The Polyglot 20 - Celebrations by The Polyglot Magazine

THE

POLYGLOT

CELEBRATIONS Issue 20

the POLYGLOT

Contents 1

Chinese New Year

Birthday Banquet

Mike Windsor - A True Polyglot

Microstories

La batalla que marcó la independencia de Ecuador

Day of the Dead

Controversial Columbus Day

Serving for 20

Diwali

Der Spiegel

Birthday Traditions Fact File

The Summer Palace

Editor’s Letter Welcome to the 20th issue of the Polyglot, Abingdon’s modern language and culture magazine. At a time when people across the globe are fleeing from their native homeland, cross-cultural communication has become a vital part of helping these people settle into their new life. This is exactly what the Polyglot has to offer: in this special celebratory edition, our writers have explored and researched a variety of topics each one with a theme of celebration and we hope you enjoy reading them as much as our team enjoyed writing them. Whether you study one or more languages, at A-level or lower, or just simply have an interest in other cultures, the Polyglot provides you with digestible articles in both English and other languages. A special thanks must go to Mrs Engel-Hart as supervising editor, Ed Wray as designer and our whole team of dedicated writers.

- Samuel Dominic and Krishen Rao Editors-in-chief

Chinese New Year

Louis Chan sheds light on China’s biggest festival To the majority of Chinese people, the most important aspect of the New Year is reunion, where people draw comfort from being with their family. During the festival, nearly everyone goes home to meet other family members, no matter where they are. Many families in the lower social class have to work in distant cities in order to make a living, so this could often be their only time spent together throughout the whole year. Therefore, they especially cherish the New Year holidays. There are a lot of key traditions for the New Year. On New Year’s Eve, everyone goes home to have dinner together, which symbolises the end of the year, and the unity of the family. On this day people clean their houses thoroughly as well, which is a symbol of clearing away unlucky spirits and worries. On New Year’s Day, people wear traditional clothes to visit the elder generation of the family. Children wish their parents good health and a prosperous year, and the parents give them red packets as a symbol for their good wishes towards them. Relatives and friends also give red packets to children. Lastly, in villages, firecrackers are set off which signifies driving away bad luck, and wishing every family happiness and peace. Apart from this, lion dancing is a highly anticipated activity. Traditionally, lions are seen as a symbol of courage and strength, and could thus ensure the village’s peace. Moreover, people eat a variety of traditional foods, for example rice cakes (which symbolise success in the workplace, and prosperous growth for children), carrot cakes, melon seeds, and fried pastries.

“Chinese new year is often their only time spent together throughout the whole year”

对大部分中国人来说，新年最大的意义在于让家人团聚，让人们感受到家的温暖。在这个节日，不管身处哪里，几乎所有的家庭成员都会回家相聚。很多社会底层的家庭都会到各大城市打工来养活自己和子女，所以这可能是一年中他们唯一能见面的时间。因此，他们会特别珍惜这段新年假期。新年有很多不可或缺的传统习俗。新年前一天叫做年三十，在这一天大家都会赶忙回家吃团年饭，象征着一年圆满的结束，以及一家团圆。在这天人们也会做大扫除，把家里清理干净，寓意是把倒霉的运气和苦恼都扫走，来迎接新的一年。在大年初一，大家都会穿上传统服装，到长辈和亲戚的家里去拜年。晚辈们会祝长辈们新的一年身体健康、万事如意，而长辈们会给晚辈们派发红包，借此来祝福他们。亲朋好友们也会给孩子们发红包。最后，在农村人们也会放鞭炮来示意把一切不好的风气赶走，以及在新的一年家家户户都幸福和平安。除此以外，人们最期待的活动就是舞狮，自古以来人们就把狮子当成勇气和力量的象征，借此来保护人们的平安。另外，人们还会吃各种传统食品，例如年糕（寓意事业高升，小朋友快快长大），萝卜糕，以及瓜子，

