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Project Improving Basic Skills Through Cultural Exchange
Our Comenius Project: Improving Basic Skills Through Cultural Exchange is included in the European Commission projects, The Comenius Programme focuses on all levels of school education, from pre-school and primary to secondary schools. It is relevant for everyone involved in school education: mainly pupils and teachers but also local authorities, representatives of parents’ associations, non-government organisations, teacher training institutes and universities. We worked in a multilateral partnership with: Turquia, Bulgária, Itália, Polónia e Portugal. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES • To develop knowledge and understanding among young people and educational staff of the diversity and value of European cultures and languages; • Helping young people acquire skills and basic life skills necessary for their personal development, their future employment and active European citizenship. Operational Objectives• Improve the quality and increase the volume of mobility involving pupils and educational staff in different Member States of the European Union; • Improve the quality and increase the volume of partnerships between schools in different Member States of the European Union, intending to participate in at least three million pupils in joint educational activities during the period of the Lifelong learning program; • encourage the learning of modern foreign languages; • Support the development of content, services, pedagogies and practice innovative, based on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the field of lifelong learning; • Enhance the quality and European dimension of teacher training; • to support improvements in pedagogical approaches and school management. Our aim is to show a collection of legends, from our five countries:

Turkish Legends
=Harput Castle= Harput castle fortress of a name is called Milk Castle This castle has an interesting story of the foundations of the castle walls of the castle starts to rise that year, starting discarded water shortages are not a cure is very abundant in milk of animals in the same year, unlike the water scarcity of time gives the orders from the ruler of the milk will be used for mortar. Animals was milked, mortar was mixed with milk, the castle is completed. =Cayda Cira, Elazig= The CaydaCira dance is easy to recognize for its distinction that it is performed with the dancers holding small plates with lit candles. Part of the Cayda Cira dances also depict a groom being prepared for his impending wedding, as well as the henna night held for the bride before the wedding. There are two theories to the origin of the Cayda Cira dances. The first theory tells the story of a boy and a girl from tribes along the Elazig streams fall in love and communicate with each other by lighting candles. The boy would swim across the stream towards the candle lit by the girl. One night, they both light their candles as usual, however the strong currents drag the boy away. Desperate and heartbroken, the girl throws herself to the stream when she can’t find her love. Rumor has it that the Cayda Cira songs and music were written after this tragic event. The second theory also involves a boy, a girl, and a wedding. In the 18th century, the “aga” (leader) of one village along the streams in Elazig has bethrothed his daughter to the son of another aga. A big wedding is planned, and celebrations occur for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of the wedding, during the henna night, the full moon is unexpectedly eclipsed and it becomes pitch black. Believing that this is bad luck for the newlywed couple, the mother of the groom stacks all available candles on plates, lights them, and starts dancing holding the lit candles, encouraging others to dance with her. The sight is so joyous that the musicians sitting on the other side of the stream also join in the celebrations and this is how the Cayda Cira music and dances are born “Çayda Çıra” from the Elazig region in Eastern Anatolia is performed by young girls dressed in silver and gold embroidered kaftans who dance in the dark with lighted candles in their hands.

Polish Legends
=The legend of Świętokrzyskie witches= The belief in and the practise of magic has been present since the earliest human cultures and continues to have an important religious and medicinal role in many cultures today. No other region in Poland is so heavily saturated with magic and exposed to so many mysterious forces as in the Świętokrzyskie Region. Here, on Bald Mountain, the witches met with devils. During the famous sabbaths, by the light of bonfires, feasting took place, at which gathered witches held their ritual, magic dances. Among the assembled were virgins and married women of different ages and states connected to one desire - exploring the magic, mysterious places. During those meetings, devils and witches had hellish merry-making and dancing. No one of ordinary humans dared to approach the place. Fiendish laughts, dreadful spells and spectral appearance of the participants could have scared fatally. Probably the most obvious characteristic of witches was the ability to cast a spell, "spell" being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of runes or sigils on an object to give it magical powers; by the immolation or binding of a wax or clay image (poppet) of a person to affect him or her magically; by the recitation of incantations; by the performance of physical rituals; by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions; by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula (scrying) for purposes of divination; and by many other means. The witches lived among the inhabitants of surrounding villages. They looked like ordinary women. Only at night the diabolic sisters got on their brooms or shovels and went to the top of Bald Mountain. Witches reputedly travelled to the sabbath by smearing themselves with special ointment that enabled them to fly through the air. Humans were always afraid of witches because they could send down various diseases and death on people and animals, bring storms on, poison food and water and take away love from husbands and fiances.

Portuguese legends
=The Piadade’s Villa Romeo&Juliet= Everything has happened on the banks of the Dead Lord Chapel’s, on the Piedade´s Villa. They were a young couple from Vialonga, Santa Iria. Their love was intense, but as the story of Romeo and Juliet, the family did not accept the romance. To end the suffering, the couple decided to put an end to their life in the Chapel. According to Custodio Ribeiro, the shots were heard by a man who lived in the villa, he ran to the place to help but the couple was already dead. This is only a legend like Romeo and Juliet that had given in Piade’s Villa, their last gasp... =Stone Soup= A friar was in a public collection. He came to a farmer’s door, they didn’t want to give him alms. But the monk was starving; he almost couldn’t hold himself, so he told: - I'll see if I make a stone soup! And picked up a stone from the ground, it shook the earth from it, and stood looking at her, to see if it was good to make a soup. The house owners looked at him and started laughing about his idea. -The friar asked: -So, you never ate stone soup? All I can say is that is very a good thing. They answered: -We really want to see that! That was what the friar wanted to hear. After having washed the stone, he asked: -If you could borough me a pot. They gave him a pot, he filled it with water and poured the stone into it. -Now, if you let me put the pot around the coals. They left. Once the pan began to sizzle, he replied: - With a bit of grease, the soup was a masterpiece! They went and got him a bit of grease. Boiled, boiled, and the people of the house startled by what we’re seeing. Said the friar, tasting the soup: - It is a bit insipid. It needed a pebble of salt. They also gave him the salt. Seasoned, tasted and said: -Now, with some cabbage, the soup will taste so good, that even the angels would eat. The landlady went to the garden and brought him two tender cabbages. The friar wiped them and ripped them with his fingers, throwing the leaves into the pot. When the cabbages were already cooked, the monk said: - Oh, a piece of cured sausage would give it a better taste. They brought him a piece of cured sausage. He putted it into the pan, while the soup was baking, he took a piece of bread from is bag, and prepared himself for starting to eat. The soup smelled wonderfully. He ate and licked the lips! Once poured the pot, was the rock at the bottom. The people of the house, who had his eyes on him, asked: -Hey! Sir. Friar! What about the stone? The friar replied: -The stone. I wash it and take it with me again for another time….

