Coulrophobia: All about the clown phobia

With his big red nose, his multicoloured make-up and his extravagant attire, the clown marks the spirits during childhood, by his comical side. However, he can also represent a frightening image for some people. Coulrophobia, or phobia of clowns, is nowadays widely reported in novels and films.

What is coulrophobia?

The word "coulrophobia" comes from the ancient Greek, coulro meaning acrobat on stilts, and phobia, fear. Coulrophobia thus refers to the unexplained fear of clowns. Classified as a specific phobia, this fear of clowns stems from a single source of anxiety related to the clown, and cannot be caused by another phobia.

Like any phobia, the subject may experience, in the presence of the object of fear

• nausea
• digestive problems
• accelerated heart rate
• excessive sweating
• possibly an anxiety attack
• panic attack
• ploys to avoid the presence of clowns.

What causes the fear of clowns?

There are several reasons that can explain the phobia of clowns:

1. The impossibility of deciphering a person's face, which is then perceived as threatening: this is the most "rational" reason, as it is linked to the fear of appearance, which is archaic in humans, and considered a survival reflex. It signifies an inability to analyse others because their features are hidden by make-up or a mask, which is seen as a potential danger;
2. A traumatic fear experienced in childhood or adolescence: an event experienced in the past can leave such a mark that we develop a phobia, often unconsciously. A relative in disguise who frightened us at a birthday party, or a masked person at a party, for example, can cause coulrophobia;
3. Finally, the impact that popular culture has on scary clowns and other masked characters (the Joker in Batman, the murderous clown in Stephen King's saga, "it"...) is not insignificant in the development of this phobia. This may concern adults more, and without directly developing a phobia, maintain an already present fear.

How to overcome coulrophobia?

As is often the case with phobias, the origin of the fear must be sought. This can be done using one of the following techniques:

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is available to help you overcome your fears. In this therapy, the patient and a therapist try to confront the object of his or her fear through practical exercises based on the patient's behaviour and reactions. In this way, one becomes familiar with the object of fear (the clown, the image of a circus, a masked birthday party, etc.), desensitising the fear.

Neuro-linguistic programming

NLP allows different approaches to treatment. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) will look at the way humans function in a given environment, based on their behavioural patterns. By using certain methods and tools, NLP will help the individual to change their perception of the world around them. This will change their initial behaviours and conditioning, by operating in the structure of their world view. In the case of a phobia, this method is particularly suitable.

EMDR

EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, uses sensory stimulation through eye movements, but also through auditory or tactile stimuli.

This method allows the stimulation of a complex neuropsychological mechanism present in each of us. This stimulation allows us to reprocess moments experienced as traumatic and not digested by our brain, which can be at the origin of very disabling symptoms, such as phobias.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis is finally an effective tool to find the origins of the phobia and thus seek solutions. The patient is dissociated from the phobia, in order to regain more flexibility in daily life. Ericksonian hypnosis can also be tried: a brief therapy, it can be used to treat anxiety disorders that escape psychotherapy.

Curing it in children... and adults

It is possible to start desensitising a fear at an early stage, especially in children, who have been made to feel insecure by clowns or masked people.

For them, the fear is mainly a lack of experience of the situation they are encountering: it is therefore a question of gently confronting situations experienced as stressful, without rushing or fleeing, by gradually desensitising the traumatic experience.

In some cases, the fear of clowns can be reduced without any particular treatment once the child has left. For others, who will keep this phobia into adulthood, they may choose a behavioural method to remedy it, and why not watch films about frightening clowns, in order to make the difference between "bad" fictional characters, and clowns encountered in the past or in everyday life, of the order of a funny and amusing character.

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Cómo usar To y for - Diferencias

Gramática Inglesa - English Grammar - Recursos Educativos en inglés

To y for son de esas palabras difíciles de usar. Son especialmente problemáticas en la escritura, incluso para quienes tienen un buen nivel de inglés.

To y For suelen ser preposiciones, pero no siempre. Por ejemplo, podemos utilizar TO para marcar el infinitivo de un verbo. To play significa jugar, en infinitivo. También los utilizamos a veces para crear verbos compuestos (los famosos phrasal verbs, como look for, plan for, etc.).

