History of Halloween

What did the Celtic Irish, or Druids, believe happenend on 'Samhain' October 31st ?


Firstly, The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is generally regarded as 'The Celtic New Year'. People believed that on 31th october of the Celtic new year,the desd would come back to life ,so they made bonfires with bones of animals,and made masks to mimic or to placate the evil spirits.

(BTW. Samhain is also a old famous death metal band ,i dont like them though)

Why did the people have bonfires and wear masks?

As the above said, when summer is end and winter is dark, Celtic Irish people think one day the died people could return to the world, and walk among the living. So the Irish people born files, hope it can scare away the spirits.and wear masks, dressed like ghosts so that the real ghosts would not attack them.

What was November 1st called? And how did Halloween get its name?
As you listened, what did you discover about why carved out pumpkins with candles are now part of the Halloween tradition people give out sweets

Halloween was established in the 8th century, the November 1st is called All-Hallow’s day. October 30th is called All-Hallow’s Eave, so the short name that we use today is Halloween.
Also the day for remembering loved ones and who had died ,so the November 1st is all Saints Day or all Hallows Day,Hollween is really all Halloween eve.
In this day ,children would go to their neighbours'houses ,lock their doors and sing songs for sweets ,also dressed themselves, make them like a ghosts or witches, trick and treating is also remain. As I seen, nowadays, almost every single person enjoy that day.



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In the Halloween'en, me with my amigos went and sew firework in Tereforest Park, which was a big fun.


The child in the pic with his little sister and parents was there that day, he standed there, smiled and, gave me a yellow flower,
I took this photo for him then,
God bless him~

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Swn Festival

the young fellow, 21 years old, always make me remind a person, yes, it's him,

W.B.Yeats

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-Anna

Symmetrical Families

The symmetrical family consists of a nuclear family that have become separated from their extended kin, the husband plays a bigger part in family life, the conjugal bond is strong and the family is home centred.
Conjugal roles are similar in terms of contribution although there is still the divide of "men's and women's work" and the conjugal roles are not interchangeable although each spouse contributes equally to the running of the household. I think it is same in China and Britain.

Where You'll Go

New A Lily record is coming out....

Yesterday, recieved James' message, told me that the record will be titled " Where You'll Go" and, one of the songs is for me, it will be called "I love you Xiamen".


Yes, Xiamen, a beatiful and sad city, I spent 14 days there this summer and took many pic for her, I do love her , still remember the scene we dicussed the subject " beingness, where will we go? where are we from? " , really exciting for the news....



the other thing is, Iron and Wine finally came to Cardiff and start their UK tour

Sam(rion and wine's leader) with his band played more than 5 covers for new cover song in Cardiff Bay last night, I were there, buyed 7'' vinyl for 2 unreleased songs and,I must say the guitar and cello parts are perfect !
　　　 　　　　
4 hours' standing, felt tired but, the guys gave us fresh air , not enough though


some live pic :

besides, many thanks for the kindly venue cop, he gave me a passport to take photo on stage!

-Anna

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Mr. Hallowe'en is comingggggggg

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Family Size

New research published on line in Social Science and Medicine and due for publication in the journal later this month examines the contribution of changes in family life to trends in adolescent conduct problems.
The paper shows that:

Families are changing: Families in the UK have changed over the last 50 years– with more single parent , DINK families(Double Income,No Kids) and step families, changes in economic wellbeing, and decreasing family size,not only the raditional extended families(big family)and nuclear families.

But economic wellbeing after the second world war does not fully explain changes in family size: liberation wave, to face pressure of competition in the modern society, including possible changes in family relationships, friendships and peer groups, and other broader social influences,more and more people desire a ease life , a single and independent life , not only to go to work hardly for themselves and their kids' survive or be a heavy Victorian father or mother. Indeed, economic wellbeing is a important factor changed in family size, it made more people have more chances to choose their own life styles.

The changes in family size not only meant the decreasing of borth rates ,death rates is below the birth rates and the trend of aging of population, but also meant the goverment is facing a big society structural problem . The society need to encourage borth and care the old generation ,give them more caring and healthfully and fair envirnoment , also, the goverment need to use more social resources for the aging of population.






besides,
in my own mind, the old British family View is from A Room With A View.

and, what does the Anglicism father look like? Giuseppe Conlon in In The Name Of The Father gave me the best answer .

the Anglicism mother? I like Queen as I like Queen-self .

and, how's the young people ? like Trainspotting ? like Cashback? like This is England ?
like High Fidelity ?
nothing, nothing, just go and rock !

also,like the human emotions ,to describe the British family, the above movies or books are miniatures, they are theatrical and not objective,
I dont care , that's all


-Anna



This is England


In the name of the father



Trainspotting

About a boy

Venus

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-- ONCE

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highly recommended movie this month





'....Because we played a couple, it almost felt natural to try it out. It's kind of weird: does art imitate life or does life imitate art ?'
------- Glen Hansard


Check it out : Once



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Beirut~

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'Zach Condon’s first show in New York, this May at the Knitting Factory, was a complete disaster. The 20-year-old had pulled together the three musicians for his band, Beirut, only weeks before. His eBay ukulele would not stay in tune. He fumbled with his trumpet and flashed a sheepish smile during the long breaks between songs. His banter was self-conscious (“I’m sorry, this ukulele is terrible … ”). His voice shook. ....' ---- reviews

The good news is that Beirut will be able to come to Cardiff next month, for a local music festival...hooray!!!!!

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Welcome&Families

The Modern Families Father leaves for work in the morning after breakfast. The two children take the bus to school, and mother stays home cooking and cleaning until father and the kids return home in the evening. This is the traditional picture of a happy family living in Britain. But is it true today?

The answer is no! The past 20 years have seen enormous changes in the lives and structure of families in Britain.As far as I know,the biggest change has been caused by divorce and,there has also been a huge rise in the number of women with children who work. The large rise in divorces has meant many women need to work to support themselves and their children. Even where there is no divorce, many families need both parents to work in order to survive. This has caused an increase in childcare facilities, though it is very expensive and can be difficult to find in many areas.In addition, women are no longer happy to stay at home raising children, and many have careers earning as much or even more than men, the traditional breadwinner.There has also been a sharp increase in the number of single mothers, particularly among teenagers. Some people have blamed this increase for the rise in crime. They feel the lack of a male role model has damaged these children in society.However, these changes have not had a totally negative effect. For women, it is now much easier to have a career and good salary. Although it is difficult to be a working mother, it has become normal and is no longer seen as a bad thing for the children.

for 'On the Road'

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----Xiamen














----- Beijing

------Guizhou

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.Photo by Anna

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