeque onthe beach for their Christmas dinner.

However, as you no doubt know, Africa is a very povertystruck continent, that means many families probably wonthave the video games that you asked for for Christmas.Instead, Africa is probably the king of practical gifts. Acommon present in some less wealthy communities isclothes to wear for the services. Other presents generallycome as schoolbooks, soaps, candles and so forth.

Most people living in Africa will go to church services wherecarols will be sung and nativity scenes performed.Decorations are put up, holly, robins and fake snow,despite the fact that most rarely appear In Africa. Fordinner most people have pork, chicken or goat. Somecommunities have traditional dinnersmince pies, turkeyand plum puddingwhile others have food such as soupand rice or bread and jam. Children go house to housesinging carols and dancing.

Asia

In Asia, Christmas isnt celebrated continent-wide.Generally, only in Christian countries is Christmascelebrated. In India, Christmas is celebrated as a result ofBritish influence. South Korea recognises Christmas as apublic holiday, so naturally it is celebrated there.

Edition 49 6thDecember 2013

Founded by Ben OwenEditorial

Hello and welcome to another issue of TotallyTockington, the newsletter written BY studentsFOR students. This is the last issue of term sowe have decided, as it is going to be theChristmas holidays, to turn things around andhave a theme of SUMMER! What? Itsactually winter? Oh...but I swear, onlyyesterday we were all running outside inshorts...Oh yes. Cross country. Or was it theafter burn from Alex Grocotts spikes as hebroke the land speed record? Anyway, my

brain was clearly confused and readers, turnsout the theme is in fact, Christmas! But we stillhave a great issue planned for you, witharticles from Alex Jacobi, reviewing nextyears tech, and Helena teaches us about howto make Reindeer Antlers, whilst Georgereviews the history of the Christmas Pud! Butabsolutely NO articles on summer. At all.

Remember there are JUMBO prizes up forgrabs, if you win the quizzes, so there can be

less of this:

And more of this:

Merry Christmas and...Enjoy!

Tom EdwardsEditor-in-Chief

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T o m E d w a r d sAditi Mehendale

A l e x G o o c h

Tabitha Huby

A l e x J a c o b i

Henry Allan-Jones

Lucy Allan-Jones

B e t h P r i t c h a r d

A l e x G r o c o t t

Georgina Loring

A m y H o r l e rA n n a b e l S h e p p a r d

M a x C u r t i s

O l i v e r S h u t t

Olivia Campbell

R o s h a n P a t e l

G e o r g e S y m o n d s

Antonia Hopcraft

A d a s s a W a l k e r

R y a n H a n nAbigail Blackwell

Helena BrainArchie Symonds

Ben Jacobi

Carmen Rey-Jones

Isabelle Preston

Lots of Christmas treats inside..


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Continued from page 1In Muslim countries there is no official Christmas, but manyallow you to recognise the occasion. Otherwise, becausemany Asian countries have their own religions, Christmas issimply commercial in many places.

North and South America

Christmas in both Americas is very similar to the celebrationshere in Europe. Theres a similar dinner, similar custom ofpresents and of course, services. In parts of Canada, thepresents are opened on Christmas Eve; sometimes the dinnervaries, for example, in Greenland, dinners often include stripsof whale skin or arctic birds called auks, and fireworks areoften lit, but otherwise the celebrations are the same.

Australia

Again, here the customs are very similar, but there is onemassive difference. In Australia, Christmas time is summertime, which means dinners are either cold, or seafood

barbeque alongside the traditional stuff. Also, as Australia isfamous for bush fires, a voluntary team of fire-fighters mayhave to give up part of their Christmas to put them out. NewZealanders also have barbeques which will often include hamand venison as well as seafood. Many will also have dessertssuch as pavlova.

Europe

And finally, our home continent - Europe. Everyone knowsabout England, so Ill fast forward to the other customs.Manycountries have a bche de nol or chocolate log, and inBelgium, children get presents from Santa on the 25

thand St.