Tomemos un primer ejemplo:

She want work to earn money. Ella quiere trabajar para ganar dinero.
This is for you. Esto es para ti

Podemos ver la diferencia aquí: en un caso, hay un verbo (earn). En el otro caso, hay un sustantivo, o grupo de sustantivos (for you).

Esta es la primera regla:

Cuando queramos expresar la meta, el motivo, el objetivo, el objeto, pondremos:

TO + Verbo o FOR + sustantivo

Hay una excepción:

Podremos ver FOR + verbo en ING, cuando hablemos del uso de un objeto. Por ejemplo, al responder a la pregunta "What is it for ?" It’s a mug, it’s for drinking coffe. ¿Para qué sirve? Es una taza, es para beber café.

La segunda regla, se refiere principalmente al TO:

Cuando haya una noción de transferencia, o de dirección con movimiento, utilizaremos To.

1. Give this to María.
2. I’m going to Spain tomorrow.
3. Please, talk to me.

En su defecto, diremos:

This present is for María. Es un estado, no existe la noción de transferencia.

Regla 2: Noción de transferencia, de movimiento, utilizaremos TO.

Hasta aquí las dos formas principales de elegir entre To y For.

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• Cómo usar Can y Could - Verbos modales
• Cómo preguntar y expresar la posesión en inglés
• Cómo usar May y might - Verbos modales
• Conditionals in English - El condicional en Inglés
• Adjetivos y pronombres demostrativos en Inglés
• Pronombres Posesivos en inglés - Possessive Pronouns
• Adjetivos Posesivos en Inglés - Possessive adjectives
• ¿Cómo aprender inglés fácil y desde casa?
• Plural de los sustantivos en inglés
• Many more, a lot more y Much more. Usos en inglés
• ¿Qué son los phrasal verbs en inglés? Los más usados
• Cómo expresar opiniones en inglés
• Uso de whose en inglés - Pronombres relativos
• Who, which y that - Pronombres Relativos en inglés
• Was going to - El futuro en el pasado
• DO y MAKE en inglés ¿Cuáles son las diferencias?
• Cuándo usar Since, For, Ago: ¿Cuáles son las diferencias?
• The Gerund - El gerundio en inglés
• El Imperativo en Inglés - Imperative
• El comparativo y el superlativo en inglés
• Preguntas con WH-Questions 01 - What, where, why, who
• Preguntas con WH-Questions 02 - When, Which, Whose, How
• Cómo expresar cantidades en inglés
• Adjectives - Los Adjetivos en Inglés
• Uso de some / any acompañando nombres contables/incontables
• Modal verbs - Verbos modales en inglés
• El tiempo futuro en inglés
• Present Perfect Progressive - Presente perfecto progresivo
• Present perfect - El presente perfecto inglés
• Pretérito progresivo o continuo en inglés
• Simple past - El pretérito o pasado simple en inglés
• Presente continuo - Forma Afirmativa - English grammar
• Presente continuo - Forma Negativa
• Puntuación en inglés - All about punctuation in English
• Los verbos Auxiliares en inglés - Auxiliary Verbs
• Verbos irregulares en inglés, la lista que debes conocer
• Cómo decir la fecha en inglés - How to say the date in English
• Construir frases simples - To build a simple sentence
• Nombres contables e incontables en inglés
• Presente continuo - Forma Interrogativa
• Cómo Preguntar y decir el precio en inglés

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Cómo usar May y might - Verbos modales

Gramática Inglesa - English Grammar - Recursos Educativos en inglés

May y might son modales que tienen varios significados, dependiendo del contexto. Te lo contamos a continuación.

Uso de May

La mayoría de las veces la utilizamos para expresar la incertidumbre, o la probabilidad. Si no estamos seguros de que un acontecimiento vaya a ocurrir, si no estamos seguros de una verdad, etc., lo utilizamos para expresar nuestra incertidumbre.

Ejemplos:

• I may go to the cinema tomorrow. Puede que vaya al cine mañana.
• Anna may come to eat with us. Puede que Anna venga a comer con nosotros.

No confundas may be con la palabra maybe, que significa "quizás, tal vez". May seguido del verbo be, es diferente de la palabra maybe.

• I may be happy tomorrow. Puede que mañana sea feliz
• Maybe I’m going to be happy tomorrow. Tal vez mañana sea feliz.