Italian legends
=The Legend of the Baron Palace= In the centre of Scanzano Jonico there is a beautiful building called 'The Baron Palace' built a few centuries ago. It has belonged to several owners and also to the Baron Pedro de Toledo. People tell a legend of the palace and the Baron's daughter who was called Accettura. They say that the young lady had a love-affair with the son of a farmer. The Baron did not agree with this love story and threatened both of them repeatedly. One day, during one of these rows, Accettura was seriously wounded with a knife by her father who then entombed her, still alive, in one of the walls of an underground room in the palace. The following day her mother, worried that she could not find her daughter, began to suspect her husband. The Baron then killed his wife as well before jumping from a terrace of the palace and killing himself. The legend tells that the spirit of Accettura wanders around the rooms of the building looking for revenge. Some people say that, while visiting the palace, they have heard the shouts of a woman coming from the exact cellar of the building Accettura is said to have been buried in. Other people say that they have heard the moaning of a young lady or strange noises coming from some rooms of the palace even though nobody was there.

= The Monachicchio= This is the story of a little spirit in the form of a gnome that enjoys having fun with people. The origin of the legend comes from Lucanian Folklore and also from the ancient history of Rome, where they considered the spirits to be protectors of houses and families. According to the legend the Monachicchio is the spirit of a child who died before his baptism. His great power lies in the big red hat (u'cuppulicch) that he wears all the time. The Monachicchio appears to adults but mostly to children with whom he plays games and chases arround. If you take his big red hat the spirit will lose his powers and will beg, plead, and promise to show you the secret places where he keeps his treasure hidden underground just to get it back. The Monachicchio lives in a cave full of gold and treasure and when you steal his hat you can take the gold coins hidden inside. He plays pranks on you like tickling your feet while you sleep, pulling the bed clothes off you and licking the faces of young girls etc. Even the writer Carlo Levi in his book on Basilicata, talks about the Monachicchio and his funny and insufferable adventures

Bulgarian legends
=Orpheus and Eurydice= In Thrace, the river God Oeagrus and the muse Calliope had a son, who they called Orpheus. While his coevals were running and practicing bow shooting or javelin-throw, Orpheus was spending hours enraptured in the birdsongs and the rest of the time he was playing the lyre. His melodious songs filled the field and the mountain and soon his fame as a matchless singer spread everywhere. Not only people stopped half their way, bewitched by Orpheus’ amazing voice. The trees around him bowed down their branches, their leaves stopped whispering. From near and far forests birds came flying, left their nests, and were rapt to the tender sounds of the lyre. Even the rocks trembled because of the divine songs. Once Orpheus met the forest nymph Eurydice in the forest, he was head over heels in love with her and married her. But their happiness didn’t last long. One wonderful spring morning Eurydice went to play with her friends – the nymphs on a meadow studded with flowers. The sun showered the ground with shinning warmth, the flowers emitted heady fragrance. The nymphs chased each other and their laugh and songs resounded in the sunlit forest. Suddenly Eurydice screamed out because of pain – as she was running in the flowering meadow, she trod on a snake, which bit with its venom-teeth her leg. Scared, the nymphs ran up to Eurydice, but it was too late. Once Orpheus met the forest nymph Eurydice in the forest, he was head over heels in love with her and married her. But their happiness didn’t last long. He went down to the sacred river Styx, through a deep precipice. No other living person could pass it over – on the other river-bank there was the dark Kingdom of the Dead and the ferryman Charon ferried only their immaterial shadows. Then Orpheus pulled the strings of his lyre. The severe ferryman listened to the sad song and didn’t understand how Orpheus had walked in his boat and how he had ferried him across the dark river. The singer stood in front of Hades and Persephone and unburdened his heart in a song. Tears appeared in the eyes of the strict Gods. They were touched and Hades said, ’All right, we will return Eurydice in your life, but on one condition: until you go out of my kingdom, she will walk after you. Bear in mind, you must not turn back to see her. If you do this, you will lose her forever!’ They set for the Earth across the Kingdom of the Dead. There was death silence and impenetrable darkness. However hard he tried to catch the sound of her footsteps, he couldn’t hear anything. He wondered whether she kept walking after him. What if she had remained somewhere back on the road? Why should he go back to life, if she were not with him? The sunbeams started to pierce the darkness – the Kingdom of the Living was near. Then Orpheus couldn’t help turning back to see if Eurydice was with him. He saw her immaterial shadow, he stretched out his arms to embrace her, but in a moment she flew away and was lost forever in the impenetrable darkness of the Underworld.

These legends were collect by students from the oral tradition from each country or city.