Traditions During the Halloween Period

Traditions During the Halloween Period Halloween Introduction Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31st. When people celebrate halloween they use some customes and hold the party, decorate their house, watch horror movies, visit haunted houses, bonfires, carving jack olantern, and also do trick or treat. Those are just some activities that usually happen in the halloween nowadays. But just several countries that celebrate it as a holiday. In my country, Indonesia, they dont celebrate it. I dont know why my country dont celebrate it as a holiday. I think the rational reason is because our country has its own perspectives about halloween. In my country there are many religions and most people choose Islam as their religion. This religion against eve to be our national holiday. Not just Islam but also some of the Christian. And this case is not only happen just in Indonesia, there are some other countries that against halloween. In the part of United Kingdom, police have threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children to carry out the trick element. The highest level of popularity about Halloween belong to North America and Canada. Every year, 65% of Americans decorate their homes, stores, and offices for Halloween. That percentage exceeded only by christmas. When Halloween happens the most candy is sold. And now Halloween is currently the 2nd largest commercial holiday. These are some country that celebrated Halloween; Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czechoslavakia, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Latin America, Spain, and Sweden. That have different ways to celebrate Halloween. In Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before left on Halloween night. They have a reason for doing this, the reason is because it is once believed that such items will welcome the dead souls back to earth on a night. The custom in Belgium on Halloween night is to light candles in memory of dead relatives. The Belgian people do not open their doors to unknown persons including children and they do not welcome somebody who do â€Å"trick or threat† and ask for candies. Because only several people are welcomed to do the â€Å"trick or threat†, many children fight in the streets to steal candy from others during the halloween. In Canada and United States, they celebrate Halloween as usual but a little bit modern, for instance; Jack OLanterns are carved and the festivities are including parties, trick-or-treat and decorating their homes with pumpkins and corn stalks. The Halloween festival in China known as Teng Chieh. They celebrate it by placing some food and water in front of photographs of family members who have died while lanterns are lit in order to light the paths of the spirits as they travel the earth on Haloween night. Worshippers in Buddhist temples made boats of the law from paper, some of which are very large, which are then burned in the evening hours. This custom have two purpose: first, as a remembrance of the dead and the second, is in order to free the spirits of the pretas in order that they might ascend to heaven. Pretas are the spirits of those who died as a result of an accident or drowning and whose bodies were consequently never buried. And in Czechoslovakia, chairs are placed by the fireside on Halloween night. There is one chair for each living family member and one for each family members spririt. English people have another celebration which is similiar to Halloween. It is called the Guy Fawkes Day. The festival is held on November 5th and adopted many customs from Samhain. These festivities are marked by torchlight parades where children use masks made from beets and pumpkins. Scottish people practice their ancient pagan rites. Children wear costumes and cut scary faces into large rutabagas and place a candle inside them. They receive candies after they provide a nice entertainment to their neighbours. In Germany, the people put away their knives on Halloween night. The reason for this is because they do not want to risk harm befalling the returning spirits. And The Halloween celebration in Hong Kong is known as Yue Lan (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). They believe that in this time, the spirits roam the world for twenty-four hours. Some other people burn pictures of fruit and money at the same time, believing that those pictures would reach the spirit world and bring comfort to their friends and family who have died. Irish children enjoy Halloween festivities by carrying lanterns cut into large rutabagas. They do â€Å"trick or threat† and receive sweet candies from their neighbours and Irish houses decorated with Halloween lights. Spanish people enjoy each kind of holidays and parties. Halloween in spain called as El Dia de los Muertos†. But not just in spain but also among Spanish-speaking nations. â€Å"El Dia De los Muertos†s purpose is to remember friends and families who have died. They believed that their friends and their families who have died will return to their home on Halloween. Because of this many families construct an altar in their home and decorate it with candies, flowers, photographs, fresh water and samples of the deceaseds favorite foods and drinks. Candles with incense are burned to help the departed find his or her way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of deceased family members including snipping the weeds. The grave is then adorned with flowers, wreaths or paper streamers. On November 2nd, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce. Some of these gatherings may even include tequila and a mariachi band although American Halloween customs are gradually taking over this celebration. In Japan, The Japanese have a similiar festival like Halloween. It is called Obon Festival (also known as Matsuri or Urabon). This festival is dedicated to the spirits of ancestors. This Festival is held during July or August. The Japanese prepared special foods and bright red lanterns are hung everywhere. Candles are lit and placed into lanterns which are then set afloat on rivers and seas. During the Obon Festival, a fire is lit every night in order to show the ancestors where their families might be found. Obon is one of the main occasions during the Japanese year when the dead are believed to return to their birth place. Memorial stones are cleaned and dances performed by the community. Korea also have a similiar festival to Halloween called as â€Å"Chusok.