Otro uso de may: Hacer una pregunta de forma muy educada.

• May I borrow your pencil please? ¿Me presta su lápiz, por favor?

Se trata de una petición expresada amablemente.

• May I ask you a question please?

May también se utiliza para hacer un rechazo muy definitivo.

• Por ejemplo: You may not speak here, significa que está absolutamente prohibido hablar aquí.
• You may not do this! - ¡No puedes hacer esto!

En resumen, hay tres significados principales para May:

• Para expresar la incertidumbre.
• Para hacer una petición educada.
• Para expresar una prohibición categórica.

Uso de Might

El primer significado de might es muy cercano al primer significado de may:

Para expresar la incertidumbre

En este nivel, may y might son sinónimos.

• He might call us back, but I’m really not sure. So maybe we should call him. Puede que nos llame, pero no estoy seguro. Así que tal vez deberíamos llamarlo.

También podríamos haber dicho "He may call us back". El significado habría sido similar.

• I might go to the beach with you, but I still have to go shopping. Puede que vaya a la playa contigo, pero todavía tengo que ir de compras.

Para hacer una pregunta (muy) educada:

Por último, al igual que podemos utilizar may en una pregunta educada, también podemos utilizar might en una pregunta para hacer una petición aún más educada.

 Might I ask you a question?

En resumen:

• Para expresar incertidumbre, may y might tienen el mismo significado.
• Para hacer una petición cortés o muy cortés: MAY es educado, MIGHT es aún más educado.
• Para expresar una negativa categórica: podemos utilizar may not.

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• Cómo preguntar y expresar la posesión en inglés
• Conditionals in English - El condicional en Inglés
• Adjetivos y pronombres demostrativos en Inglés
• Pronombres Posesivos en inglés - Possessive Pronouns
• Adjetivos Posesivos en Inglés - Possessive adjectives
• ¿Cómo aprender inglés fácil y desde casa?
• Plural de los sustantivos en inglés
• Many more, a lot more y Much more. Usos en inglés
• ¿Qué son los phrasal verbs en inglés? Los más usados
• Cómo expresar opiniones en inglés
• Uso de whose en inglés - Pronombres relativos
• Who, which y that - Pronombres Relativos en inglés
• Was going to - El futuro en el pasado
• DO y MAKE en inglés ¿Cuáles son las diferencias?
• Cuándo usar Since, For, Ago: ¿Cuáles son las diferencias?
• The Gerund - El gerundio en inglés
• El Imperativo en Inglés - Imperative
• El comparativo y el superlativo en inglés
• Preguntas con WH-Questions 01 - What, where, why, who
• Preguntas con WH-Questions 02 - When, Which, Whose, How
• Cómo expresar cantidades en inglés
• Adjectives - Los Adjetivos en Inglés
• Uso de some / any acompañando nombres contables/incontables
• Modal verbs - Verbos modales en inglés
• El tiempo futuro en inglés
• Present Perfect Progressive - Presente perfecto progresivo
• Present perfect - El presente perfecto inglés
• Pretérito progresivo o continuo en inglés
• Simple past - El pretérito o pasado simple en inglés
• Presente continuo - Forma Afirmativa - English grammar
• Presente continuo - Forma Negativa
• Puntuación en inglés - All about punctuation in English
• Los verbos Auxiliares en inglés - Auxiliary Verbs
• Verbos irregulares en inglés, la lista que debes conocer
• Cómo decir la fecha en inglés - How to say the date in English
• Construir frases simples - To build a simple sentence
• Nombres contables e incontables en inglés
• Presente continuo - Forma Interrogativa
• Cómo Preguntar y decir el precio en inglés

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Recipe for Mona de Pascua - Easter

Cooking recipes - How to Mona de pascua recipe?

Mona de Pascua is a typical recipe for Holy Week and Easter in many Spanish regions, such as Valencia, Catalonia, Murcia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands. It is usually a tradition that the godfather gives the mona to his godchild on Easter Sunday and that several families get together on Easter Monday to eat the mona together.