Mike Windsor - A True Polyglot Before half term, over a cup of tea, our editors Samuel Dominic and Krishen Rao spoke to Mr Windsor about his own experience with languages as well as some current issues surrounding languages at school and the wider world. At school, Mr Windsor was always interested in his languages and when it came to A-level he studied both French and German. After school, he went to Durham University to continue his studies of the French and German languages which included spending a year abroad in the Black Forest in Germany where he worked as a language assistant at a secondary school. Once leaving university, Mr Windsor spent 3 years working in Italy and was able to become a strong speaker in Italian, saying it was easy to learn with his existing knowledge of French. Once becoming a language teacher Mr Windsor said his favourite language to teach was Italian, mainly because he enjoys talking about the interesting culture as well as the food and football. As a polyglot himself Mr Windsor has a lot of experience in learning new languages. He gave us some of his top tips about becoming more confident in the language you are learning: Building up your vocabulary is the most important thing when learning a language, even more important than accurate grammar.

A good bank of vocabulary is very useful when trying to make yourself understood when speaking in a different language. Websites such as quizlet and quizizz are also both very useful tools in order to practice this. Mr Windsor feels very passionately about the range of languages Abingdon has to offer and is pleased to see that they are popular at the school. However, he recognises that they can be very challenging for people as they don’t have the vocabulary at their fingertips and this can lead to people lacking confidence when using the language. One of the best things about learning a language are the trips and exchanges on offer at every level of learning as they really bring it to life and put some perspective on what is being learnt in the classroom. On the topic of the decrease in A Level language takers, Mr Windsor feels that the problem lies with the GCSE syllabus as the focus is very much on oneself and the skills taught are not particularly useful in real life - something the editors can agree with.

However with the wellmotivated department and the reintroduction of trips abroad Mr Windsor hopes that we will see more and more students choosing to take a language at A Level. From a wider perspective, being able to speak a language is a valuable skill as technology will always struggle to capture the nuance that makes up human communication and we will always need people who can speak languages more widely to overcome these barriers. Mr Windsor strongly believes that language learning generally is really important as it requires lots of disciplines which is very valuable in life because it requires you to think about languages and about how language works which can apply to your own use of your mother tongue. The most important thing is that it opens our eyes to other cultures around the world and helps and takes one out of quite a narrow viewpoint. As well as this, learning a language opens the door to how other people think and also allows one to deeply appreciate other cultures. It was great to speak to someone who has such rich experience in languages as it just reinforces how valuable language learning is and all the amazing opportunities they open up.

La batalla que marcó la independencia de Ecuador Samuel Dominic investigates how the Ecuadorians celebrate their independence day

Cada año el 24 de mayo, los Ecuatorianos celebran la independencia de España porque el 24 de mayo de 1822 fue el fin de la guerra de la independencia. Este año es el bicentenario de la independencia de Ecuador y todos los años los ciudadanos recuerdan los guerristas. En 1822, termina la batalla de Pichincha después de que Antonio José Sucre (el general) y sus combatientes derroten a los españoles. Más de 600 personas murieron en la batalla y casi 350 personas fueron lesionadas.

En la capital Quito, Simón Bolívar, que es el dirigente de la lucha por la independencia, toma el control y crea el país de Gran Colombia, que incluye Ecuador, Colombia y Venezuela. Por eso el 24 de mayo, el día de la batalla de Pichincha, se considera el comienzo del país de Ecuador y así es un día muy importante en la historia de Ecuador y es una fiesta nacional. El 24 de mayo de cada año, las calles de Quito son llenas de color, música, conciertos y procesiones. En las calles hay fiestas grandes, donde la gente baila y canta muchísimo.

Además, durante el día los niños realizan procesiones en los institutos y el ejército realiza procesiones militares en el centro de la ciudad. Hay también fuegos artificiales y conciertos con cantantes famosos para recordar a los héroes de la revolución.

“Se considera el comienzo del país de Ecuador.” “It is considered the start of the country of Ecuador.”

