Minutemen Youth Wrestling

From the New Britain Herald WINDHAM -- Berlin High squared off with three of the top-10 teams in the state in a matchup featuring six schools, coming away with a 2-3 record. The Redcoats defeated Woodstock, 63-13, and Griswold, 70-3, but dropped decisions to state powers Killingly (37-29), Windham (34-23) and RHAM (39-23). Heavyweight John Russo was a big highlight for Berlin, winning five matches on the day. B.J. Madey (135), C.J. McCormack (140), Justin Gianellia (152), Matt Powell (189) and Dave Sataline (215) all posted four wins. Eric McCurdy (160) earned three wins while T.J. Farr (103), Mike Crowe (112), Dan Madey (125), Chris LaRoche (130), Jim Solek (145) and Nick DiSalvo (171) all earned two wins each. Chris Santerre, wrestling at 119, posted a single victory. Berlin, 4-3 on the year, is in action again on Saturday in a tri-meet at Platt with Cheshire.

Happy Birthday to this month's Birthdays! Team members enjoy the day! Jonathan 1st Matthew 16th Mason 20th

BERLIN -- The Berlin High boys wrestling team maintains its undefeated season with an impressive 47-15 victory over rival Farmington at home on Thursday. It was the first loss of the season for Farmington, which drops to 3-1. Chris Santerre, C.J. McCormick, Dave Sataline and John Russo had pins for the Redcoats. Other winners for Berlin included Mike Crowe, Dan Madey, Chris Larouche, B.J. Madey, Bryan Hackett (former Minuteman), Justin Giarnella and Nick DiSaldo. The Redcoats will be next in action on Saturday at Windham when they go up against Top Ten teams RHAM, Windham and Killingly.

Long Ago Festivals Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, New Year was celebrated at the time the River Nile flooded, which was near the end of September. The flooding of the Nile was very important because without it, the people would not have been able to grow crops in the dry desert. At New Year, statues of the god, Amon and his wife and son were taken up the Nile by boat. Singing, dancing, and feasting was done for a month, and then the statues were taken back to the temple. Babylonia Babylonia lay in what is now the country of Iraq. Their New Year was in the Spring. During the festival, the king was stripped of his clothes and sent away, and for a few days everyone could do just what they liked. Then the king returned in a grand procession, dressed in fine robes. Then, everyone had to return to work and behave properly. Thus, each New Year, the people made a new start to their lives. The Romans For a long time the Romans celebrated New Year on the first of March. Then, in 46 BC, the Emperor Julius Caesar began a new calendar. It was the calendar that we still use today, and thus the New Year date was changed to the first day of January. January is named after the Roman god Janus, who was always shown as having two heads. He looked back to the last year and forward to the new one. The Roman New Year festival was called the Calends, and people decorated their homes and gave each other gifts. Slaves and their masters ate and drank together, and people could do what they wanted to for a few days. The Celts The Celts were the people who lived in Gaul, now called France, and parts of Britain before the Romans arrived there. Their New Year festival was called Samhain. It took place at the end of October, and Samhain means 'summer's end'. At Samhain, the Celts gathered mistletoe to keep ghosts away, because they believed this was the time when the ghosts of the dead returned to haunt the living. Jewish New Year The Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah. It is a holy time when people think of the things they have done wrong in the past, and they promise to do better in the future. Special services are held in synagogues, and an instrument called a Shofar, which is made from a ram's horn is played. Children are given new clothes, and New Year loaves are baked and fruit is eaten to remind people of harvest time.