How to make homemade Mona de Pascua

Ingredients:

• 500 g flour
• 1 sachet of dry baker's yeast (12 g) or 25 g of fresh yeast (if you can't find yeast, you can substitute it with 1 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and the juice of ½ lemon)
• 1/4 litre of warm milk
• 100 g melted butter
• 80 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt

To "paint" the dough

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of milk

For the decoration

• Coloured anisettes, chocolate balls, sultanas, cherries for decoration, sliced almonds...
• Boiled eggs painted with food colouring or chocolate eggs.

Steps for making mona de pascua:

1. Put the flour in a bowl. Add the dry yeast and mix well with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients: the butter (previously melted in the microwave), the milk, the sugar, the egg and a pinch of salt.
2. If you do not have yeast: mix the flour, butter, sugar, milk, egg and a pinch of salt. Once the mixture is homogeneous, add the juice of half a lemon and a spoonful of bicarbonate and again stir well to mix everything together.
3. Knead it and shape the dough into a round shape with your hands, leaving a dough like the one in the image.
4. Cover the bowl with a cloth and put it in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at a maximum temperature of 50 degrees, leaving the oven door ajar with a wooden spoon, until we see that the dough has risen, that is, that it has visibly increased in volume. It can also be heated in the microwave by covering the bowl with a damp cloth at 80-90 watts for about 8 minutes.
5. While the dough is rising, cover a baking tray with baking paper. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 4 or 5 parts depending on the number of "monas" you want to make and the size. Here we have to let our imagination run wild to shape the dough into the figures we want: A rabbit, a turtle, a nest, a plait, but you can make as many as you can think of, decorating with coloured balls, painted boiled eggs, slivered almonds, sugar...
6. Put them in the oven for another 10 minutes at a maximum temperature of 50 degrees, so that the dough continues to rise. Once we have our figures ready, we mix an egg yolk with a spoonful of milk and paint the monkeys with this mixture, so that they brown in the oven. We add any decoration we can think of to finish our figures, for example, we use sultanas for the eyes, a cherry for the nose, coloured balls, chocolate balls and sliced almonds to decorate.
7. With our figures ready and decorated, we put them in the oven preheated to 200º for about 25-30 minutes, until we see that they are ready and have taken a suitable colour.
8. Take them out of the oven, leave them to cool, add the painted or chocolate eggs as decoration and our Easter cakes are ready to eat. Aren't they "cute"?
9. To eat them, we can spread them with butter, jam, a bit of cheese... Accompanied by a hot chocolate, we have a great breakfast or snack for Easter, or for any occasion.

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Recipe for pestiños with honey or sugar

Cooking recipes - How to pestiños?

Have you ever tasted pestiños? This Andalusian sweet, traditional at Easter and other important festivities, dates back to the 16th century, although its origin is probably much older.

Pestiños are usually eaten at Christmas or Easter. In Spain it is traditional to eat them along with other Easter sweets, such as torrijas, leche frita, the traditional Mona de Pascua, and other culinary delights.

How to make homemade pestiños with honey or sugar

Ingredients Andalusian pestiños (fritters):

• 1 glass (250 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 glass (250 ml) of white wine
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 750 g flour
• Extra virgin olive oil for frying
• Sugar for coating

Steps for making pestiños:

1. Put the glass of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan with the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel.
2. Fry over a low heat to prevent the oil from burning.
3. Let the oil cool, remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick and put the oil in a large bowl.
4. Add the glass of wine, the salt and a little flour and mix well.
5. We add the flour little by little, at the end we will have to continue kneading with our hands.
6. Knead for about five minutes until you obtain a very soft dough.
7. This dough is very easy to handle thanks to the oil, it does not stick at all.
8. Form small balls by hand, roll out very well with a rolling pin, it should be very thin.
9. Join two sides and press the two doughs together well, joining them again, this is very important as otherwise they will open when frying.
10. Fry in plenty of extra virgin olive oil until golden on both sides.
11. Remove and place on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
12. Before they cool, coat them in sugar.