Word bank

la guerra - the war recordar (o>ue) - to remember los guerristas - the war fighters derrotar - to defeat morir (o>ue) - to die ser lesionado - to be injured el dirigente - leader ser llenas de - to be full of realizar - to carry out el ejército - the army los fuegos artificiales - the fireworks

Word Search

Controversial Columbus Day

Krishen Rao discusses why commemoration of Columbus Day presents problems

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus landed in The Bahamas in October 1492 having set sail from Spain a few months earlier. His expedition was funded by the Spanish King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Once landing in the Bahamas Columbus travelled to neighbouring islands including Cuba and Hispaniola, where he established Spain’s first American colony. Today it is celebrated all over the world as Columbus Day, including in the United States and in Spain and Italy. Aside from the US, Spain and Italy, Columbus day is observed by many South and Central American countries in many different contexts. One narrative is ‘el Dìa de la Raza’, translating to the ‘day of the race’. This aims to celebrate Hispanic culture’s diverse roots. Venezuela for example has renamed the day to ‘el Dìa de la Resistencia Indìgena.’ The idea is to recognise the native people and their experiences.

The opposition of the celebrations dates back to the 19th century as a movement against catholicism from anti-immigrant groups in the US. However, more recently the opposition relates to the violence, and oppression related to Columbus and colonisation. The Colonisation of the Americas heavily relates to the transatlantic slave trade as a source of oppression towards nonEuropeans. Columbus and his explorations also brought with him many diseases that the Native Americans were not immune to such as smallpox and influenza. These diseases were able to wipe out millions of Native Americans all due to the European arrival in the Americas. Whatsmore there was also a lot of fighting between European settlers and Native Americans which saw a

While Columbus Day for many is seen as a celebration of cultures and diversity, we should also be aware of the less glamorous history associated with the day. It should be used as a time to remember the often poor conditions the Native Americans were treated under and recognise that this was not acceptable by any means.

“we should also be aware of the less glamorous history associated with the day” 7

El Polémico Día de la Hispanidad Krishen Rao analiza por qué la celebración del Día de la Hispanidad presenta problemas

El explorador italiano Cristóbal Colón desembarcó en las Bahamas en octubre de 1492 tras zarpar de España algunos meses antes. Su expedición fue financiada por el rey español Fernando II de Aragón. Una vez que desembarcó en las Bahamas, Colón viajó a las islas vecinas, como Cuba y La Española, donde estableció la primera colonia americana de España. Hoy se celebra en todo el mundo el Día de la Raza incluyendo en Estados Unidos y en España e Italia. Además de Estados Unidos, España e Italia, el Día de la Raza se celebra en muchos países de América Central y del Sur en diferentes contextos. Su objetivo es celebrar las diversas raíces de la cultura hispana. Venezuela, por ejemplo, ha cambiado el nombre de esta celebración por el de Día de la Resistencia Indígena. La idea es reconocer a los pueblos indígenas y sus experiencias.

La oposición a las celebraciones se remonta al siglo XIX, cuando hubo un movimiento contra el catolicismo por parte de grupos antiinmigrantes en Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, más recientemente la oposición se relaciona con la violencia y la opresión relacionadas con Colón y la colonización. La colonización de las Américas está muy relacionada con la trata transatlántica de esclavos como fuente de opresión hacia los no europeos. Colón y sus exploraciones también trajeron consigo muchas enfermedades a las que los nativos americanos no eran inmunes, como la viruela y la influenza. Estas enfermedades pudieron acabar con millones de nativos americanos debido a la llegada de los europeos a las Américas. Además, también hubo muchas batallas entre los colonos europeos y los nativos americanos, que causaron muchas muertes.

Aunque para muchos el Día de la Raza se considera una celebración de las culturas y la diversidad, también debemos ser conscientes de la historia menos glamurosa asociada a este día. Hay que aprovechar el momento para recordar las malas condiciones en las que a menudo eran tratados los nativos americanos y reconocer que esto no era aceptable de ninguna manera.

Diwali: India’s Biggest Celebration

Arth Gupta explores the origins and cultural importance of the Hindu festival Diwali.