† This Festival take place on August. During this period of time the families thank their ancestors for the fruits of their labor, by visiting their tombs and making offerings of rice and fruits. In Sweden, Halloween is known as Alla Helgons Dag and is celebrated from October 31st until November 6th. In this celebration the time of work is shorten. This also applied for universities, while for schools, they are given a day of vacation. Those activities are being shorten because people need time to prepare the eve and also to respect their ancestors, families and friends who have died. Many countries in this world celebrated Halloween. How they celebrate it and what are the names of the festival itself is depend on the country in which the Halloween is held. The dates are also different for each country. Despite the differences from each of every country, the purpose of the event itself stays the same, to respect the ancestors, families, relatives and friends that have died. History Of Halloween Halloween Bonfire Long time ago Halloween celebrated at the end of the harvest season in Celts culture. Celts is an ethnic of old irish who lived in Great Britain, Northern France and some other part in Europe. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their most respected god. Because sun made the earth beautiful and the crops grow. On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter, thecookingfires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would met in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred). The Druids would lighted new fires and offered sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would began. When the morning arrived, the Druids would gave an ember from their fires to each family who would then took them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would kept the homes warm and freed from evil spirits. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1st. The November 1st festival was called Samhain. Samhainor â€Å"Samhuinn† is pronounced â€Å"sow-† as in female pig â€Å"-en† with the neutral vowel sound not â€Å"Sam Hain†, because â€Å"mh† in the middle of an Irish word is a â€Å"w† sound. But now, we know it as Halloween. This day mark the end of summer, the harvest, the beginning of the dark, cold winter and a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. The festival would last for 3 days, from October 31st until November 2nd. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each others fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening from the sacred bonfire to helped protecting them during the coming winter. During the first century, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory, Britain. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona which called as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. The Pomona was invariably portrayed as a beautiful maiden whose arms were filled with fruit and who wore a crown of apples upon her head. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of bobbing for apples that is practiced today on Halloween. It was also celebrated around the 1st of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule, the customs of the Celtics Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming one major fall holiday. The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints. The day was called All Saints Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would make November 2nd aholyday. It was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils. But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31st, people continued to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallows Eve, Halloween, and then Halloween. The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Feralia and Pomona Days, the Festival of Samhains, All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Symbolic Of Halloween Halloween Costumes When the time comes, certain things of Halloweens decoration will be used, so that the house will looks like a haunted house. Symbols related with Halloween such as pumpkin, apple, black cat, skeleton, bat, owl, witch, etc. are also commonly use for the decoration. Those symbols came from a myriad of origins and traditions. And every symbols have different meaning. The most common symbol of Halloween is pumpkins. However, the original celts carved the frightening faces into gourds or turnips, not in the pumpkins. They put a candle inside the gourds or turnips to light the way for a bite to rousting neighbors door-to-door for a donation to their cause. Along with the irish mass migration to the United States the turnips then replaced by potato famine. However, due to the scarcity of this potato, they changed it into a more accommodating fruit, pumpkins. They used pumpkins because the color of pumpkins is orange which also the color of Fire. As a Fire color, orange can helps to create change and brings about action. And the candles inside the pumpkins, represent the power of illumination, bringing light to the darkness which is in our soul and mind. Apples also became one of the symbols in Halloween Eve. Apples have been long associated with female deities with immortality, resurrection and knowledge. One reason being that if an apple is cut through its equator, it reveales a five-pointed star outlined at the center of each hemisphere, also known as a pentagram. Apples being one of the symbols in Halloween since the Roman invaded Britian, They hold honored Pomona or Pomona Day. Pomona was the Roman Goddess who presided over fruits and gardens. The Pomona that decribed as a beautiful maiden whose arms were filled with fruit and who wore a crown of apples upon her head. It is generally accepted that its from Pomona that the association of apples became aligned with Halloween. Bat is the one of scary symbol in Halloween Eve, they eat mosquitoes and have sharp incisor teeth to suck blood from its victim. This mammals were thought to indicate the presence of spirits or ghosts. Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition . There are some superstition related with a bat, the superstition is if a bat flew around a house three times on Halloween, death would be coming soon, but its just superstition. However in china red bats are symbols of long life, and amulets are worn as lucky charms to bring happiness. And Five red bats can also represent the five good fortunes of health, longevity, love, wealth and virtue. Black cats is the others of scary symbol in Halloween. Their so many reason why that animal being the symbols of Halloween. In this symbol the cat is black and black is a common color of mystery and the unknown. Black also considered to be an absorbing element- taking on off- kilter energies and transforming them into purer frequencies. Black cat described as Mysterious, precocious, sleuthy, and also able to see and stalk the darkest nights without aid of light. Because of that the cat has long been considered to be closely linked with otherworldly concepts. Indeed, many practitioners of energetic communication welcomed the company of felines as it was understood these creatures could serve as a facilitator to opening otherworld doors. Black cat have some superstition,and the superstition is if a black cat crosses your path its mean you have bad luck right now. Ironically if black cat walking towards you is considered lucky, while one walking away is said to be stealing your luck. The skeleton is a symbolic of Halloween that reminder of the remnants of life. And its also symbols of the death, disease and the shortness of earthly life. The part of skeleton is skull, bones, crossbones. The Skull represent the receptacle used in the process of transformation in alchemy, and it was powerful symbols invoking a heightened awarenees of our psychis potential. Bones considered with death, if we are death we just left the bones of our body. and the crossbones represent poision and danger to pirate. Owls have long been symbols of wisdom of an esoteric nature. Although the owl is a symbol of wisdom, it is feared by some cultures. Owls are related with night, sorcery, silence,death and the ability to seen the ghosts. Because owl hides in the darkness and fears the light it has often come to the symolize the â€Å"Prince of Darkness†. Usually owl are often associated with witches. At one time it was believed that the owls would swoop down on Halloween night and eat the soul of the dying. The Christians seen Gravestones are as a memorial to the people who already died, but others see it as the place where the world of the living meets the worlds of departed spirits. A long Times ago Gravestones actually is heavy rocks and boulders that were placed on graves, because they worried if the ghost rised from their grave, they used heavy rocks and boulders to keep the dead people rising from their grave. Blood also related with Halloween, because the Celts Culture as the origin this eve, believed that gods that controlled the forces of nature craved blood sacrifices human or animal. Just like Aztex culture when they priest lifting the heart he just cut from the chest of a living sacrifice. It could as well have been a Mayan priest or any other devotee of the cruel forces from the world of the occult. Another symbol that related with Halloween is Fire. Why fire become one of the symbol, it because one of the celts culture. During samhain the Druids used it for protection against bad spirits and they also doing ritual sacrifices to their gods. For the sacrifices they used animal or human. Fire also was symbolized warmth and protection as well as death and destruction to cultures around the world. Spider and Web has symbolized the weaving of life and the cyclical ways of nature. But in the Halloween, it point to dark, scary places, haunted by ghost and hidden from light and dust mops. Spiders are creatures considered to be endowed with supernatural qualities which make them harbingers of mystic energy. They so mystical because of their ability to weave webs, which has long been symbolic of time, fate progress and the representation of human journey (on both physical and philosophical levels). They also have eight legs, and the number eight is symbolic of cycles which would make the spiders presence during this time of year (symbolic of the transition between summer to winter) quite fitting. A universal symbol for departed spirits and occult visitations are Ghosts. These cookies, like the ghost-shaped sweets served at Mexicos Day of the Dead celebrations, tend to minimize the reality of spiritual warfare in post-Christian America. The decorative ghosts may be cute, but to the countless victims of demonic bondage and oppression, the spirit world is no joke. Witches have the power to preform rituals, evoke magic and concoct formulas and spells to connect with the spirit world and manipulate its forces. They called as mistress of the occult. Witches are gifted at energetic interpretations; and in ancient times their talents, perspectives and expertise would be called upon during this time of year for help in understanding messages from the non-physical side of life as well as forecasts for seasons ahead (long before the Farmers Almanac, there were soothsayers :-). And so, witches as a Halloween symbol are understandably vital to the occasion. From the Legends told, witches would gather twice a year when the seasons changed, before the end of April on the eve of May Day and on the eve of October 31st on the eve of Halloween. They would gather on that time because when the seasons changed Its a time to the Veil between mundane and magical are be quite thin and energies tend to take on more revealing forms. They came with their broomsticks, to celebrate with the devil. One of the superstitions told of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people, transforming themselves into different forms and causing other magical mischief. One of the superstitions also said that the only way to meet a witch, you had to put your clothes on the wrong side out and walk backwards at midnight, on Halloween night. Halloween Traditions When