Andalusian pestiños with honey

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small glass of mild olive oil
• A dash of sweet wine
• A dash of sweet aniseed
• 1 tablespoon of aniseed
• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
• 250 g wheat flour
• 150 g honey
• Water
• Lemon or orange peel

Preparation:

1. Put the lemon or orange zest in the oil and remove it when the oil starts to bubble. Then add the aniseed seeds. Turn off the heat and allow the oil to cool completely. Mix the oil with the sweet wine, sweet aniseed, sesame seeds, a pinch of salt and flour. Add the flour little by little, at the end you will have to continue kneading with your hands.
2. Knead for about five minutes until the dough is very smooth.
3. The dough needs to rest for half an hour. Form small balls by hand, roll out very well with a rolling pin, it should be very thin.
4. Join two sides and press the two doughs together well, this is important so that they do not open when frying. Fry in plenty of hot oil and remove on absorbent paper to absorb the excess oil. Prepare a syrup in a casserole with 150 g of honey and three spoonfuls of water, and once it starts to boil, turn off the heat. Dip the pestiños in this syrup, one at a time, using a spoon, and place on a tray. Leave for about two hours to cool completely.

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Recipe for Torrijas Traditional, baked and vegan

Cooking recipes - How to Torrijas?

Today we suggest you prepare the classic homemade torrijas at home so that the whole family can enjoy this very Spanish sweet. Your children can help to coat them in sugar and cinnamon. We are also going to see other torrijas recipes and also the recipe without eggs or milk.

Ingredients Torrijas of milk:

• One loaf of bread from the previous day, cut into slices of about 1.5 cm
• 4 eggs
• 1 litre of milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• A piece of lemon peel and a piece of orange peel.
• A stick of cinnamon stick
• A teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• Oil for frying: 3/4 litre.

Steps for making torrijas of milk:

1. In a saucepan, heat the milk with half the sugar, the orange and lemon peel and the cinnamon stick, stirring with a spoon to dilute the sugar.
2. Before it comes to the boil, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes to allow the flavours to blend.
3. Then dip the slices of bread in the milk for about ten or twelve seconds.
4. Remove and set aside on a plate.
5. Heat the oil for frying.
6. While the oil is heating, beat the eggs.
7. Dip the slices of bread in the egg.
8. When the oil is hot, fry the torrijas.
9. When they are golden brown on both sides, remove them on absorbent paper.
10. Put them in a bowl where you can leave them to bathe in the milk, to which you have added the cinnamon powder and dissolved the rest of the sugar.
11. Keep in the fridge and consume preferably within three days.

** Instead of sugar and cinnamon you can sprinkle the torrijas with honey diluted with water.

And if you don't want to fry the torrijas... ⇓

How to make torrijas in the oven:

1. Preheat the oven on grill function at 250º C, with the rack in the middle.
2. Line a baking dish with baking paper.
3. Carefully place the torrijas in the baking dish after dipping them in the egg.
4. Bake for about 4-5 minutes, carefully turn them over and continue baking for a further 4 minutes.
5. The baking time is approximate, keep an eye on the torrijas, when you see them golden brown you can remove them from the oven.

Once the torrijas are baked, transfer them to a serving dish and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. This would be the most traditional version, but we are going to tell you a trick that we are sure you will like so that your torrijas are very juicy, which is to substitute the sugar and cinnamon for a few spoonfuls of the infused milk from the beginning, sprinkling the torrijas lightly over the top. I assure you that you will love them.

• It is advisable to soak the torrijas while the milk is still hot, so that they hydrate better, but be careful because they can also break easily. Use a spatula to help you transfer them to the serving dish.
• You can prepare a syrup with 300 g of water and sugar to taste, let it boil until the sugar dissolves and you can flavour the syrup with a cinnamon stick while it boils. When you remove the torrijas from the oven, use a brush to dip them a little in the syrup. This step is important if you want them to be a little juicier, as they are a little drier than the traditional ones when they are baked and not fried.
• When you take them out you can also sprinkle them with a few spoonfuls of the infused milk mixture, you will see how delicious they are!
• Baked torrijas can be served with a nice bowl of hot chocolate or a cup of coffee.