Diwali (also known as Deepavali) is perhaps the most important and popular event in the Indian subcontinent and is celebrated in the Hindu lunisolar month of Kartika (which falls from mid October to mid November on the Gregorian calendar). Although people celebrate Diwali in many different ways, I will be looking at the most popular version of Diwali, as I have personally celebrated this version of the festival. Diwali is a series of festivities celebrated over the span of 5 days. The first day of Diwali is Dhanteras, where special lamps called diyas are lit and as many lights as possible are kept lit throughout the night. This day is very auspicious for making new purchases (especially gold and silver) for Hindus. Dhanteras is followed by Narak Chaturdashi, which is a day where you are supposed to get rid of ‘bad’ things. Typically, you should get up early in the morning and get ready for a special breakfast with friends and family. The third day is arguably the most important in all of the celebrations, and is called Lakshmi Puja (worship), which refers to the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. This is the day which many consider to be ‘Diwali’ as well as being the day where the iconic fireworks are set off.

After this, there is Govardhan Puja, where many prayers happen, including to Krishna (the eighth incarnation of one of the principal deities, Vishnu), and Govardhan Hill, a sacred Hindu site in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The 5th and final day is called Bhai Dooj. On Bhai (Brother) Dooj, sisters and cousins pray for a long life and prosperity for their brothers or cousins, and also perform a tika ceremony, where they mark their brother’s foreheads with a red tika. Alongside this, brothers give their sisters gifts. To truly understand the reason Diwali is celebrated, you have to look back to the Sanskrit epic of Ramayana, which is considered one of the two major epics of Ancient India, alongside the equally popular and influential Mahabharata. Traditionally credited to Maharishi (great Hindu sage or leader) Valmiki, the Ramayana has changed Hinduism irreversibly. Although quite hard to condense into a short story, I shall try my best: The crown prince of Ayodhya, Rama is exiled from his kingdom

thanks to the plotting of his stepmother Kaikeyi, who wanted her own son to become King. He left Ayodhya with his wife, Sita, and his brother, Laksmana. After wounding a rakshahas (demon), which tried to seduce Rama, the demon returned to her homeland, where she told her ten headed brother, Ravana, about the beauty of Rama’s wife, Sita. Ravana is furious, and devises a plan to kidnap Sita. He tempts Sita by dressing up as a holy man begging for food, and after she reaches out to help him, Ravana captures and takes her to the island of Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka). After discovering Sita was missing, Rama and Laksmana sought help from a band of monkeys, who’s chief was Hanuman (another important deity in Hinduism). The group bridge across the Palk Strait, and then fight Ravana and his army, defeating them and rescuing Sita. They return to Ayodhya, where they are welcomed by millions of lights and fireworks, and Rama is crowned king.

ACROSS 4. The name of the first day of Diwali 9. The author of the Ramayana 11. The name of Rama’s evil stepmother 12. Rama’s wife 14. The chief of the band of monkeys DOWN 1. The special meal you have on Narak Chaturdashi 2. The name of the final day of Diwali (4,4) 3. The other name for the festival of Diwali 5. Ravana’s home 6. The name of the lunisolar month which Diwali is celebrated in 7. Rama’s role when he returns home 8. The Hindu Goddess of Wealth 10. The name of the kingdom Rama is exiled from 13. The Hindi word for worship

‘Special lamps called diyas are lit and as many lights as possible are kept lit throughout the night’ 10

Birthday Traditions Fact File

ñeras: Quincea atin L In many ntries, ou c n a c ri Ame day 5th birth a girl’s 1 ted like a ra is celeb ing. wedd

The piñatas n broke that are atin L y n a m in ies n countr but America s, rm fo many is the e exist in n opular o h point p ry e v a ac d star. E 7 pointe ts one of the n e s g repre breakin ins and olises seven s b m y s ta the piña hout sins. it a year w

ing: Antiqu it is ic a a in Jam to throw nal traditio e birthday th t flour a l, this is most ir g boy or n when they o comm ting it. t expec s a le e ar

, In Brazil e of c li s t the firs ake thday c your bir e person th t, goes to the mos e v lo u g yo in iv e on rec the pers e of cake is slic the first erwhelmed ov y ll a usu otions. with em

, one In China gift not should flowers any cut lly white - especia s they a ones als. nt funer represe

alian An Austr ialty is c e p s birthday oft bread s d buttere t into nkles cu with spri alled fairy c shapes, bread.

e any, on In Germ wn on cro wears a irthday. b ir e th

, the In India n gets e p rso birthday birthday fed their uests and the g cake by ds up with n e oft en er their ov cake all face!

