"CANÇÃO DO MAR" (Ocean Song): Dulce Pontes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSIGWEcR5Dc

Love is fire that burns without see

Love is fire that burns without see,
it´s wounded that aches, and no felt;
it´s a contentment discontents
it´s pain that renders crazy without aching.

It´s a not to want more than to want well
it´s a solitary walk between us
it´s never content itself of contented
it´s a take care that wins without in if losing

It´s want be imprisoned for will
it´s will serve to who is successful, the winner
it´s to have with who bush us, loyalty.

But how cause can your favor
in the human friendly hearts,
if so contrary itself it´s the same Love?

                            Luís de Camões    

LUÍS DE CAMÕES

Luís Vaz de Camões (1524 – June 10, 1580) is considered the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante.

He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work “Os Lusíadas “(The Lusiads).

Many details concerning the life of Camões remain unknown, but he is thought to have been born around 1524. His birthplace is unknown. Lisbon, Coimbra or Alenquer are frequently presented as his birthplace.

Camões, as his love poetry can attest, was a romantic and idealist. It was rumored that he fell in love with Catherine of Ataíde, lady-in-waiting to the Queen, and also the Princess Maria, sister of John III of Portugal. It is also likely that an indiscreet allusion to the king in his play El-Rei Seleuco, as well as these other incidents may have played a part in his exile from Lisbon in 1548. He traveled to the Ribatejo where he stayed in the company of friends who sheltered and fed him. He stayed in the province for about six months.

He enlisted in the overseas militia, and traveled to Ceuta in the fall of 1549. During a battle with the Moors, he lost the sight in his right eye. He eventually returned to Lisbon in 1551, a changed man, living a bohemian lifestyle. In 1552, during the religious festival of Corpus Christi, in the Largo do Rossio, he injured Gonçalo Borges, a member of the Royal Stables. Camões was imprisoned. His mother pleaded for his release, visiting royal ministers and the Borges family for a pardon. Released, Camões was ordered to pay 4,000 réis and serve three-years in the militia in the Orient.

He departed in 1553 for Goa on board the São Bento, commanded by Fernão Alves Cabral. The ship arrived six months later. In Goa, Camões was imprisoned for debt. He found Goa "a stepmother to all honest men" but he studied local customs and mastered the local geography and history. On his first expedition, he joined a battle along the Malabar Coast. The battle was followed by skirmishes along the trading routes between Egypt and India. The fleet eventually returned to Goa by November 1554. During his time ashore, he continued his writing publicly, as well as writing correspondence for the uneducated men of the fleet.

In 1570 Camões finally made it back to Lisbon, where two years later he published “Os Lusíadas”. In recompense for his poem or perhaps for services in the Far East, he was granted a small royal pension by the young and ill-fated Sebastian of Portugal (ruled 1557–1578).

In 1578 he heard of the appalling defeat of the Battle of Ksar El Kebir, where King Sebastian was killed and the Portuguese army destroyed. The Spanish troops were approaching Lisbon when Camões wrote to the Captain General of Lamego: "All will see that so dear to me was my country that I was content to die not only in it but with it". Camões died in Lisbon in 1580, at the age of 56. The day of his death, 10 June, is Portugal's national day. He is buried near Vasco da Gama in the Jerónimos Monastery in the Belém district of Lisbon.

Why do we call the people of Porto "TRIPEIROS"!



"In the year 1415, built on the banks of the Douro the ships and boats that were to lead the Portuguese, this year, the conquest of Ceuta, and later to the Epic of Discovery. The reason this project was secret and yards rumors were many and varied: some said that the vessels were intended to convey the Infanta Dona Helena to England, where she married, others said it was to bring the King John I to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Sepulcher. But there were still those who assert the feet close together that the fleet was intended to lead the Infants Pedro and Henry, to Naples to get married there ...
It was then that Prince Henry appeared unexpectedly at the Port to see the progress of work and, although pleased with the effort, thought it could do even more. And the Prince confided to master Vaz, trustee of construction, the true and secret reasons that were in their origin: the conquest of Ceuta. Asked the master and his men to greater efforts and sacrifices, Vaz master assured him they would do the same for the infant who had made some thirty years ago when the war with Castile, would give the city all the meat and eat only the casings . This sacrifice had valid even them the nickname "tripeiros”. Moved, Prince Henry then told him that the name "tripeiros" was a real honor for the people of Porto. The History of Portugal noted that most unusual of the heroic sacrifice "tripeiros" which contributed to the large fleet of Prince Henry Welsh seven and twenty ships, departed on their way to conquest of Ceuta. "
 