Vegan torrijas without eggs and milk (easy baked recipe)

If someone in your family is vegan, or has an allergy or intolerance to eggs or milk, we also have a recipe especially for them. Check out the recipe for egg-free and dairy-free vegan torrijas.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of bread from the day before
• 1/2 litre almond milk or other vegetable milk
• peel of 2 lemons
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 teaspoon egg substitute
• 1/2 glass of water
• 150 g fructose
• Ground cinnamon
• Butter (to grease the baking tin)

How to make egg-free and dairy-free torrijas suitable for vegans

1. Grease a baking tray with butter.
2. Cut the bread into slices of about 1-2 cm.
3. Heat the almond milk, together with 50 g fructose, 1 cinnamon stick and the peel of 1 lemon, avoiding the white inner part because it is bitter.
4. When the almond milk is hot, soak the slices of bread (they should not be excessively soaked, so that they do not fall apart).
5. Put the egg substitute in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water or vegetable milk, and dip the slices of bread in the mixture. If you prefer, they can also be coated in chickpea flour diluted in water.
6. Place the bread on the reserved tray and bake in a preheated oven at 170ºC for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
7. While they are in the oven, prepare a syrup as follows:
8. Heat a cup of water in a saucepan, together with 100 g of fructose, 1 cinnamon stick and the other lemon peel.
9. Cook until the syrup is formed.
10. When the torrijas have browned in the oven, take them out and pour the syrup bath over them.
11. Leave to soak well and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

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Carnival Poems - Poemas carnaval en inglés

Carnival Poems - Recursos Educativos en Inglés - Poems in English

Carnival nursery rhymes - Poesías en inglés

Long live the Carnival confetti by Gianni Rodari

Long live the Carnival confetti,
paper bombs that don’t hurt!
Van on the streets in gay company
the warriors of happiness:
they shoot laughter in the face
harp,
they take prisoners
with colorful streamers.
No nurses needed
because the wounded heal
with a candy.
Lead the assault, at a tarantella pace,
the general in chief Pulcinella.
The battle ended, all to bed.
On the pillow
stands out like a medal
a Carnival coriander.

Carnival Time by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Now is the season of Carnival.
Who's for the sunlit course?
Who's for the beat of galloping feet
And the day and the way of the horse?
Who joins the dance, tho' Lady Chance
Pleasure or pain may yield,
Who comes to the call of Carnival?
'Seven to four the field!'

This is the week of the Carnival
And the sign of a brighter dawn
In men's affairs. Who sheds old cares
Where gay frocks fleck the lawn?
Who would forget old days of fret?
Who comes to the call of mirth
And the conquering steeds? ... They're off! Who leads?
And the hoof beats spurn the earth.

Then, Hi! for the height of Carnival,
Gayer than all gone past:
And the nameless fears of the deadening years
Forsake men's minds at last.
Bright jackets flash beneath the sun
As the roar of the crowd begins,
And lifts and swells at a great home run:
'Who leads? Who lasts? Who wins?'

Ho! for the call of Carnival!
Way for the Sport of Kings!
And men, grown sane, turn once again
To all that high hope brings.
Who's for the Carnival? Who grows gay
Where galloping Fortune speeds
Around the turn to gallop our way
With the galloping, galloping steeds?

Carnival Nursery Rhyme by Gabriele d’Annunzio

Crazy old carnival
the mattress was sold
to buy bread, wine,
tarallucci and cotechino.
And eating out loud
the mountain of pancakes
he has grown a big belly
that looks like a balloon.
He drinks, drinks suddenly
his face turns red
then his belly bursts too
while still eating, eat.
Thus the Carnival dies
and they give him the funeral:
from the dust he was born
and returned to dust.

Carnival, Carnival by Jolanda Remain

Carnival, Carnival
it’s a pretty good party:
all happy, all happy
no more hassles and troubles!
All in happy masks
with flashy costumes
to forget every thought
of a future that is too black.
Let’s erase the sad faces:
it is urgent to be optimistic!
Here is what it takes:
Carnival, Carnival!

Carnival song

Pulcinella had a rooster;
all day he rode there,
with bridle and saddle.
Long live the Pulcinella cockerel!

Pulcinella had a cat;
all day he was jumping like crazy,
ringing a bell.
Long live Pulcinella’s kitten!

Carnival

Carnival has arrived,
bursts like a storm!
Sing, dance and improvise
amidst a shower of laughter!
With the masks in a storm
the whole world is celebrating!
It bursts like a storm
Carnival has arrived!

Harlequin’s dress by Gianni Rodari

To make a dress for Harlequin
put a Meneghino patch on it,
he put another Pulcinella,
a Gianduia, a Brighella.