On their s, birthday s n are Canadia sed’, a re s often ‘g n friend e h w which is y ambush il and fam ar nd sme a m e th ses. n their o n o r e tt bu said ctice is This pra off bad to ward luck.

ntina, In Arge nd a Hungary er th o s u vario , the s ie tr n cou o s f the earlobe re erson a p lly, birthday a ic p at - ty d e g g tu each tug for it’s one e. their ag year of

any, In Germ sweep n e m single town th s of e the stair th their 30 ly hall on on re and a birthday stop when to allowed ive a kiss. ce re y the

In , Vietnam n’t o d le p peo eir th celebrate idually, iv d in birthday everyone instead, er s togeth celebrate ese New am on Vietn d Tet, and e ll a Year, c a e turns n o ry eve r. e ld o year

, you are In Korea year old one already rn. u are bo y when o

Birthday Banquet

Thomas Zhang explores two traditional asian Birthday dishes

Longevity Noodles The Longevity noodle is an essential cuisine

for traditional Chinese birthday celebrations. The idea of eating the Longevity noodle was originated from a historical story of the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD), as he believed that the length of one’s life is based on the length of their faces, but the other lords and ministers believed that it may be impossible to try to live a long life by praying for their faces to be longer. Therefore they came up with another way of expressing this, they used the homophone of 面 meaning both noodle and also representing the face as a symbol of the length of one’s life and its longevity has represented good luck. Here below is a simple recipe for making this traditional dish and I strongly recommend you to try making it on your next birthday!

Ingredients needed: Serve for 1

- A tiny bit of chopped spring onion (5-10g) - A teaspoon of salt - A teaspoon of pepper - A tablespoon of soy sauce - A tablespoon of Sesame oil - One or two eggs (optional) - Your own preferred vegetables (optional) - 150g of uncooked chinese noodles Excess boiling water

Instructions: 1) Cook your noodles in boiling water until it is fully cooked. 2) In a separate bowl, add salt, pepper, chopped spring onions and soy sauce 3) Add the cooked noodles into the bowl and pour a bit of water just above the noodles in it to blend with the seasoning 4) Fry the eggs without seasoning Add the sesame oil and your cooked eggs and preferred vegetables. Enjoy!

Korean Birthday Soup (Miyeok-guk) Miyeok-guk is eaten by new

mothers as it is rich in calcium and iodine - important minerals during pregnancy and after giving birth. For this reason, Miyeok-guk is eaten on birthdays to celebrate and commemorate the mother of the birthday person.

Ingredients needed: Serve for 1

- Seaweed (15g) - Beef (120g) - Kelp - Dipori (can omit if not available) - Garlic (1 teaspoon, minced) - Soy sauce (4-5 tablespoons) - Sesame oil (1 tablespoon) - Onion Skins (optional) - Scallion roots (optional) - Salt and Pepper (to taste) - Water (5 cups) NB: Many measurements are approximates

Instructions: 1) First, soak your seaweed in water for an hour, drain it on a sieve, and cut the seaweed into bite size pieces. 2) In a separate pot, bring kelp and dipori to a boil in water (for your broth). When it begins to boil, cover the lid and wait for the broth to boil (you can add onion skins and scallion roots too, if you want). 3) Drain the broth so have a slightly brown broth. 4) Roast the beef in a pan with sesame oil, and when slightly cooked, add chopped garlic and half a tablespoon of soy sauce to the beef and cook together. 5) Add the broth (preferably hot) to the beef, and skim off any impurities (white, frothy substance) off the top of the boiling broth and beef. 6) After removing the impurities, add the (Non-roasted) seaweed to your soup. When the soup begins to boil, add 3-4 tablespoons of soy sauce, and then close the lid and allow the soup to boil for another 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!

Microstories In the Michaelmas term, the MFL department ran an internal microstory competition for all yeargroups based on the theme “Everything Was Too Quiet”. The following selection gives you a taste of the creativity amongst our MFL pupils. Enjoy!

