Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The New World

We are watching the new movie recently released, 'The New World'.  Very good so far with excellent cinematography- everything, well done.

This movie really helps you envision what it was like when the colonist first arrived to the Americas.  Imagine what the Natives thought.  How sad for them because the European arrival marked the end of their existence.



Friday, October 4, 2013

LIFE IN EARLY CALIFORNIA

LIFE IN A SPANISH MISSION: We did a free form study on the subject.

Life in Spanish Mission.  Exercises for kids to sample lifestyle of Monks as they live a day in a life. Organized schedule, tending to agriculture, prayer, hymns, cooking, cleaining, grinding grains,  etc.  Practice silence during tasks.  Link here for more info:  SpanishMission

“The monk’s prayer did not, however, end at sundown. The entire monastic community was awakened after midnight for the most de- manding period of prayer, which lasted for at least two hours. Much of the period was spent singing.”
Monks haircuts were done to symbolize their dedication to Christ.
CHANT:  Listen while you cover this lesson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye-HAS7NUrE
48 minutes of music including bells intro.
Les Cloches means Bells

‘In most monastic churches a choir helped lead the chanting of prayers. Until about the year A.D. 800, church music held to an early Christian tradition of being a purely sung, or vocal, music. This type of vocal music is called plainchant. It did not include in- struments and had a style that consisted of melody alone, without accompaniment. Sometimes plainchant is called “Gregorian chant”, after Pope Gregory I, a scholar and a church leader. Gregor- ian chants are very simple melodies sung in Latin, which communicate the beliefs of the church.’
San Luis Rey Mission
California’s ECONOMY and How it Changed When the Spanish Came:

Hunter-Gathering to Agriculture and Farming
Missions used the labor of the Native Americans and organized agricultural practices and produced food and goods not only to sustain themselves but also to use for trade.
Note the clothing style with Spanish and Western migration infuence.
Scholars believe there were 10-over 100 million natives in the Americas before Columbus came.  Then they started to die with the period sometimes called, 'The Great Dying' which occured when the Europeans (Spanish) brought diseases.  The Natives didn't have immunity to the sicknesses so millions died.