Nicolas on the 6thof December. In Denmark families eat analmond cake where all the almonds but one get chopped up.The person who finds the whole almond gets a present. Someplaces in France have celebrations involving 13 differentdesserts, while almost everyone burns a Yule log for the fire.German children write to the Christkind to ask for presents,and in one area a young girl with blonde curly hair is chosento dress up in a gold and white dress, a gold crown andoccasionally wings and pretend to be the Christkind for aparade, and in Spain the Wise men bring gifts as well asFather Christmas.

So, this Christmas, why dont you try one of these customs fora change, and have whale blubber instead of turkey, actually,perhaps stick with the traditional, What do you think?

Acknowledgements:-

http://www.whychristmas.com/ http://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/christmas.htm http://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions/christmas-asia.html

Famous ChristmasBooks

byLucy Al lan-Jones

To start off, I thought I would go for an oldfavourite, A Christmas Carol by CharlesDickens. Many of you will already know the

story, but for those younger readers, here is abasic outline of how the story goes: a mannamed Ebenezer Scrooge is the main characterin this story and he is a miserable, old,Christmas-hating man. He starts off at thebeginning of the story in his house countingmoney. His only company is his clerk, BobCratchitt. Bob goes and Scrooge is left alone,until his nephew comes along and wishes him aMerry Christmas. Scrooge utters no response tothis, other than a bitter bah humbug. The storygoes on and three ghosts visit Ebenezer, theghost of Christmas Past, the ghost of ChristmasPresent and the ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come.They show Scrooge some frightening imagesand Scrooge becomes determined to change hisways. By the end of the book Scrooge is achanged man and no longer a hater ofChristmastime festivities.

Another one that you may have heard of is TheNight BeforeChristmasby Clement ClarkeMoore and fabulously illustrated by Jan Brett. It

tells the story of the excitement that fills manyhouses on Christmas Eve and what happenswhen two mischievous children stay up to see ifthey can see Santa. The illustrated story endswhen the sack gets so full that it explodes downthe chimney with both children and presentsscattered all over the floor. An exceedingly wellillustrated book with plenty of pictures so good foryounger children.

Last but not least, one of my personal favourites,Father Christmas Goes on Hol idayby

Raymond Briggs. It tells the intriguing andoriginal story of (As you might have guessedfrom the title) Father Christmas trying to find aplace to go on holiday. He goes to France,Scotland and Las Vegas, but eventually has toleave because people are getting suspicious ofhis true identity. Overall a highly recommendableread for all ages and a good story.

So, if youre looking for something to read thisChristmas, why not try one of these? You will notbe disappointed.
http://www.whychristmas.com/http://www.whychristmas.com/http://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/christmas.htmhttp://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/christmas.htmhttp://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions/christmas-asia.htmlhttp://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions/christmas-asia.htmlhttp://www.allthingschristmas.com/traditions/christmas-asia.htmlhttp://goafrica.about.com/od/peopleandculture/a/christmas.htmhttp://www.whychristmas.com/


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Who is Father Christmas?by Henry Allan-Jones

Father Christmas (or Santa) is a large, very merryman with long white hair and a long beard. Hewears a red outfit and rides on a sleigh pulled byreindeer.

If you have read Twas the night beforeChristmas then you will know exactly what helooks like because it says:

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to hisfoot,And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes andsoot.A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,And he looked like a peddler, just opening his

pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples howmerry!His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry,His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow.And the beard of his chin as white as snow.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly elf,And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

Children write to Santa asking what they want forChristmas but the real tradition is to throw theletter in the chimney and let the wind blow it toFather Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, children hang up theirstockings and at midnight Santa fills them up withthe things they asked for.

Other names for Father Christmas include: SantaClaus (America), Papa Noel (Spanish) or SinterClass (Dutch).

Father Christmas storyby Olivia Campbell

In the 4thcentury (AD) Father Christmas wasknown as Saint Nicholas. It was his actualname. Saint Nicholas was well known as agenerous man. This is his story

There once was a poor man who had threedaughters. He was so poor, he did not haveenough money for a dowry, so his daughterscouldn't get married. (A dowry is a sum ofmoney paid to the bridegroom by the bridesparents on the wedding day.) One night,Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold downthe chimney and into the house (This meantthat the oldest daughter was then able to bemarried.). The bag fell into a stocking that hadbeen hung by the fire to dry! This wasrepeated later with the second daughter.Finally, to try and discover the person whohad given him the money, the father secretlyhid by the fire every evening until he caughtNicholas dropping in a bag of gold. Nicholasbegged the man not to tell anyone what hehad done, because he did not want to bringattention to himself.