Trousers, old louse,
put a tear on our knee,
and Stenterello, out of hand
a few stains of Tuscan wine.

Colombina who sewed it
made a tight dress like that.
Harlequin put it on anyway
but he was a little perplexed.

Balanzone then said,
Bolognese dottorone:
“I assure you and I swear to you
which will suit you next month
if you will observe my recipe:
one day fast and the other bill! “.

The Carnival of the Animals, with Verses by Ogden Nash

Introduction

Camille St. Saëns was wracked with pains
When people addressed him as “Saint Sains.”
He held the human race to blame
Because it could not pronounce his name.
So he turned with metronome and fife
To glorify other forms of life.
Be quiet, please, for here begins
His salute to feathers, furs, and fins.

Royal March of the Lion

The lion is the king of beasts
And husband of the lioness.
Gazelles and things on which he feasts
Address him as Your Highoness.
There are those who admire that roar of his
In the African jungles and veldts,
But I think, wherever a lion is,
I’d rather be somewhere else.

Hens and Roosters

The rooster is a roistering hoodlum,
His battle cry is cock-a-doodlum.
Hands in pockets, cap over eye,
He whistles at pullets passing by.

Wild Jackass

Have ever you harked to the jackass wild
Which scientists call the onager?
It sounds like the laugh of an idiot child
Or a hepcat on a harmoniger.
But do not sneer at the jackass wild,
There is method in his heehaw,
For with maidenly blush and accent mild,
The jenny-ass answers, shee-haw.

Tortoises

Come crown my brow with leaves of myrtle,
I know the tortoise is a turtle.
Come carve my name in stone immortal,
I know the turtoise is a tortle.
I know to my profound despair
I bet on one to beat a hare.
I also know I’m now a pauper
Because of its tortley, turtley, torpor.

The Elephant

Elephants are useful friends,
Equipped with handles at both ends.
They have a wrinkled moth-proof hide;
Their teeth are upside down, outside.
If you think the elephant preposterous,
You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.

Kangaroos

The kangaroo can jump incredible.
He has to jump because he’s edible.
I could not eat a kangaroo
But many fine Australians do.
Those with cookbooks as well as boomerangs
Prefer him in tasty kangaroo meringues.

The Aquarium

Some fish are minnows,
Some are whales.
People like dimples,
Fish like scales.
Some fish are slim,
And some are round.
They don’t get cold,
They don’t get drowned.
But every fish wife
Fears for her fish.
What we call mermaids
And they call merfish.

Mules

In the world of mules,
There are no rules.

The Cuckoo in the Depth of the Woods

Cuckoos lead bohemian lives,
They fail as husbands and as wives.
Therefore, they cynically disparage
Everybody else’s marriage.

The Birds

Puccini was Latin, and Wagner Teutonic,
And birds are incurably philharmonic.
Suburban yards and rural vistas
Are filled with avian Andrews Sisters.
The skylark sings a roundelay,
The crow sings “The Road to Mandalay.”
The nightingale sings a lullaby,
And the seagull sings a gullaby.
That’s what shepherds listened to in Arcadia
Before somebody invented the radia.

Pianists

Some claim that pianists are human,
And quote the case of Mr. Truman.
St. Saëns, upon the other hand,
Considered them a scurvy band.
Ape-like they are, he said, and simian,
Instead of normal men and wimian.

Fossils

At midnight in the museum hall,
The fossils gathered for a ball.
There were no drums or saxophones,
But just the clatter of their bones,
A rolling, rattling, carefree circus
Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.
Pterodactyls and brontosauruses
Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.
Amid the mastodonic wassail,
I caught the eye of one small fossil.
Cheer up, sad world, he said, and winked.
It’s kind of fun to be extinct.

The Swan

The swan can swim while sitting down.
For pure conceit he takes the crown.
He looks in the mirror over and over,
And claims to have never heard of Pavlova.

Finale

Now we reach the grand finale,
Animale, carnivale.
Noises new to sea and land
Issue from the skillful band.
All the strings contort their features,
Imitating crawly creatures.
All the brasses look like mumps
From blowing umpah umpah umps.
In outdoing Barnum and Bailey and Ringling,
St. Saëns has done a miraculous thingling.

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