THE OLD LEGEND OF THE FISH-MAN

Once upon a time in Messina lived a man whose name was Colapesce (Colafish). His fingers were all linked together like those of waterbirds, he also had gills like a fish and every day he dived into the harbour waters to have fun.
One day the queen came to Messina and heard about this man who was so marvelous at swimming like a fish. The Queen wanted to believe in what they told her so she decided to test him.
She went by boat to a place on the sea called Garofalu, at Torre Faro, and said to him: "Here's a golden cup; I'm going to throw it into the sea and if you find it within an hour time, it will be yours."
After about an hour Colapesce dived into the sea and two hours later he emerged with the golden cup in his hand.
The Queen asked him what he had seen under the surface and Cola replied that there were two big caves which sucked sea-water and were connected to the Mongibello (the local name for Etna volcano).
Some days later, before leaving, the Queen called Colapesce and said to him:
"I'm going to throw another larger golden cup into the sea on condition that you go and see where the caves are exactly connected with the Mongibello." and Cola replied "Yes, your Majesty!"
The morning after the Queen returned and threw the cup into the sea.
Cola dived but he never came back and the Queen never knew the answer.

Note: the legend tells that, while swimming underwater Cola discovered that Sicily was supported by three columns. He saw that one of them was going to fall so he decided to sustain it himself and he remained there forever. That's why he never came back.

by Emy Barresi, Viviana Micalizzi, Anja Pisano, Ludovica Portovenero, Elisabetta Reni and Alessia Vita (Italy)

THE OLD MAN, THE YOUNG MAN AND THE FIRE

Today we start the publication of some ancient tales and legends of our respective regions.
The first one tells us about the origin of an old proverb which is very much used in Messina. In our Sicilian dialect it sounds like "u vecchiu/a vecchia avìa cent'anni e ancora avìa 'nsignari" which can translated into English: "the old man/woman was a hundred and still he had to learn"

Here's the story:
 Once upon a long ago they told there was a very old and wise man sitting by the fire. A young man passed and asked him: "Can you give me a little fire to light my fireplace?"
"Eh, my young man" the old man replied "I can give it to you but where can I put it if you haven't taken anything? Don't you know that fire burns?"
"Don't worry about this" the young man replied "give me the fire and I'll provide for the rest."
"Well, here you are" the old man said.
Do you know what the young man did? He filled the palm of his hand with ashes, put the lighted fire on and went away.
"Oh dear!" said the old man beating his forehead "I'm so old and with all my experience and years couldn't even imagine such a solution. It's really true: the more you live, the more you know.
And it was so that these words remained as a motto.


by Federica Barbaro, Irina Battiato, Roberta Di Paola and Francesco Greco (Italy)

LET'S START

Let's is a magic word: let's go, let's start, let's talk .... whenever we use it we feel we are not alone, we feel stronger, it's like "it's ok, we can do it together!" That's why we've called our etwinning project "let's share culture." With an idea in mind: culture. Culture is a legend, culture is music, culture is a poem, culture is a folk tale, culture is a traditional recipe, culture is a festival, it belongs to a people but it can be shared with anyone.

This year we want to share it with our partner school.

So let's start and .....

let's share culture!!!

Firstly let's us tell you who we are: well, we are a group of Italian and Portuguese students who have decided to catch the opportunity to follow a new and motivating way to learn offered by eTwinning.

Is there anyone who doesn't know eTwinning yet? It's part of Comenius, the well-known program of the UE for the development of Lifelong Learning. Consider that at the moment there are already more than 122,033 members all over the European Community.

Our project was born because two of our teachers were convinced it could give us the possibility to enlarge our knowledge in more fields.

First of all English competence. It's a "must" considering that the Italian among us don't speak Portuguese and the Portuguese don't understand Italian. So, if we want to communicate we have to use the common foreign language we study and to perfectionate it.

Then writing competence. Because we have to compose texts or articles about various topics related to our respective traditions and culture. It's a really stimulating activity that helps the development of our intercultural dialogue.

And then ICT competence. Because we publish our texts online so we have to learn how multimedial tools are correctly used.

What else? Ah, yes! The opportunity to learn a bit of our respective languages a so enrich our communicative skills. It's such an easy, amusing and natural way. And what can be better than learning and enjoying yourself at the same time?

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