Tout était trop tranquille… (Archie Leishman) Tout était trop tranquille. Il y a quelques moments, je m’amusais bien en faisant du ski, seul sur la montagne, sur les pistes parfaitement préparées. Soudain un cri d’aigle a percé mes pensées. Dès que je l’ai vu, il s’est envolé à toute vitesse, faisant un piqué vertigineux au-dessus de ma tête. Dans le silence a crû un grondement lointain qui a augmenté de plus en plus fort. Je me suis tourné et j’ai vu une vague de neige qui inondait le flanc de la montagne. J’étais debout sur la piste et j’étais stupéfait jusqu’à ce que je me suis rendu que l’avalanche m’engloutirait comme une bête sauvage déserieux de dévorer sa proie insouciante. Mes jambes étaient prises par tremblement et ensuite elles étaient emportées. Le sang de mon visage a coulé et j’étais aussi blanc que le neige autour de moi. Je suis tombé éperdument dans les abysses blanches. Encore et encore et encore. Et maintenant je me suis retrouvé enterré sous la neige; gelé, trempé et sans espoir. La puissance de la neige m’écrasait entre ses mâchoires. Ma vie entière avait été renversée sur sa tête. Mes cris étaient forts mais le silence était la réplique. La neige étranglait mes appels à l’aide comme un serpent étrangle sa proie. Tout était trop tranquille.

Todo estaba demasiado tranquilo… (Sean Hanlon) Todo estaba demasiado tranquilo en Oxford, no había nadie caminando por el río, no había nadie en el transporté público. Todos se quedaron en casa, demasiado asustados por ir afuera. Los profesores de la universidad estaban trabajando en hacer una vacuna para la enfermedad de los pescadores. La enfermedad de los pescadores era una terrible enfermedad que causó que muchas personas murieran de repente. Se llama la enfermedad de los pescadores porque los pescadores cuando llevaban pescado a los mercados se extenderían la enfermedad. Oxford era el único lugar con equipo adecuado para hacer una vacuna. Desgraciadamente era demasiado difícil y el progreso era muy lento, nadie sabía si lo iban a hacer a tiempo. ¿Vamos a morir?

Es war alles zu still…… (Felix Price) Es war alles zu still. Ich ging durch die schmale Gasse, ganz alleine. Es war toll ohne den hektischen Trubel- einfach einen schönen, freien Spaziergang. Ich sah keinen Mensch. Die Corona Pandemie hat alle in ihre kleinen Häuser gefegt, vor der großen Außenwelt hat jeder Angst. Alles ist leise und alles ist leer, so wie eine verlassene Stadt aus einer Geschichte. Langsam wird es mir langweilig. Dann auch noch einsam. Denn es ist zu still. Wo sind meine Freunde, meine Familie- mit denen ich immer bereits sprechen könnte? Ich dachte es macht Spaß, ganz alleine zu sein. Da lag ich falsch.

Day of the Dead - Have you been misled?

Angus Carle unveils how the Day of the Dead is presented in recent films El día de los muertos es una celebración que es más popular en países latinoamericanos, donde mucha gente se reúne para conmemorar a los amigos y familiares que han muerto. Pero, mientras que el día es muy popular, no hay mucha representación en películas de Hollywood. En este artículo, voy a analizar dos películas vinculadas con día. La primera película es Spectre. En la escena de apertura, James Bond pasea por la Ciudad de México, en medio de la celebración. A su alrededor hay carrozas con esqueletos fumando cigarros, personas bailando, por lo que tiene que hacerse camino a través de la multitud. Aunque parece pintoresco, no es del todo así.