Halloween began there are some activities and common traditions that will be done at night. These activities already exists from long time ago, adapted from celts culture, and from other country that influenced with Halloween. Lets see the activities and common tradition when Halloween happen; v Bonfires On the night of Halloween, Celts would bring wood and start bonfires or fire festival on the hilltop. They would throw the bones of slaughtered cattle into flames, and young people would go from house to house asking for food offerings and kindling for the Samhain fires. The people would extinguish their heart fires and gather together to create large fires on sacred hilltops to honor and to give offerings to their gods. They used crops and the bones of animal as offerings to the gods which had been culled and then burnt in the fires. But thats not all, they also used personal and symbolic items for relief from sickness or bad fortune. They belived that Bonfires and sacrifices guaranteed the sun would shine brightly after a long, dreary winter. On that time it is only called as fire fest, but now in modern world, it become bonfire which comes from words bone and fire, meaning â€Å"fire of bones†. Long time ago Bonfires have superstition. The superstition of holding bonfires is to encourage dreams of who your future husband or wife going to be. When bonfires happen the person who want to see the future husband or wife, should drop a cutting of his hair into the burning embers and then, that person will dream about the future of his/her beloved one. v Halloween Costumes One of many traditions in Halloween is to wear costumes. This tradition is very common especially for children. On the night of Halloween, children would dress up in scary costumes and go to their neighbour, ‘Help the Halloween Party or doing ‘Trick or Treat. This tradition also related with celts, long time ago when celts held huge bonfires in hilltop, they dressing up in elaborate animal skins and heads to disguise themselves as spirit and devils so that the real ones couldnt distinguish them as being human. By distinguisting themselves, they hoped that they would be able to avoid being carried away at the end of the night. That ceremonies also consisted of dancing, telling stories, and reading fortunes. However popular histories of Halloween tell us the practice goes back to celts ancient, but in fact there is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on halloween before the twentieth century. Halloween costumes became popular for Halloween parties in America in the early 1900s, for both adults and children. Halloween Costumes are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings. The costumes are traditionally those of the symbol of Halloween such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, devils, and other. But now there are also customes of pop culture figures like presidents, from movie, televison, and also cartoon characters.  § Costumes for Children Children is the best object to try ware custome in halloween, they will look cute in many custome that related in halloween fest, but nowdays they will be used cartoon characters or movie and the others. Below here you can see the many customes that used by children when halloween;  § Costumes for Adult F:woman customes.jpgAnother popular trend for Halloween is for women and in some cases also for men, they use halloween costumes as an excuse to wear particularly revealing costumes, showing off more skin that would be socially acceptable otherwise. Below here you can see the many customes that used by women and men when halloween; v Carving Jack-O-Lanterns Halloween: Pumpkins on stepsThe traditions of carving jack-o-lanterns originated from the Celts. Jack-O-Lantern means â€Å"Jack of the Lantern†. This name is based on the Irish legend that tells a man named Jack who could not enter heaven or hell. Jack could not enter heaven or hell because of his own fault. According to the story, jack invited the devil to have a drink with him. But jack didnt have money to pay the drink, so he made the devil to changed himself into a coin so that jack could use the coin to buy drinks. And the devil did it, after the devil changed into a golden coin, jack paid his drink. Jack then decided to kept the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the devil from changing back to his original form. After that, Jack freed the devil, but in one condition, the devil must promised to him, that he would not bother him for one year and if jack died, the devil would not claim his soul and then he can entered the heaven. After one year, the devil came up and jack tricked the devil again to climbed a tree to pick a fruit. While the devil was climbing the tree, jack carved a sign of cross on the tree so the devil could not came down. Jack promised to the devil, he could erased that sign under one condition, that the devil would not bother him for ten more years. When Jack died, God would not allow such an unsavory figure like jack into heaven, and when jack tricked the devil he said that if he died, the devil would not claim his soul. And devil did his promise to jack and kept his words, not to claim his soul which means not to allowed Jack went into hell. Because of these situations, Jack could not enter heaven nor hell. So he was sent into the dark night. When he walked, he found a coal and put that coal into a carved-out turnip to lighted his way. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as Jack of the Lantern, and then, to put it more simply, Jack OLantern. To keep him away, local villagers would carve scary faces into turnips and place them in their windows. Thus, the flickering flames from the Jack-O-Lantern eventually became associated with the spirits of the dead. v Trick or Treat The custom of trick or treating evolved in Ireland, centuries ago. In preparation for All Hollows Eve, the the poor people would go door to door upon the rich folks and receiving money, gifts or food in return for prayers for the dead on all souls day. The food was gathered for a huge feast and celebration. But now Trick-or-treatingis acustom traditionforchildrenonHalloween. Children will come wear scary costumefromhouseto house, and asking for treats such ascandy, or sometimesmoney, with the question, Trick or treat?. The trick is an idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property, such as eggs and flour being thrown at householders windows if no treat is given. In the North America, trick or treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween and it has become common socially expected that if somebody lives in a neighborhood with children, they should gave treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters. Trick-or-Treats already existed in Britian and Ireland, where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cake. This tradition is done in theUnited States,United Kingdom,Canada,Ireland,Puerto Rico, and centralMexico. In Mexico trick-or-treating called as calaverita, its a spanish language that meaning is â€Å"little skul†. Then the children will ask their neighbor â€Å"me da mi calaverita?†, in english means can you give me my little skull?. In the last twenty years, this tradition has spread to other countries, such asItaly,AustraliaandNew Zealand, possibly because of U.S. American TV shows and movies in those countries. v A Party Of Departed Spirits The idea is to ask your friends or relatives to come as the ghost of some famous deceased character. Each of them must bring a pumpkin lantern as their ticket of admission. When all guests are assembled, announce that the first game will be guessing the ghosts. Number each person, then furnish pen and paper for the contest. Award a prize to the one who guesses the most correctly. v Sailing Walnut Boat Boats are made from the empty walnut shells. In each is fastened a short piece of brightly-colored candle, along with the name of someone at the party. Light the candle and set it afloat with others in a tub. The boat bearing the candle first extinguished on its own will denote a bachelor or an old maid. v Ghosting, a.k.a. Boo-ing Ghosting is fast becoming a popular Halloween tradition in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other countries as well. Depending on your location, the new custom may be known as Ghosting, or Boo-ing but the concept is the same. Ghosting is a fun way to spread the Halloween spirit among friends and neighbors. This activity can begin any time in October but the first or second week of the month is the best, allowing sufficient time for the entire neighborhood to be ghosted. v Halloween Games  § Apple Bobbing, Ducking For Apples or Snap Apple Apple bobbing also known as bobbing for apples, and its have different name in some county depend where do you celebrate Halloween. In Scotland Apple bobbing called as â€Å"Ducking For Apples†, and in Ireland, they called â€Å"Snap Apple†. It is a game customarily played on Hallooween. The game will be played if the tub or a large basin fill with water and apples. They chose apples as the material because apples are less dense than water, they will float at the surface. The players try to catch one apples inside the tub without use of hands to secure an apple in their mouth. Ducking For Apples in scotland, they play the same game with apple bobbing but before they throw the apple onto a basin they place a dime in one apple, a ring in another and a button in the third. These denote fortune, marriage and single blessedness. And Mix these apples in a large tub with as many others as will fit. After that the rule and the next step of the game is the same with the apple bobbing, the difference is that after they catch the apple., the player must then pare their apples, trying not to break the paring strip. The apple paring is thrown over the left shoulder and is then said to form the first initial of the parers life mate. bobbingIn Ireland, Snap Apples usually do not use tub or large basin, they only use apples. The apples will be suspended from a string and the players are blindfolded. The First players to get decent bite of the apple gets to keep the prize or reward. But sometimes they also played as the same game by placing apples in a basin of water and trying to get an apple with their mouth without using hands. This traditions came from the Roman goddess Pomona who presided over fruits and gardens. The Pomona that decribed as a beautiful maiden whose arms were filled with fruit and who wore a crown of apples upon her head. And this game is an important part of the celtic when families would gather for a communal feast at samhain fest. The people belived where whoever bites the apple first in the group will be the first to marry, and girls who place the apple they bobbed under their pillows are said to dream of their future lover.  § Candle Blowing Candle is related with Blowing. Candle is one of the very famous Halloween fortune game on Halloween. Light of the candle can set the mood for a mystical future predicting exercise, which can involve a lot of people, depend on the candles you have. For this game we can use colored candles. To make this game more exiting, you can call a lot of people to participate in this game. And you can get to know predictions on peoples personal life through this candle game. Blindfold the players and then let them blow out a candle, the number of puffs required to extinguish the flame governing the number of years before the players marriage. If you want to play this game, just prepare a silk cloth blindfold, a table, a matchbox and three candles. For the candles you can chose different color because every color have different meaning, but you should pick the candle pink, green, and orange colors. After you already prepared it all, light three cand

AIDS and YOU :: Free AIDS Essays

AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is at present a sentence of slow but inevitable death. I've already lost one friend to AIDS. I may soon lose others. My own sexual behavior and that of many of my friends has been profoundly altered by it. In my part of the country, one man in 10 may already be carrying the AIDS virus. While the figures may currently be less in much of the rest of the country, this is changing rapidly. There currently is neither a cure, nor even an effective treatment, and no vaccine either. But there are things that have been PROVEN immensely effective in slowing the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay I hope to present this information. History and Overview: AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Defficiency Disease. It is caused by a virus. The disease originated somewhere in Africa about 20 years ago. There it first appeared as a mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It probably was spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes there. AIDS has already become a crisis of STAGGERING proportions in parts of Africa. In Zaire, it is estimated that over twenty percent of the adults currently carry the virus. That figure is increasing. And what occurred there will, if no cure is found, most likely occur here among heterosexual folks. AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country. This was a result of the fact that gay males in this culture in the days before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much higher than common practice among heterosexual (straight) men or women. In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease, and rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of this country immensely more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a "gay disease". Because the disease is spread primarily by exposure of ones blood to infected blood or semen, I.V. drug addicts who shared needles also soon were identified as an affected group. As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of this society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the "mainstream" of society here. But AIDS is also spread by heterosexual sex. In addition, it is spread by blood transfusions. AIDS and YOU :: Free AIDS Essays AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is at present a sentence of slow but inevitable death. I've already lost one friend to AIDS. I may soon lose others. My own sexual behavior and that of many of my friends has been profoundly altered by it. In my part of the country, one man in 10 may already be carrying the AIDS virus. While the figures may currently be less in much of the rest of the country, this is changing rapidly. There currently is neither a cure, nor even an effective treatment, and no vaccine either. But there are things that have been PROVEN immensely effective in slowing the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay I hope to present this information. History and Overview: AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Defficiency Disease. It is caused by a virus. The disease originated somewhere in Africa about 20 years ago. There it first appeared as a mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It probably was spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes there. AIDS has already become a crisis of STAGGERING proportions in parts of Africa. In Zaire, it is estimated that over twenty percent of the adults currently carry the virus. That figure is increasing. And what occurred there will, if no cure is found, most likely occur here among heterosexual folks. AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country. This was a result of the fact that gay males in this culture in the days before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much higher than common practice among heterosexual (straight) men or women. In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease, and rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of this country immensely more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a "gay disease". Because the disease is spread primarily by exposure of ones blood to infected blood or semen, I.V. drug addicts who shared needles also soon were identified as an affected group. As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of this society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the "mainstream" of society here. But AIDS is also spread by heterosexual sex. In addition, it is spread by blood transfusions.

Mobilize Leaders to Accelerate Results :: essays research papers

Mobilize Leaders to Accelerate Results http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=538   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this article coauthors, Brian Brittain, John Swain and Janice Simpson outline three tactics that have succeeded in unleashing productive energy and accelerating business results for organizations that have used them in a conscious and disciplined manner. Moreover, the ideas discussed in the writing are heavily related to the concepts confered by Chapter 12 in the textbook referring to strategic leadership. Specifically, Figure 12.4 shows a diagram of an exercise for gaining effective leadership. The author's ideology for their 3 common practices of strategic tactics known as; Beyond the cascade, Live the Story, and Implement a Sustaining Leadership Strategy are easily reflected by the materials are similar to the 3 directions of the exercise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the fast-changing global workplace, there is no longer one organizational structure that can be used universally to increase organizational performance. Change is the only constant in today's global, knowledge-based economy. Leaders need skills necessary to think and act strategically in translating mission into objectives, developing plans and programs to accomplish objectives, and to implement plans and programs. Each organization, department, and division must define the best systems and structures for its specific vision, mission, strategies, and competencies. The leader must get input and support from the experts who are busy doing the work of the organization and create alignment with customers and stakeholders. The International manager/executive as well as public sector executives and manager should create a road map to build organizational systems that are dynamic, flexible, and outcome focused that are successful in creating high performance. Some pra ctical results I found to be important include:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) Link organizational competencies to outcomes and results defined in your   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  strategic plan.

