Full name: Carlos Alberto Galvan Moreno

ID: 489655 Level: iv Group: 413 Date: 24/05/2020

TASK 1
Listening comprehension

1. Watch the following video and write some pieces of information of the following
festivals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l3WiwugNFE

- Holi (international)
Holi is one of the major festivals of Hindus. It is celebrated in South Asian countries,
especially in India and Nepal. Holi is the festival of colors. The festival is celebrated for
two to three days.Holi is celebrated in the spring season. Hindus believe that spring is
full of colors so they throw colored water on each other.

Holi is based on a legend about King Hiranyakaship. `Hiranyakashyap had a son,

Prahlad. Prahlad was the greatest devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashyap wanted to
kill his son, so he called his sister, Holika. She had a magic robe. This robe had the
power to save the wearer from burning in fire. Hiranyakashyap ordered his sister to sit
on a burning fire along with Prahlad. He thought that his sister would not be harmed by
the fire because of the magic robe and Prahlad would be burnt to death. But the result
was the opposite to what the evil demon king planned.

- Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany

The Oktoberfest is a German festival that takes place on the Theresienwiese, a public
place in the center of Munich. It is every year, from the end of September to the
beginning of October. It is a big social event. There is lots of eating and drinking. It is
on for sixteen days ending on the first Sunday in October. If this is the first or the
second, the festival is extended to the end on 3 October, the Day of German Unity. This
is the day when East Germany and West Germany joined into one country again in
1990.

- Carnival in Venice, Italy

The Carnival of Venice (Italian: Carnevale di Venezia) is an annual festival held in

Venice, Italy. The carnival ends with the Christian celebration of Lent, forty days
 before Easter, on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), the day before Ash
Wednesday. The festival is world-famous for its elaborate masks.
Speaking production

2. Record a video talking about any festival or carnival in Colombia. Give as many details
as possible.
IMPORTANT

· Your video must last not more than 2 minutes and not less than 1 minute and 30
seconds.
· You cannot read but if you took note, you can use the paper for supporting yourself.
· You must use the grammar structures we worked on during the semester. (present
simple- present perfect- past simple)
· You can do it during the class or you can share the video through a link.

Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGYbm98Lyc

TASK 2
3. Reading comprehension! Read the text Interesting Festivals around the world
Reading comprehension

Interesting Festivals
around the World
Festivals have been organized for thousands of years. A festival is an event celebrated by a
particular community, or the entire country, and it is centered on some particular tradition.

Most, but not all festivals serve to provide entertainment to the participants, so they tend to be
complemented with music or dance. The majority of festivals are religious or based on folklore.

A Brief History of Festivals

Both ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated festivals, many of which were associated with political
processes and social organization. One such festival was Saturnalia, which Romans organized in
honor of god Saturn. Saturnalia was traditionally celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of
Saturn, followed by a public banquet and a carnival.
Another early festival was established by an ancient Egyptian pharaoh (leader) in order to celebrate
his victory over the Libyans.

Considering the importance of food for every community, many festivals originate as agricultural
ceremonies, initially organized to either celebrate a good harvest, or hope for it. In the Alps, for
instance, the return of the cattle from the mountain is celebrated at the Almabtrieb festival.

Recently, the arts festivals took over all other kinds of festivals, as now every major city has at least
one music festival, in addition to theater, literary, science and film festivals.

Nearly all modern festivals are not contained to the local community anymore, but are open for
guests and tourists, who are expected to behave as the locals do and respect their traditions.

Holi, India

One of the oldest Indian festivals Holi is celebrated as a symbol of good over evil, the arrival of
spring and the end of winter. Also known as the Festival of Colors, this event lasts for a night and a
day, starting in the evening of a Full Moon Day, normally in February or March.