Word bank

Según el ministro de turismo de la ciudad, debido a la película, tuvo que organizar una celebración similar. Piensa que mucha gente va a venir a la ciudad y va a estar decepcionado porque la ciudad no tiene celebraciones como la de la película. Está claro que la representación que se hace en Spectre no es precisa. La segunda película, Coco, es más familiar con la tradición habitual. Hay muchas escenas muy ricas con imágenes del día de los muertos. Hay cementerios decorados, ofrendas, espacios llenos con bebida y comida favorita, fotos de familia, velas y mucha cempasúchil, y un puente entre vida y muerte que está hecho de cempasúchil. Los personajes son reconocibles en México, como el perro xoloitzcuintle antiguo y sin pelo que se llama Dante, que se considera el perro nacional.

reunirse - to get together vinculado/a - linked to la escena de apertura - opening scene alrededor de - around unas carrozas con esqueletos - wagons with skeletons decepcionado/a - disappointed una ofrenda - an offering cempasúchil - marigold calle empdrada - paved streed techos de tejas de barro - tiled roofs

Además, los pueblos son tranquilos, se caracterizan por calles empedradas y techos de tejas de barro. El espacio de los muertos podría estar inspirado en los paisajes urbanos mexicanos, expansivos e iluminados con colores. En general, Coco es una película muy precisa sobre el dia de los muertos.

“We have to invent the Day of the Dead carnival, after the James Bond movie” - Tourism Minister

Word bank

recordar - to remember los altares - altars / shrines rezar - to pray las tumbas - graves cempasúchil - marigold los antepasados - ancestors pintarse la cara - to paint one’s face disfrazarse - to dress up

~ A comic by Edward Wray

Serving for 20 Ethan Richards-Knight explores the Queen’s platinum jubilee and a royal tour of the Caribbean. A platinum jubilee is a jubilee normally used to mark the 70th anniversary of something, and in this instance, the occasion is the 70th year of Queen Elizabeth II’s rule over Britain and the Commonwealth realms. The official date of the jubilee was set for the 6th of February. Many events have been planned for the jubilee: firstly, a baking competition has been organised in which you have to bake a brand new pudding dedicated to the Queen. This competition invites anyone in the UK over the age of 8 to make the ‘perfect platinum pudding’ for the celebration. Unsurprisingly, hundreds of street parties are set to take place to commemorate the long rule of Britain’s sovereign. The culture secretary announced that instead of the usual bank holiday taking place on the last Monday of May, it will be moved to later on in the week, on June 2nd. An extra bank holiday will be added on the day after, making it a 4 day weekend.

It has been chosen far away from the official day of the jubilee, as the summer will have better weather to offer than the chilly nature of days in February. There will be a military parade to mark the Queen’s jubilee, along with a service of Thanksgiving hosted in St Paul’s Cathedral on June 3rd, a live concert at Buckingham Palace, and another concert with some of the world’s biggest entertainment stars. However, as the Queen is 95, she has had a number of health setbacks in recent times, and it is debated whether she will attend some of the celebrations due to her ill health. Most of the queen’s jubilee duties will probably be given to the rest of the royal family; notably, the Prince of Wales, and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall. This anniversary will also be the first without her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who sadly passed away in April last year, although througout their lifetime they had a lot of memorable times together, like the time they travelled to the sunny Caribbean.

“The Queen invites everyone to make the perfect platinum pudding”

In 1966, The Queen toured around the Caribbean. On this voyage, they were immersed in a lot of Caribbean culture. At the start of her royal tour, the Queen became the first monarch to visit British Guiana since it was taken under British control 152 years ago. In Georgetown, they went to Durban Park race track to watch horse racing. They talked to students at the University of Trinidad and Tobago and were then treated to a traditional carnival, even though the celebrations weren’t to start for another few weeks.

In Grenada, the royal couple were welcomed by singing schoolchildren and during their time on the island, they watched a variety performance, where people dressed up as nutmeg, bananas, and cocoa, which are the country’s main crops. Prince Phillip talked to some of the local fishermen on the island, and the Queen planted a tree to memorialise her stay there.

DER SPIEGEL - News mirrored throughout Europe Tino Bidwell looks at Der Spiegel from when it began.

Der Spiegel (The Mirror) started on the 4th of January 1947 and has celebrated its 75th anniversary this year. Der Spiegel has the largest circulation of weekly news magazines in Europe with 695,910 issues per week and was founded by John Seymour Chaloner.

