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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

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the music you listen to all influence the way you think and feel about yourself and the world around you.

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Don't part with your illusions . When they are gone you may still exist , but you have ceased to live.

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Don't part with your illusions . When they are gone you may still exist , but you have ceased to live.

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We want change and should bring the change.

Stop blaming others, if any of you is truly serious for change, lets make a movement from this forum today! With all the bright idea, it must be a success. Who is in?

Laurie

Good morning, Mari!

I wanted to add a bit about Halloween, just because it is my favorite holiday by far. Have you ever seen The Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin special? That show has been on TV in America every year for as long as I can remember, and nearly everyone still loves it, even as adults. It's a really cute way to see how exciting and fun the holiday can be. One of the characters is upset that Santa Claus gets all the attention, so he makes up the character of the "Great Pumpkin" and spends his whole halloween waiting in a pumpkin patch, missing out on all the trick-or-treating and candy.

It was a big part of my experience growing up, and it never feels like Halloween without it. If you can see it, I think you'll like it. Just remember that it was made for little kids, of course. ;)

Mari

Hi there.
Thank you very for explanation about Holloween. Understood. arigato!

Heidi

Mari-san wa One-chara ja nai - yokatta! ;)

Halloween is a very ancient holiday that originated in Europe thousands of years ago (before the birth of Christ). At that time, people celebrated the Autumnal equinox - the one day in the fall when the hours of day and night are the same, or equal, usually on 9/21. The original name of this holiday was pronuonced "sowen" and it was very religious and serious. The people believed that on this night the spirits of the dead could communicate with the living - a little like Obon in Japan - but also that the spirits of the dead could take away your soul. (this is why today many people dress up like ghosts and monsters on Halloween). The holiday sowen is still practiced and celebrated in Europe and North America on 9/21 by a religious group called "Druids."

The name "Halloween" is a contraction of the phrase "All Hallows' Eve." Sowen/Halloween was changed to 10/31 in Europe in the early middle ages (1100 A.D.?) as a protest by the Druids against the Catholic church. The Catholic Church tried to outlaw the ancient holiday of sowen. 11/1 is a Catholic holiday called "All Saints Day." Saints are considered "holy" people and at that time, the Old English word "hallows" was used instead of the word saints (same meaning). Catholics celebrate the lives of the "hallows" (holy ones) or saints on this day. So the Druids decided to celebrate "sowen" on the night/evening before All sainnts Day, "All Hallows' Eve," to protest. Over many years, the holiday gradually lost its religious meaning and the name evolved into Halloween. When Europeans first came to America, they celebrated European holidays and traditons and Halloween is one of them.

I think every country and culture celebrates some kind of or holiday in the autumn.

Magpie Jen

Hi Mari,

Check out this website for a good description of Halloween: http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm. Halloween is a fun holiday, especially for children (many schools hold Halloween parties). What Halloween is known best for is "trick-or-treating". Kids get to go house to house ringing the doorbells and yelling "trick or treat!" to whoever answers. The tradition is that if they refuse to give the kids a treat (usually candy or sometimes money) the kids will play a trick on them. Today everyone gives the kids treats, so tricks never really happen anymore. Last year we had 72 "trick-or-treater's come to our house!

Juan

'The copy of TV show is "our technique is Hercules, but our heart is princess".'

Priceless!! (^_^)

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