Hello Jiu Jitsu lovers!

One more year is about to be over and with 2008 a lot of good memories will stay with us for the rest of our lifes. The last B in BJJ of the year is bringing to you a lot of cool staff, starting from some really interesting brazilian traditions to make sure that you will start the new year the best way as possible.

Brazilian celebrations are a clear reflection of its history, culture and the origins of its people from Portugal, Africa and South America.

New Year’s Eve is marked by festive Festa de Iemanjá held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Crowds head to the beaches to offer flowers and gifts to Iemanjá, the Goddess of the Water in the Brazilian Umbanda religion. The Copacabana beach is flocked with millions of people who come to visualize the colorful candles floating on sea.

Véspera de Ano Novo or the New Year’s Eve is the most important day for the people of Brazil. The best New Year celebrations can be seen in on of the most specials cities of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. New Year celebrations are marked with numerous fireworks and crackers. Musical shows, concerts and other dance performances are the highlights of New Year celebrations in Brazil. The world famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro is overcrowded with people on the New Year’s Eve.

Brazilians have many traditions for New Year’s Eve. Each state and region have its own, but many are followed in the entire country. Everybody does these little things to ask for happiness, prosperity, health, love and protection for the next year.

Let me share some of them with you, and maybe you’ll try one or two. ‘Cause, attracting a little good luck wouldn’t hurt, would it?

- Go to the beach and jump over seven little waves, at midnight, making seven wishes while you jump;

- Wear white clothes, as a symbol of Light, Purity and Kindness;

- Wear new underwear. The color varies according to your goals – white for peace, pink for love, yellow for prosperity, green for harmony;

- Eat a pomegranate (symbol of prosperity and wealth) at midnight. Take 7 seeds out of it and keep them on your wallet until the next New Year’s Eve. This assures you’ll always have money on your wallet.

- On New Year’s Eve (as in Christmas Eve), it’s traditional to have a late dinner, around 11:00 PM. We call it “New Year’s Supper” – Ceia de Ano-Novo – and it’s common to eat lentils as a side dish, to assure prosperity and abundance for the New Year.

- Keeping the cork of the bottle of champagne (that’s usually open by midnight) brings good luck for the keeper.

So, which one of those are you going to try?

Also we would like to celebrate some really special accomplishments of the year 2008:

- Master Carlos Gracie Jr. was promoted to the Red and Black Belt

- The new location for the H Q in Irvine

- All the schools using the same Fundamentals Curriculum

- The Gracie Barra Competition Network

- The inauguration of the Gracie Barra Schools:

San Clemente; Garden Grove; Ventura; Texas and Huntington Beach

- The new GB Store Online

Also the major tournaments:

- GB 1st Place at the Asian Novice Championship

- GB 2nd Place at the Asian Open Championship

- GB 2nd Place at the Pan American Adult

- GB 2nd Place at the Pan American Female

- GB 1st Place at the Novice World Championship

- GB 3rd Place at the Adult World Championship

- GB 2nd Place at the Female World Championship

- GB 3rd Place at the Master & Senior World NO Gi Championship

- GB 1st Place ate the Female World NO Gi Championship

- Our competitors Gold Medalists at the World Championship 2008:

Rikio Ahara; Rod Roberts; Thomasz Kaczmarek; Yoshi Yamaguchi; Lucas Rocha; Tammy Griego; Kayron Gracie; Don Ortega; Samuel Braga; Roger Gracie; Bianca Barreto; Kyra Gracie; Ana Laura Cordeiro; Eliaz Ramirez; Michael Dykes; Dan Marker; Richard Timm; Scott Carr; Roberto Barros; Tracy Thompson; Pedro Rodrigues; Tom Reusing; Roberto Alencar; Marcelo Santos; Vinicius Magalhaes; Bianca Barreto.

All the reasons above are very important but the most important reason for us to cellebrate is to be a Gracie Barra Students. To be able to train our body, mind and spirit everyday when we go to the academy, to meet and make friends with so many diferent people and to build a strong family.

“A Dojo is a miniature cosmos where we make contact with ourselves – our fears, anxieties, and habits. It is an arena of confined conflict where we confront an opponent who is not an opponent but rather a partner who helps us understand ourselves more fully.

It is a place where we can learn a great deal in a short time about we are and how we react in the world. The conflicts that take place inside the Dojo help us handle conflicts that take place outside.

The total concentration and discipline requires to study martial arts carries over to daily life. The activity in the Dojo calls on us to constantly attempt new things, so it is also a source of learning – in Zen terminology, a source of enlightenment”.

Joe Hyams

This is our Special Video for the end of the year!! I hope that you enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Gracie Barra For Ever!!

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