“Der Spiegel has the largest circulation of weekly news magazines in Europe”

John Seymour Chaloner was born on the 5th of November 1924 to a family of journalists. He volunteered for the British army during the Second World War and while supervising the press in Hanover he partnered with Harry Bohrer and Henry Ormand to create a newspaper which he named ‘This Week’. After a while Bohrer and Chaloner handed their roles over to an editor at the company called Rudolf Augstein. Augstein was a journalist and was born on the 5th of November 1923. He became the newspaper’s chief editor and changed the name to Der Spiegel. Later on, Augstein became a part-time owner of Der Spiegel before becoming a publicist and a politician.

Der Spiegel is known in German speaking countries for its investigative journalism uncovering the Spiegel scandal (which was named after one of the magazine’s articles) and the Flick affair. Initially it was sponsored by the British occupational administration but was later handed on to Augstein. The circulation numbers rapidly increased from 15,000 in 1947 to 65,000 in 1948 and then 900,000 in the 70s. Its circulation numbers have dropped down to just under 700,000 in the past few years.

eporuE tuohguorht derorrim sweN -

LEGEIPS RED

Even though Der Spiegel has been successful, it also has criticisms and scandals associated with it. One of the main criticisms received by the magazine is of its use of language, with Hans Magnus Enzensberger criticising their use of “pretended objectivity” and favouritism to one side. On the 19th of December 2018, Der Spiegel made public that Claas Relotius (a journalist at Der Spiegel) “falsified his articles on a grand scale” inventing facts, people, and quotes in at least 14 of his stories. In addition to that, an article by Der Spiegel on Islam was banned in Egypt as it was deemed to be insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammed by authorities.

Der Spiegel Headquarters

The Summer Palace: Construction of a palace, destruction of an empire Thomas Zhang explores the story of the Summer palace built for the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi As one of the most powerful figures in Chinese history, Empress Cixi ruled the Qing Dynasty for over 47 years. On her 60th birthday, she decided to celebrate glamorously and luxuriously. Therefore, Cixi decided to rebuild Qingyi palace (清漪园) which was destroyed in the Second Opium War in 1860. The royal garden was named as the Summer Palace or Yihe Yuan (颐和园) which signifies the enjoyment and ease of life in old age (颐养天年). It occupied over 290 0000 square metres of land consisting of 79 different buildings including 4 palaces and 10 luxuriously decorated temples.

The total spending on the birthday was about 30 million teals which was far more than the nation could afford. In order to successfully see through the celebration, Cixi ordered a reduction in the budget on navy force, border security and an increase in taxes.

At that time the Qing government of China was facing serious economic issues after signing the treaty of Tianjin where the Qing government was required to pay 6 million teals to Britain and France; the corrupted government and inflation had caused severe economic problems for the Qing government. However, no one was able to object to the supreme authority of the Empress and the government spent the majority of its money on the construction of the Summer Palace and for the preparation for the Empress’ birthday.

Despite the tragic ending for the Qing dynasty, nowadays, the Summer Palace is open to the public and is one of the most popular and prestigious landmarks in China, with thousands of tourists coming to visit everyday - each and every one exploring this magnificent garden which marked the glory and decay of the Chinese empire.

When Japan, on the day before Cixi’s birthday, ordered a surprise attack on the Beiyang fleet, the reduced and underfunded navy forces couldn’t access enough battleships and essential supplies which ultimately led to the defeat of the Battle of the Yalu River and the decay of the Qing dynasty.

“The total spending on the birthday was far more than the nation could afford “

s t i d e Cr utors

Contrib

Editors-

in-Chief

well Tino Bid n ha Louis C le ar C s Angu minic o D l Samue pta Arth Gu n anlo Sean H ishman e L Archie ice Felix Pr Rao Krishen -Knight ichards Ethan R rd Wray Edwa s Zhang Thoma

Samuel Dominic Krishen Rao

Art and f o d a e H Design Edward

Supe

rvisi

Mrs

Eng

ng E

Wray

el-H

dito

art

The Polyglot is a publication wholly produced and owned by Abingdon School, a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity (Charity No. 1071298). Copyright in all articles and images remains with the creators and owners of those works. Previously published images and other excerpts from published works are used under the terms of Fair Use or a Creative Commons licence.

THE

POLYGLOT 20