Holi celebrations begin with a performance of religious rituals in front of a big bonfire, hoping that
the prayers will destroy the internal evil. In the morning, people smear each other with colors, using
powder, water guns and water-filled balloons. Holi has become so popular that it is also celebrated
in other Southeast Asian countries.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival, Brazil

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is the biggest carnival in the world, dating back to 1723. With more
than 2 million people on the streets every single day, this carnival parade offers a real spectacle.
Held just before Lent starts, the festival officially lasts from Friday night until Wednesday morning,
but many Brazilians continue celebrating for a few days more.

A typical parade includes happy revelers, colorful floats, as well as performances by samba schools
– groups of local people dancing. The most famous dance is, of course, samba, a traditional
Brazilian dance influenced by African traditions. Each year, the Queen of the Carnival and up to
two princesses are pronounced publicly.

Pingxi Lantern Festival, Taiwan

Having started in 1990, this is a relatively young festival, celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first
month of the lunar calendar, at the very end of the Chinese New Year. Inspired by traditional
folklore, this ceremony lasts whole night, when thousands of sky lanterns light over the Pingxi
District in Taiwan. The lanterns are released to ward off the evil and let people know the town is
safe.

The main lanterns are always over ten meters tall and they normally reflect Chinese zodiac signs.
Each of them has its own theme music, which makes the whole performances even more magical.
In addition to the main lanterns, there are also hundreds of smaller ones, usually carried by children.
These lanterns portray images of historical figures or a specific theme.

La Tomatina, Spain

The biggest tomato fight you will ever see happens every year on the last Wednesday of August in
Bunol near Valencia, Spain. Since 1945, La Tomatina participants have traditionally been throwing
tomatoes at each other purely for entertainment purposes.

History suggests that the event started by accident – by youngsters attending the Gigantes y
Cabezudos festival with enormous figures with big heads. They grabbed some tomatoes from a
nearby stall and threw them at one of the giant figures who accidentally fell down.

The next year, these same young people came back with their own tomatoes and started a tomato
fight. Today, La Tomatina is so popular that tomatoes are delivered in big trucks for thousands of
people from all over the world.

Answer the following questions according to the text.

1. Where do the participants of La Tomatina get their tomatoes?

A. from trucks
B. from local kiosks
C. from home
2. Why do people pray on the first night of the Holi festival?
A. they have health problems
B. they hope it will destroy the evil
C. they wish for a prosperous year
3. Who usually carries smaller lanterns at the Pingxi Festival?
A. musicians
B. tourists
C. children
1. When is the Rio Carnival held?
A. before Lent
B. on Christmas
C. right after Brazilian Thanksgiving
4. How was Saturnalia celebrated?
A. by walking on fire
B. with fireworks
C. with a sacrifice and a banquet

Writing production

4. Write a text talking about any festival or carnival you have been in. (250 – 300 words
required). Think about:
· What is the festival about?
 · How long has it existed?
· What do people do during the festival or carnival?
· What happened last time you went there.

Carnaval de Barranquilla (Carnival of Barranquilla) in Colombia is the second largest carnival in

the world, surpassed only by Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.The carnaval of Barranquilla is
located on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. And its citizens are given a special four-day holiday to
celebrate their carnival.So, most of Barranquilla shuts down during the four days of carnival. Enjoy
the huge party in Barranquilla but read the insider tips in this guide before you go. Note the above
photos from Carnival are courtesy of Carnaval de Barranquilla. Not much is known about exactly
how and why carnival in Barranquilla began. The carnival reportedly originates from a combination
of pagan ceremonies, catholic beliefs and ethnic diversity. Barranquilla is a location where
European, African, and indigenous peoples and cultures converged.So, carnival is a blending of
various cultures and local traditions and permeates many aspects of the carnival, particularly the
dances and musical genres. Carnival in Barranquilla was at first considered a holiday for slaves, and
it grew over the years to be a major celebration of the region.The first notable date in the Carnival’s
history is 1888, when a figure known as King Momo emerged as a main character of Barranquilla’s
Carnival.I went to the carnaval in 2015 with my girlfriend, I had so much fun. People are nice and
fun, we drank lots of beer and dance all night, they also had really good food, I want to go back
with my family next year if all this pandemic is over.

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