The story of Guy Fawkes

domingo, 1 de noviembre de 2015

THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING

How much do you Know about Halloween?

HALLOWEEN :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9pzNpKKRYc

Every year, more and more people in Spain dress up and party on the 31^st of October. But Halloween – like McDonalds, Starbucks and Coca Cola – came here from the USA, and it is there where they really celebrate in style.

Photo credit: Lorika13 / Foter / CC BY-NC

7 Billion Dollars

64% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, and around 7 billion dollars is spent on sweets, costumes and decorations every year. $350 million is also spent on costumes for their pets!

Most Popular Halloween Outfits of 2014

Girls – Elsa, from the film Frozen.

Boys – Superman

Adults – Witches

Origins

Irish emigrants to the New World took the festival across the Atlantic with them. It combined the old Celtic night of Samhain and the Christian celebration of All-hallows(or All Saints Day), and the customs and activities everybody associates with Halloween have their origins in old ideas and superstitions.

Disguises

People first started disguising themselves as ghosts and demons because they wanted to hide from “real” spirits walking the streets. The two colours typically linked with Halloween are orange – which represents autumn and theharvest – and black – a reminder that this date marks the boundary between life and death.

Pumpkins

One story is that Jack-o-lantern, the pumpkin with the candle inside, was a clever old man who tricked the devil into not taking his soul, but had to spend the rest of his eternal life walking the earth carrying his light.

Trick or Treat

Trick or treating (children knocking on doors and asking for sweets) has been common in the USA since the 1920s, but 500 years earlier in different parts of Europe, people would go to houses and say prayers, or maybe perform a play, in return for food or drink.

Whatever your plans are for Halloween, have fun! And if carving that pumpkin seems like hard work, you are lucky it isn’t the one grown in Switzerland last year, which weighed 1,054 kilos!

Watch a video

Your turn!

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Don’t forget to visit the Halloween Corner

The opinions and other information contained in www.oxfordculturemania.es blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

viernes, 13 de febrero de 2015

ST VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine’s day is coming … and here are 10 things that you didn’t know!

Saint Valentinus was executed on February 14^th 270 AD by the Roman Emperor Claudius II, because he secretly helped soldiers to get married, and the emperor thought that soldiers with wives did not fight very well.

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

About 1 billion Valentine cards are sent around the world every year … and teachers get more cards than anybody else! So, if you want to improve your marks , you know what to do!Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

A typical American man spends $130 every year on Valentine’s Day cards, chocolates, flowers and presents (twice what a woman spends).

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

73% of the people who buy flowers on Valentine’s Day are men, only 27% are women. Also, 15% of American women who receive flowers send those lovely red roses to themselves!

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

Every year, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet lived, receives more than 1,000 Valentine’s cards sent to Juliet.

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

The longest kiss started in Pattaya, Thailand on February 14^th 2011, and ended 46 hours and 24 minutes later. The husband and wife could not sit, eat or sleep during the kiss.

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

A lot of people give chocolates on Valentine’s Day, but the biggest box of chocolates ever was made in the UK in April, 2008. It weighed 1,690 kilos and had more than 220,000 chocolates inside.

Photo credit: karen horton / Foter / CC BY

In Kenya last year you could buy 12 Valentine’s Day roses for $2.50, but in Hong Kong they cost $205! If you and the person you love are in Spain, you need about 50€.

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA

In Japan, February 14^th is when women give presents – usually chocolate – to men. A month later, on March 14^th, or White Day, the men do the same, normally giving white chocolate.

Photo credit: valart2008 / Foter / CC BY-SA1

And finally … don’t forget your dogs and cats! 4% of Americans who have pets give their animals a Valentine’s Day present, spending a total of about $700 million!