Genealogy Chat

Roger, Ed, Tracey, Rebekah and Carol: Thank you very much for your ideas! I've also received a couple of private messages and all of the information is incredible! Initially, I was hesitant about posting, as the topic isn't related to genealogy; but now, after researching your ideas, it really does have something to do with family trees. I'm learning so much about the culture, games, legends, foods, architecture, daily life, ancient life, songs, poetry, etc. The knowledge doesn't help me find ancestors, but it does help me understand life as my ancestors saw it and life as my distant cousins now see it. I can't help but think that the 'International Adventure Day' we have planned at the end of the month will be a huge success. Thank you all for your help with this project. It is deeply appreciated.

http://www.geocities.com/traditions_uk/play.html

Poor Mary has a circle of children with hands joined and walking round another child (usually a girl) who is kneeling in the centre of the circle with her face in her hands. As they sing, she enacts the words: Poor Mary sat a-weeping, a-weeping, a-weeping, Poor Mary sat a-weeping on a bright summer's day. On this carpet she shall kneel Till the grass grows in the field Stand up, stand up upon your feet And choose the one you love so sweet. At this point 'Mary' chooses another child to join her in the centre of the ring and they join hands and walk round in the opposite direstion to the outer circle, who sing Now you are married, you must be good And help your wife to chop the wood Chop, chop, chop! and with this ritual completed, the children change places and a new 'Mary' takes her place in the centre of the ring.

Ring-a-ring-o-roses is the simplest of all the ring games and is played by even the smallest children. They join hands and dance round in a ring, singing Ring-a-ring-o-roses A pocket full o' posies. Atishoo! Atishoo! We all fall down! and on 'we all fall down' - we do indeed 'all fall down!' to much giggling and laughter. This is a very old rhyme and is attributed to the Black Death of the 14th century : the 'ring o' roses' is the rash which was a symptom, the 'pocket full o' posies' the herbs carried in an attempt to ward off the disease, 'Atishoo!' was the flu-like effects and 'we all fall down' - dead!!

How about the game Traffic Lights. Traffic Lights There are five colours: red, amber, green, purple and pink. A shouter calls out a colour and everyone else must perform the required action. Red is stop, amber is sit down, green is run, purple means jump and pink is hop furiously.

See these wonderful stories by Oscar Wilde The Happy Prince The Nightingale and the Rose The Selfish Giant The Devoted Friend The Remarkable Rocket at http://www.oscarwildecollection.com/ The Happy Prince was my childhood favourite 50years ago. Birthname: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde Birth date: October 16, 1854 Birth place: Dublin, Ireland Death date: November 30, 1900 Death place: Paris, France Burial: La Pére Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France

Maypole dancing? Morris dancing?

I can recommend an excellent book for this. Try: 'Festivals, Family and Food' by Diana Carey and Judy Large Hawthorn Press ISBN 0 950 7062 3X It is an educational resource book of British seasonal traditions arranged month by month. It contains poems, stories (with named country of origin), illustrations and how-to-make instructions, even child-friendly recipes. My teacher friends borrow my copy all the time! There is also a companion volume called 'The Islamic Year, Surahs, Stories and Celebrations' by Noorah Al-Gailani and Chris Smith Hawthorn Press ISBN 1 903458 14 5 I really miss the good old fashioned May Day celebrations. Sadly also gone are proper Bonfire nights from my childhood where we used to make a Guy Fawkes, wheel him around to shouts of 'Penny for the Guy' and finally watch him burn on the bonfire. I haven't seen those green papier mache Guy Fawkes masks around for years. The American Trick or Treat seems to have seen off our native tradition. It is strange but every multicultural event I've taken the kids to seems to have no representation of English, Scottish and Welsh customs. Nice to see your Multicultural day will include them. Hope this helps, Tracey

try, www.mysteriousbritain

There are two books by Iona and Peter Opie which might be of use if you can get hold of them. 1. Oxford book of nursery rhymes. 2. Children's games in street and playground. Quite an old book, and probably many of the games are no longer played.

Thank you very much, Lunar. As well as teaching them about 'far away places', I would like to include information from 'across the pond'. Most school children (in our area) have heard about England, Ireland and Scotland, but I bet at least half have never heard about Wales!!! Thank you for your help.

Wales http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans/ http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/folktales/ (play around with the links as there is alot on the site) http://www.welsh-costume*co.uk/ http://www.informationwales*co.uk/ http://www.webmesh*co.uk/Mabinogionhomepage.htm The Mabinogion is a collection of troditional welsh stories. UK / GB http://www.britainusa*com (look at section called British Culture ) Wikipeadia is excellent for UK history and culture. Stories from the UK Lady Godiva is a troditional legend Loch Ness is a Scotish Legend King Arthur Cape of Rushes (English equivalent of Cinderella -also called 'Cap o' Rushes' )

Thank you very much, Wendy. I'm learning so much and having a wonderful time! Hopefully, the boys will enjoy it, too. Thank you. :)

The Lambton Worm is a folk tale from the north-east of England.I loved that story when I was little,there's even a song about it.Just google Lambton Worm and you'll get plenty of information. Wendy

No problem Lisa, hope you can find what you want. Ann Glos

Hi Ann. There are so many sites, now that I'm using UK, rather than the individual countries. Thanks again.

Hi Ann. Thank you for your help. Actually, I put English, Welsh, etc. instead of UK(!), so I'm sure I missed a lot of good sites! I will try Wikepedia now. Thank you so much. It's really appreciated. :)

How about lace making? Although the trouble is that with the world being such a small place these days our crafts are the same as American crafts. I googled traditional children's games, and traditional children's playground games and traditional children's folk games, (presumably you would have to put UK) there are a lot of sites on there. One was Wikepedia. If you can't find it I will make a list from the sites but one of the sites explains how to play the games. ann Glos (UK)

Hi, sorry to ask for non-related genealogy tips, but thought I might get great results here. I work with children, ages 6-11. We will be having a multicultural day soon. I would like to include information about the United Kingdom: folk tales, stories, games, crafts, etc. Would anyone know any websites that I might try? I've found a few good folk tale sites, but they aren't necessarily designed for young children. I've come up with a few ideas for crafts and games and now would like to find folk tales or stories. (Additional ideas for crafts or games are welcome as well.) Thank you.