History of the Holidays Resources

Teachers if you did not know the History Channel has a great series on the history of the holidays.  They are wonderful especially if you are teaching Ancient and Medieval World History.  Each clip gives the origin of traditions but then connects it to modern day activities.  There are even readings that students can do to better understand what they see around them and participate in during various holidays.

Here is the link to the Christmas page:
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas

Teachers Sample International Delicacies

As the holiday season is around the corner, I feel that it is very appropriate that a friend of mine got to travel to Finland over Thanksgiving.  I have worked with Sandra for seven years and we have even traveled to Europe together.  Sharing the passions of history, travel, and University of Virginia athletic there is always something to talk about.  So, I could not wait to hear stories of her adventure to Scandinavia.  The big question was, did you eat reindeer? Her answer was of course yes.  She said it was a little tough and gamy.  She knows she ate it once but she thinks it was in a few other dishes that she did not recognize on her trip.  This is now a trend for us because a couple years ago another colleague, Jason, went to Peru for his honeymoon.  I decided it was very important for him to come and talk to my world history classes when we were on the subject of the Incas.  It was amazing to see his pictures of Machu Piccu, but the greatest reaction from students came with his story of eating guinea pigs.  The tradition is to select your guinea pig alive like you would a lobster here then the cooks take it inside and prepare the delicacy.   Probably my claim to fame as far as eating goes is the the haggis of Scotland.  On our honeymoon, my husband talked me into eating the sheep's stomach that housed its organs and some other lovely spices.  My impression was the same as Sandra and Jason's.  We are glad to have sampled the traditional dishes, but we will probably stay away from them in the future.

Below is an interesting website on cooking around the world.  Here is a recipe for reindeer:
The Global Gourmet