New York - Halloween - Post 31th October

Halloween is a traditional and cultural event, which occurs mainly in English-speaking countries, with special emphasis in the United States. The halloween is celebrated annually on October 31.

trick or treat?

The origin of Halloween dates back to the traditions

of the peoples who inhabited the islands of Gaul and Britain between the years 600 BC and 800 AD, although with marked differences from the current pumpkins or the famous phrase "Trick or treat", exported by United States, which popularized the celebration. Originally, Halloween was not related to witches. It was a festival of the Celtic calendar of Ireland, the festival of Samhain, celebrated between October 30 and November 2 and marked the end of summer (samhain literally means "End of Summer").

       The word Halloween comes from the Catholic Church. He comes from a tradition of contracted November 1, the Day of All Saints, is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. On Halloween, for a long time, the festival takes place one day before the "Feast of All Saints" and, therefore, has its name from the phrase "All hallow's eve", which means "Eve of all holy."

        Halloween was brought to America in 1840 by Irish immigrants fleeing famine in which their country was and is known as Halloween.

     But it was the United States that Halloween has gained popularity. There, he ended up becoming something like the carnival in Brazil: a party where people dress up, go to the streets to celebrate, drink, flirt and dance. There's a bit of everything: closed parties, in nightclubs and street festivals.

Village Halloween Parade

One of the biggest events in New York City, the Village Halloween Parade is a kind of "block" street what happens in the neighborhood of the village. The concentration is between eight in the evening of day 31, on Sixth Avenue (block between Broome and Spring streets). No need to pay anything to enter the block, but can only attend costume. More than 60.000 New Yorkers tend to go for the event. There is a choice for the best costume - and whoever wins takes a prize of $ 5000.

Only Those in Costume are Welcome to Join Hundreds of Puppets, 53 Bands of Different Types of Music, Dancers and Artists, and Thousands of other New Yorkers in Costumes of their Own Creation in the Nation’s Most Wildly Creative Public Participatory Event in the Greatest City in the World!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RUKqLauTP1U

New York City's 39th Annual
Village Halloween Parade
Join the parade: Wednesday, October 31, 2012.
For the first time in 39 years of existence, the Halloween Parade in New York today has been canceled. The traditional Halloween parade in New York that should happen tonight was canceled because of damage caused by the passage of the storm by Sandy City. The party will take place at a later date that has yet to be announced.

The Legend of St. Patrick - Ireland

St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. When he was sixteen, St. Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time St. Patrick worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.

After six years, St. Patrick escaped, listening to a voice he believed was God's telling him it was time to leave Ireland. St. Patrick eventually reached Britain and had another dream where an angel told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. St. Patrick began his religious training, a course of study lasting over fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a duel mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.

Familiar with the Irish language and culture, St. Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons with Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion. The Irish culture centered around a rich tradition of oral legend and myth. When this is considered, it is no surprise that the story of Patrick's life became exaggerated

New York - Sports - Post 24th October

The most famous sport in New York is baseball, in contrast to other large American cities, where the american football has preference.

New York has two teams linked to Major League Baseball: New York Yankees, the American League and member of the biggest winner in the history of MLB, with 27 titles, and the New York Mets, a member of the National League. The matches between these two teams are called "Subway Series." Only once in the history Yankees and Mets faced each other in a World Series. The year was 2000.

The New Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees

The metropolitan area of ​​New York also has three basketball teams (New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, who vie for the NBA, and the New York Liberty women's basketball team), three hockey teams on the ice (New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils), two american football teams (New York Giants and New York Jets), and a football team (Red Bull New York).

An important event is the New York Marathon, whose route includes all five areas of the city. Another major annual sporting event in the city is the dispute of the U.S. Open, one of the four Grand Slam (biggest tennis tournaments in the world).

 

Greetings and Introducing Yourself - Formal and Informal Ways

Hi everybody!

Today I'm here to share a very interesing and informative video about greetings and introducing yourself in English."Hi, my name is Kele" is useful but we can do much better than that in English. Also, we use different expressions if you are talking informally with a friend or if you're in a formal business meeting. Check it out!

Famous Australian Actors

Learn more about famous people Australian

Hugh Jackman

Famous actor of the movie x-men is also a singer and dancer.

Nicole Kidman

Famous actress the cinema.

Professor Ian Frazer

 Australian of the Year 2006, invented a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.

They make history and success...!!!

Food for Thought: On the importance of Reading

Picture on the importance of reading. Do you agree? Comments, please!

Blennerville Windmill- Ireland

  

Blennerville Windmill- Ireland

       Blennerville Windmill stands out as the dominant landmark in Tralee Bay, where the town of Tralee meets the Dingle Peninsula.

       At the Blennerville Visitor Centre you will find the working windmill as well as an exhibition gallery, craft shop and restaurant. The exhibition includes an audio visual presentation, an emigration display and a bird watching platform with telescope overlooking  ('the Way of the Birds').

       Visitors can get up close and appreciate the scale and complexity of the Windmill machinery and can climb to the top of the windmill.

       Blennerville was the main port of emigration from County Kerry during the Great Famine (1845 to 1848) and was, during those years, the home port of the famous emigrant barque 'Jeanie Johnston'. The visitor centre houses a fascinating display on Irish emigration including models of the infamous coffin ships.

       Come and view Tralee Bay Nature Reserve, where migratory pale-bellied brent geese spend from October to April feeding on the eelgrass and green seaweeds on the mudflats and grazing in nearby fields and saltmarshes when this food is scarce. Birds of the bay include turnstone, ringed plover, dunlin, redshank, bar-tailed godwit, golden plover and curlew.