The secret of Saint Nicolas was soon revealedand anyone who got a secret gift was knew itwas from Saint Nicholas.

Ho Ho Ho Its No Jokeby Archie and George Symonds

What do ducks do before Christmas dinner?Pull their Christmas quackers!

What do vampires put on their turkey atChristmas?

Grave-y!

What beats his chest and swings fromChristmas cake to Christmas cake?

Tarzipan!

Last years Christmas pudding was so awful Ithrew it in the ocean.

Thats probably why the oceans full of

currants!


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Reindeerby Ben Jacobi

Reindeer are mammals from the deer family. Theyare the only deer where both males and femaleshave antlers. Their fur is hollow which keeps themwarm in the winter.

Reindeer live in North America and Northern Europeand of course at the North Pole with Santa.

Reindeer are herbivores.

Like a humans fingerprint, no two reindeer antlersare exactly the same.

A male reindeer is called a Buck. A female reindeeris called a Doe and a baby reindeer is called aFawn.

Interesting fact:In the original Christmas poemThe Night Before Christmas Santa had only 8reindeer. They are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixen. Rudolph camelater!

How Santa got his Looksby Amy Horler

Santa didnt always look like a big cuddly manwith a white fluffy beard wearing a red coat. Hewas shown in lots of different ways. Somepeople thought of him as a lovely, kind man whogave out presents, whereas others thought ofhim as elf-like, or as tall and skinny, or as

someone who was quite frightening. Most of thetime people saw him with a red coat on, althoughsometimes this was green.

In 1931, Coca Cola introduced the new versionof Santa in its advertising. The painter whocreated the new version of Santa Claus wasHaddon Sundblom. He painted Santa with rosycheeks, eyes like sparking lights on a Christmastree and a beaming smile. He was a jolly fellowwith a red coat, white fur and a white beard.Coca Cola decided on these colours because

their bottles are red and white. The picture belowwas drawn by Haddon Sundblom and if you lookclosely you can see the Coca Cola bottle.

Musical Momentsby Annabel Sheppard

Hello and welcome to musical moments. Today I will be showing you a couple of traditional but stillpopular Christmas songs.

Jingle BellsJingle Bells is a popular song that mostly all of you would have heard of. The version that Im looking at

today is written by James Lord Pierpont (1822- 1893) and before had the title One horse open sleigh inthe Autumn of 1857. The song has 4 verses and 1 main chorus, which is the one we all know. Jingle

Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the wayIve got into the Christmas spirit now!

O come, all ye FaithfulO come all ye Faithful came from the carol Adeste Fideles, which has been attributed to John FrancisWade. The first four verses of the hymn were extended into eight verses, and have been translated into

many, many different languages.

The English translation is by the English Catholic priest Frederic Oakeley, and has spread into mostEnglish-speaking countries. Now, how does the song go?O come all ye Faithful, joyful and triumphantOcome ye, O come ye to Bethlehem


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Christmas Jokesby Ryan Hann

Q. What does Santa say when he is going backwards?

A. Oh oh oh!

Q. What did the snowman order at McDonalds?A. Iceburgers and chilli sauce!

Q. What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowmanA. Frost bite!

Q. How does Jack Frost travel to work?A: On a Bi-icicle!

Q: Whats the difference between Santas reindeer and a knight?A: One slays the dragon, and the others draggin the sleigh!

Q .What do you call a cat in the desert?A. Sandy Claws!

CAKE

CANDLES CAROLS CRACKERS IVY MINCEPIES PRESENTS REINDEER SANTA TREES YULELOGS
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=mkfZSH0Gyiv1IM&tbnid=b5_aBzaoLgisOM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.jacksnurseryandlandscaping.com/jackschristmas.html&ei=IZSfUpLyB8So0QXZ5oH4Bw&bvm=bv.57155469,d.bGE&psig=AFQjCNHD66zSI2KC6jGDM1c78rBSzGv0TA&ust=1386276241135436


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Tis the Season toEat Pudding

Falalalala lala la la!by George Symonds

A Christmas pudding is traditionally served onChristmas Day. The Christmas pudding hasorigins from the medieval period but itbecame most popular in the Victorian era. Itis often called Plum Pudding, even though ithas no plums in it, because the Victoriansused the word plum as a term for raisins.

