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CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE 2015 MADE IN LUXEMBOURG
Start date: Aug 1, 2015, End date: Feb 29, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The main purpose of the event is to bring together students and teachers from different European countries each year in another region to celebrate the rich variety of traditions relating to Christmas, in the areas of food, costumes, legends and music. This year's edition took place for the first time in Luxembourg, one of the institutional seats of EU. In December 2015, 60 students and 31 teachers from 14 countries gathered in Diekirch, a town hosting 92 different nationalities, which the delegations met during their stay through the different activities organized. This diversity was the starting point for a presentation of the different ways of celebrating Christmas as well as many exchanges on 'the importance to get united in diversity (to raise awareness about EU values)' as well as on tolerance, exclusion, racism and xenophobia. Moreover, all countries had been encouraged to take part in the event with at least one participant with disadvantaged backgrounds and/or fewer opportunities from either a social, economical, health, educational, cultural or geographical point of view to foster (as for the other participants) their inclusion, mobility and employability. The event provided, an opportunity for students and teachers to network with a view to future collaboration in terms of arranging student and teacher exchanges, and of planning participation in EU programs. The core part of the event was an exhibition built up in the large multi-purpose hall in Diekirch, where each delegation had to take care of the decoration of a stand with typical Christmas items from their regions and with an offer of small products for tasting from their country. They distributed documentation on their region and discussed with amazed visitors different Christmas customs in Europe. The hosting partner will above all organize an entertainment program together with other Luxemburgish schools or organizations (music from LEM, show cooking with chefs from LTHAH, …). The local Municipality also invited local primary schools to visit the exhibition on Friday with their pupils, thus giving them an opportunity to have a "European look" at Christas and its customs. Pupils seemed more than amazed. After the official opening of the exhibition to the public, the event continued with a Parade through the old city of Diekirch, to promote the event amongst the local population, in which the participants marched in their traditional Folk or Christmas clothes ( e.g. Saint Lucia for Sweden, Beffana for Italy, St Nicholas and Housécker for Luxembourg, St Nikolaus and Krampus for Austria, Father Frost and the Little Snow Child for Russia, aso) with their national flags and those of the AEHT and the Erasmus+ Program fluttering in the breeze along a route decided by the organizers ending up at the parish church for a group picture. This is followed by a religious Church Service without Eucharist, but with modern and traditional carols, for which attendance was free choice. On two evenings, always half of the delegations set up a European Buffet, where students prepared and served traditional food for Christmas from their region. The guests are the participants themselves as well as some VIPs as the Ambassador of Ireland, the members of the Council of Elders and the professionals who supported financially or materially the event. For the following day was scheduled a Cultural Program with presentations by each delegation on Christmas traditions (songs, music, dances, legends, sketches, ...) in their respective countries. A sociocultural program including a sports evening as well as a tourist program was offered to the participants during their stay to get even more acquainted with the hosting country and its traditions, the fortress of Luxembourg and the EU institutions as well as the Mullerthal and Moselle regions and products. At the end of the activities, an assessment session took place meant to help the AEHT to improve the organization and guarantee the smooth running of the event in future years by means of enhanced guidelines. Significant improvements of youngsters' vocational, linguistic, social, cultural and transversal skills as well as main key competences could be noticed. Through exchanges with their peers and new practical experiences, students also broadened their horizons, got more responsive to sociocultural diversity, develop their professional abilities and enhance their employability. These improvements were recorded in a Youthpass handed over to the participants. The AEHT Head Office disseminated the outcomes of the projects via its newsletter (http://www.aeht.eu/en/32-news/newsletter/574-newsletter-of-decembre-2015) and Internet site (http://www.aeht.eu/en/activities/christmas-in-europe/24thcristmas) as well as Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/aeht.eu/) to all 400 AEHT member schools and even not members. Other partners also contributed to the dissemination of outcomes through different media amongst their school comm

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