Interpersonal Communication Skills Essay

Emotion: The word emotion includes a wide range of observable behaviors, expressed feelings, and changes in the body state. Emotions are feelings. Emotional communication, then, refers to the act of communicating your feelings. This is also known as â€Å"emotional intelligence† or â€Å"social intelligence.† There are six principles of emotion and emotional messages. 1. Emotions may be primary or blended: A primary emotion is a basic emotion. These would be the eight basic emotions: joy, acceptance, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger and anticipation. Emotions that are close to each other on this wheel are also to close to each other in meanings. In this model there are also blends. These blended are the combinations of primary emotions. They are noted at the outside the wheel. For example, according to this model, love is a blend of joy and acceptance, whereas remorse is a blend of disgust and sadness. 2. Emotions are influenced by body, mind, and culture: Emotions involve at least three parts: bodily reactions, mental evaluation and interpretations and cultural rules and beliefs. Bodily reactions to emotions are pretty obvious and include things like blushing when you’re embarrassed, nervous habits, or sweaty palms. The mental and cognitive part of emotion experiences involves the evaluation and interpretations you make on the basis of what you experiences. For example, you may feel angry if someone is rude or insensitive to you on purpose. Culture also dictates how we should express and interpret our emotions as well. For example, Chinese students show respect by being quiet and passive. Asking questions would imply that the teacher was not clear on the lecture. 3. Emotions may be adaptive and maladaptive: Emotions are often adaptive that is, they can help you adjust  appropriately to situation. For example, if you’re worried you won’t do well in something, you’ll work harder to prepare for that situation. Emotions may be maladaptive and may get in the way of your accomplishing your goals. For example, if you are so anxious about a situation that you don’t prepare for it. In other ways emotions can create problems is in a tendency that some theorists have cleverly called catastrophizing â€Å"taking a problem even a minor one and make it in to a catastrophe. 4. Emotions are communicated verbally and nonverbally: According to DeVito (2009), â€Å"Theorists do not agree over whether you can choose the emotions you feel. Some argue that you can; others argue that you cannot. You are, however, in control of the ways in which you express your emotions†. In some instances you determine whether you want to express your emotions in full, but with other times you censor your emotions. 5. Emotional expression is governed by display rules: We’ve talked about display rules before, but to refresh your mind it is what is and is not appropriate to do. The differences we see are in the emotional expression. Men and women also have gender display rules for what is and isn’t appropriate to express within his or her culture. For example, it’s appropriate in our culture for women to divulge a lot of their emotions and feelings; however, it is not seen in the same light when men divulge all of their emotions to other men. 6. Emotions are contagious: Emotions can be contagious. If you think of a time where one person starts laughing, and then the people around start laughing, you can see this theory working. Emotional contagion is defined as emotions passing from one person to another. Another form of emotional contagion deals with persuasions utilizing emotional appeals.

Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial The controlled and randomized double blind trials refer to a situation in which a medicine investigator is not familiar with the nature of a drug. The term may also mean that a scientist does not realize that a drug is being tested maybe for certain diseases. Such medicines may be under surveillance, and they are only administered in a small prescribed amount in case of any side-effects. For a typical scientific research, the desires, expectations and beliefs can subconsciously influence, often, how people perceive things.In clinical research and preliminary psychology, these values are broadly recognized, thus explaining the rationale on why studies from subjects are regularly carried out under both blind and double blind situations. There is irresistible empirical support, which reveals that the expectation and attitude of experimenters can actually have a great impact on the result of experiments (Schulz & Grimes, 2002). In a situation invo lving single-blind experiments, an examiner is not able to distinguish between different samples of treatment.However, when human beings are concerned, such as in experimental psychology and medicine, double-blind events can be used to watch against the anticipation of both investigators and their subjects. For instance, in a double-blind clinical trial, tablets of drugs may be administered to patients. Neither patients nor researchers are conscious of such experiments, and the principal placebo effects typically take place during trials. At this stage, both physicians and patients consider a powerful new treatment is being tested.The static tablets are liable to work like the cure being considered, and can even provoke its distinctive consequences. Similarly, experimenter expectation effects are recognized in experimental psychology, and also turn up in researches on animal activities (Schulz & Grimes, 2002). In a captivating historical description, Schulz and Grimes (2002) have re vealed that blind evaluation first commenced towards the end of the 18th century as an instrument for fraud discovery mounted by influential typical scientists and doctors to dispute the alleged fantasies or charlatanism of exceptional drug.Some of the initial researches were made to assess mesmerism, and were strictly performed with blindfolds. The application of blind evaluation had been implemented by the 19th century by homeopaths, and by early 14th century, was regulated by psychical investigators and psychologists. However, in the 1930s, the capacity of blind methods merged with no-cure control group in medical tests was broadly acknowledged by a majority of health researchers, and just subsequent to World War II did blind tests in unsystematic controlled assessment became a typical and normative procedure.In medication and psychology, blind testing began as prevention against the unconventional, but its universal significance has been renowned for orthodox study; it has been internalized. While examiners in unorthodox medical and their incredulous columnists have been conscious of the likely impacts of anticipation and credence for over two hundred years, and conventional health explorers and psychologists for decades, this knowledge ha spread extensively throughout the scientific society.The beliefs and prospects in other experimenters in other branches of science seem to be ignored. There appears to be an implicit supposition that scientists in conventional grounds of study are resistant to the broad code that values, needs and prospects can control, frequently subconsciously, how we view and deduce things (Schulz & Grimes, 2002). This published report in the scientific literature evaluates how often blind measures were used in diverse branches of science.University science sectors were requested to explain whether obscure methodologies were trained or experimented upon. The outcome discloses that blind methodologies are seldom if ever accomplished or trained in any of the three sciences. The use of blind measures in various branches of science presents a gauge of the significance researchers in that area join to experimenter impacts.

