GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in his leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha; they had two sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo.

García Márquez started as a journalist, and wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magic realism, which uses magical elements and events in otherwise ordinary and realistic situations. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo (the town mainly inspired by his birthplace Aracataca), and most of them explore the theme of solitude.

COMMENTARY BY JULIO ORTEGA

García Márquez: ‘He is alive in our reading’

I was discussing with my class García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude when the news came to us. Gabo and Carlos Fuentes were most beloved authors at Spanish-speaking Brown. One student gave me the news in a terse email: "Gabo is back to Macondo.” She is right: He is alive in our reading.

Laughing like old friends
Former President Ruth Simmons met García Márquez in 2007, when she delivered an address at the University of Guadalajara.I always encourage students in my course on Gabriel García Márquez to write a well-crafted research paper, but some students produce other amazing creative work — short movies, photography, paitings, and once even some “magic realist” cooking in Macondo!

EASTER

EASTER

 

Easter is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide, or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

 Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, exclaiming thePaschal greeting, clipping the church and decorating Easter eggs, a symbol of the empty tomb. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter and are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians include egg hunting, the Easter Bunny, and Easter parades.

Easter celebrations around the world

Many Americans follow the tradition of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving baskets of candy. The Easter Bunny is a popular legendary anthropomorphic Easter gift-giving character analogous to Santa Claus in American culture. On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn for young children. New York City holds an annual Easter parade on Easter Sunday.

Some European and other countries in the world also have Easter Monday as a public holiday. In Canada, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. In province of Quebec, either Good Friday or Easter Monday (although most companies give both) are statutory holidays. Two days before Easter Sunday, on Good Friday, is a public holiday as well.

In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays.

In the Netherlands both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Like first and second Christmas Day they are both considered Sundays, which results in a first and a second Easter Sunday, after which the week continues to a Tuesday.

In the United States, Easter Sunday is a flag day  but because Easter falls on a Sunday, which is already a non-working day for federal and state employees, it has not been designated as a federal or state holiday.

Some retail stores, shopping malls, and restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday, although this practice is declining. Good Friday, which occurs two days before Easter Sunday, is a holiday in 12 states. Even in states where Good Friday is not a holiday, many financial institutions, stock markets, and public schools are closed.

 

HOLY WEEK

Holy Week in Colombia

Holy Week in Colombia

The Colombian people have deep roots in Catholicism.

In part, they express their beliefs through the splendor with which they celebrate Holy Week.

Many of this special week’s traditions date back to the colonial centuries.

During Holy Week, the Catholic religion commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is an entire ritual that congregates cities and towns and is proof of the religious spirit of the Colombian people.

Holy Week celebrations in Colombia run from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

During these eight days, all regular activities come to a stop and people devote themselves to staging the drama of Christ in a variety of interpretations that reflect the social and cultural history of each community.

Several cities stand out for their religious processions. The most famous Holy Week celebrations take place in Popayán, Mompox and Pamplona.

Live this holy week in peace!

SAINT PATRICK´S DAY

Saint Patrick's Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland.

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),  the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.^[6] Christians also attend church services, and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the world; especially in Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.