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Monday, September 6 |
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 Fereydoun's Favorite Holidays in October
October 22, Rainmaking Festival South Africa
Rainmaking is one of the most important festivals in many parts of Africa. Although most rainmakers are men, the rainmakers of the Lovedu people is their queen, whom they call The Transformer of the Clouds. Look at Grandpa McCloud in Did You Know and see why hes hanging by the Cape Town most of the time.
In Lovedo, South Africa, people believe that the rainmaker queen can create rain and change seasons. When rain is needed  she uses the secret medicines from her rain pot, and invokes the help of the ancestors. She sometimes consults an expert in weather lore--who is perhaps the best weatherman in town. The entire tribe may dance until rain begins.
Halloween
Halloween is observed on the evening of October 31 in most areas of North America and in some areas of the western countries in Europe. The holiday is symbolically associated with death and the supernatural. Halloween falls on the eve of All Saints Day, also known as All-hallows or Hallow-mas, a holy day in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Originally a pagan festival of the dead, All Saints Day was established by the Catholic Church in the 9th century to honor Christian saints. All Souls Day, a holy day established by the Catholic Church in the 10th century, is also closely linked to Halloween. All Souls Day, on November 2, is observed to help purify the spirits of the dead.
Halloween is a folk holiday celebrated in many countries as The Day of the Dead. On the Day of the Dead, Mexicans decorate their homes with playful imagery of animated human skeletons, leave offerings of food for wandering spirits, and tend the graves of their deceased relatives.
In England, Guy Fawkes Day, celebrated on November 5, has largely taken the place of Halloween. On this patriotic holiday, children light bonfires and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, a conspirator who tried to blow up the English Parliament building in 1605.
Halloween decorations generally resemble supernatural beings such as witches, werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. Images thought to symbolize bad omenssuch as black cats, bats, and spidersare also commonly featured in Halloween decorations.
The most known Halloween decoration is the jack-o-lantern, a hollowed-out pumpkin carved to resemble a grotesque face with a candle placed inside.
Why a Jack O Lantern? Well, this is the name from a character in Irish folktales. In the story, the soul of a dead person named Mr. Jack OLantern was barred from heaven because he was too greedy. He was not let into hell either, because he had tricked the devil once. The Satan was kind enough to give him a piece of coal from the hell so he could cook the turnip that he was eating. Jack, who used to be a lantern maker, placed the coal in the turnip and made a lantern to light his way back. He is still wandering the earth with his lantern to find a resting place.
In the 1800s the Irish settlers brought their Halloween customs to the North America. Orange and black, which are associated with pumpkins and darkness are the most important colors of the Halloween decorations.
In Irland, Halloween is a national holiday, because a good Irish really knows how to party.
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