A Christmas pudding is usually made of driedfruit, brandy, sugar and spices; it is held

together by eggs and suet. It is aged for amonth or even a year as the alcohol stops itgoing off.

Recipes for plum puddings start to appearfrom the 17thcentury. It was common practiceto include small silver coins in the puddingmixture, which could be kept by the personwhose serving included them. The usualchoice was a silverthreepence or asixpence.The coin was believed to bring wealth in thecoming year. Once turned out of its basin,decorated with holly, doused in brandy, andflamed (or "fired"), the pudding is traditionallybrought to the table, and greeted with a roundof applause.

In 1843,Charles Dickens describes the sceneinA Christmas Carol:

" In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered --

flushed, but smiling proudly -- with thepudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hardand firm, blazing in half of half-a-quarter ofignited brandy, and bedight with Christmasholly stuck into the top."

Christmas Day Footballby Archie Symonds

During World War 1 in 1914, the German andthe British soldiers had a football match onChristmas Day. This happened on No mansland and started when the English soldiers wereplaying football in their trenches and the ball

accidentally went over the top and went on tothe ground between the German and Englishsoldiers. A German soldier found the ball andchallenged the British to a match. They decidedbetween them to call a truce for Christmas Dayand not fight each other. After the match theygave each other presents. The final score was3:1 to Germany. We know this happenedbecause soldiers wrote home to their families atthe time to tell them all about it.

German Soldiers went up to the British soldiersfirst. They even gave them a small Christmastree during the truce.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-truth-behind-ww1-christmas-1923558
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_coinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threepence_(British_coin)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixpence_(British_coin)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixpence_(British_coin)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threepence_(British_coin)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_coin


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Max Reportsby Max Curtis

Helicopter CrashLast week a police helicopter crashed into a

pub called Clutha in the city centre ofGlasgow. Unfortunately, nine people died

during the crash, also eleven people are stillbeing treated in hospital. The helicopter had

three people in it, a pilot and two policeofficers. The pub was thought to have overone hundred in it at the time, listening to a

band. This accident was very unusualbecause helicopter crashes are rare.

Helicopters are used every day very safely soa crash like this does not usually happen.

Underwater HotelsA company in Poland is planning to build anunderwater hotel. The structure will be bolted

down to the sea bed, with the hotel roomsbeing around fifteen metres below the

surface. Put one of these on your Christmas

list!

Next Years New Techby Alex Jacobi

Next year, some astonishingly good tech is coming out,for example the Xbox One and the PS4. So for thisarticle, Ill be finding out about some of them

XBOX ONEOnly two or three years ago, the Xbox 360 waslaunched. In its day, it was the best possible gamingconsole money can buy. But along came its youngerbrotherThe Xbox Ones rival is obviously the all-new PS4.Both of them are having a hard time making it to thetop. Some people say the Xbox Ones better, some sayits the PS4. You can probably see where this is going!

The Xbox One has better graphics over the earlier

Xbox and quicker launch speed. That means wheneveryou put a game in itll load quicker. The downside is itsprice tag at $ 499.99 it well over DOUBLE the amountyoull pay for the 360!

PS4Over the years, most people would say the Xbox ruledover the Playstation, but others say not for long.Although the PS4 was a big hit a few years back, Sonysays it has come up with an even better one.

Again, the graphics are better than those in the earlier

consoles. Also the controller is perfect. BUT, and its aBIG BUT, the PS4 is $100 CHEAPER than its rival theXbox One !

SAMSUNG S5Sometime next year the new Samsung will come outas an upgrade for all the S4 users at the moment. Youmight be thinking; Whats the point in getting theSamsung when the Iphone 5S is coming out nextyear? Well the Samsung may seem under Iphonesthumb, its rising through the ranks with the S5

Because its still a concept, there are rumours that theS5 might have a flexible screen ! But on the designfront, the Samsung will probably blow you away!The S5 will have: turn by turn navigation, youtube, acamera , a camcorder, a light sensor and it will be atouch screen.


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Loving the LibraryBook Reviews

By Tabitha Huby

Hello and welcome to this weeks book reviews. Iwill be reviewing Christmas animal Tales, the book

with the cutest cover in the world.

Christm as Anim al Tales

In this book you will meet big animals, smallanimals and definitely cute animals. Make friendswith a ginger kitten, a little donkey, a specialreindeer and even a talking turkey. With stories byAdle Geras, Michael Broad, Vivian French, MaeveFriel, Anna Wilson, Penny Dolan, Holly Webb andAlan Durant. Get into the festive theme with thislovel book.

The Polar Express

by Adassa Walker

This is a Christmas theme animated film, basedon a storybook written by Chris Van Allsburg,starring the voice of Tom Hanks as the trainconductor. I watched it with my brother, Otis,who has helped me with this review.

It is about a boy who is starting to have doubtsabout whether Santa is real. On Christmas Eve,the boy is waiting to see if he can see FatherChristmas, when he hears a very loud soundfrom outside. He goes outside and sees amassive train in his garden.

He jumps onto the train and discovers that it isgoing to the North Pole and is called the PolarExpress. There are lots of other different

children on the train who all have differentcharacters. When they get to the North Pole thechildren meet Santa and the little boy gets asleigh bell which he finds under his Christmastree on Christmas morning and he realises thatFather Christmas is real.

| thought it was a very good Christmas film towatch on Christmas day and I think it would bea suitable family film. Although I enjoyed it, it didhave some unnecessary parts which made it

slightly boring.

As it was quite a confusing film...I would like togive it 3 out of 5 Santas.

Christmas Charactersby Antonia HopcraftJoulupukki

This name is from Finland. Pagan people used thisfestival to keep away bad spirits. The thing that keptit away was a goat, an ugly goat that scared thechildren. It is not clear how this creature turned intoFather Christmas.Nowadays Joulupukki in Finland means the sameas the American Santa Claus.

Grandfather FrostGrandfather Frost is Russian and and has strongPagan relationships. He's accompanied with hisgranddaughter snow girl and she helps create thegifts that they give to children.Today Grandfather Frost is more related to NewYear and not Christmas.


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Ten Christmas factsby Georgina Loring

The date December 25th

for Christmas Day was fixed by the council of Nicaea in 325AD.

The earliest known Christmas card was produced in the early 1840s and is now displayed in the British Museum.

William the Conqueror was crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066.

All the Christmas paper used in the UK could cover an area as big as the island of Guernsey.

Father Christmas has two addresses Edinburgh and the North Pole. If you send it to snow land or Toyland it will go to Edinburgh,but if you send it to the North Pole it will actually go there!

An old wives tale says that if you bake bread on Christmas Eve it will never go mouldy.

Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith.

The first Christmas stamp was made in Canada in 1898.

The first instrument on which the Christmas Carol Silent Night was ever played was a guitar!

In Germany the Twelfth Night is known as three kings day.

Websites used:Woodland junior school Express


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Helenas how to makeeindeer antlers

Christmas is coming! The reindeer are getting ready, so why dont you? Now youcan make some reindeer antlers.

Step 1)Find some felt, an old hair band, a pin and a needle and some thread.

Step 2)Cut out your antler shapes (x 4) and twostrips to fit round your hair band.

Step 3) Sew all the way round your antlers butleave a gap at the bottom so you can stuff it. Dothe same with the hair band strips by leaving agap at the bottom.

Step 4) Slip your strips around the hair band andsew up at the bottom. Stuff your antlers with flufflike in the picture (dont worry about the

cardboard).

Step 5)Get some glue and glue the antlers firmlyto the hair band, and wait to dry.

More Jokes from the Jester

by George and Archie Symonds

Whats the best thing to put into a Christmascake?

Your teeth!

Did you hear about the stupid turkey?It was looking forward to Christmas!

Who is never hungry at Christmas?The turkeyhes always stuffed!


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Competition WinnersChristmas Selection boxes went to the following children who entered and

won the competitionsOlivia Campbell

Abigail Blackwell

Amy HorlerWell done to you all and enjoy your chocolates!

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