An Artist of the Floating World Essay

Today, we are going to talk about â€Å"The comparison of the English TV programs for adults and children†. As the objects of a comparison, we chose four programs: â€Å"㠁ˆã â€žÃ£ â€Ã£  §Ã£ â€šÃ£  Ã£  ¼Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"ã‚ »Ã£â€š µÃ£Æ'Ÿã‚ ¹Ã£Æ'ˆãÆ' ªÃ£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ'ˆâ€  are for children; â€Å"ãÆ'ˆãÆ' ©Ã£Æ'Æ'ãÆ'‰ãÆ' »Ã£â€š ¸Ã£Æ' £Ã£Æ'‘ãÆ' ³Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"ï ¼â€œÃ£Æ' ¶Ã¦Å"ˆãÆ'ˆãÆ'ӋÆ'Æ'ã‚ ¯Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¼Å¡Ã¨ © ±Ã¢â‚¬  are for adults. We would like to talk about five things in our presentation. First of all I will introduce each TV programs; next Ayaka will talk about the â€Å"Entertainment†; next Keiko will talk about â€Å"Output/Input†; then, Risa will talk about â€Å"pronunciation†, finally, I would like to conclude our discussion. Before going to the main topics, I would like to show you the detail of each programs briefly. â€Å"㠁ˆã â€žÃ£ â€Ã£  §Ã£ â€šÃ£  Ã£  ¼Ã¢â‚¬  is an English education program for preschoolers and younger primary school children; it broadcasts on NHK educational channel. The program has started since 1990. In 2010, the program marked its 20th anniversary. This program is aired from 8:45 a.m. to 8:55 a.m. weekdays, Monday to Friday. (Now I will show you this movie for a little.) â€Å"ã‚ »Ã£â€š µÃ£Æ'Ÿã‚ ¹Ã£Æ'ˆãÆ' ªÃ£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ'ˆâ€  is an education program for children produced and directed by an American non-profit TV production office called ‘Children’s Television Workshop’/ ‘Sesame Workshop’. This program has been popular among more than 140 counties and regions since its debut in 1969 on American TV. â€Å"ãÆ'ˆãÆ' ©Ã£Æ'Æ'ãÆ'‰ãÆ' »Ã£â€š ¸Ã£Æ' £Ã£Æ'‘ãÆ' ³Ã¢â‚¬  is showing the Japanese culture in English for foreigners. This is a program that people can become to understand the professional English and to speak succinctly and clarity. This program has started since 2009, and you can watch it from 6:00 a.m. to 6:20 a.m. on every Tuesday. (I will show you this program.) â€Å"ï ¼â€œÃ£Æ' ¶Ã¦Å"ˆãÆ'ˆãÆ'ӋÆ'Æ'ã‚ ¯Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¤ ¼Å¡Ã¨ © ±Ã¢â‚¬  is a language program aired from 10:00 p.m. to 10:20 p.m. on every Wednesday on NHK educational channel. This program has 3 months period for each topic. For example, ‘è © ±Ã£ â€"㠁 ¦Ã¨ Å¾Ã£  Ã¥ â€"ã‚‹ï ¼ Ã£Æ' Ã£â€š ¤Ã£Æ'†ã‚ £Ã£Æ'â€"ç™ ºÃ©Å¸ ³Ã¥ ¡ ¾Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and ‘ãÆ'ˆãÆ'Æ'ãÆ'â€"ã‚ ¤Ã£Æ' ³Ã£â€š ¿Ã£Æ'“ãÆ' ¥Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£  «Ã¥ ­ ¦Ã£  ¶Ã¯ ¼ Ã¨â€¡ ªÃ¥Ë†â€ Ã£â€šâ€™Ã¨ ªÅ¾Ã£â€šâ€¹Ã¨ ¡ ¨Ã§  ¾Ã¨ ¡â€œÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ etc. From these topics, we chose ‘è  ´Ã£   è ª ­Ã£â€šâ‚¬ ã‚ Ã£ â€¹Ã£â€šâ€¹Ã¯ ¼ Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¦â€"‡å ­ ¦Ã£  ®Ã¥  Ã¤ ½Å"Ã¥   ´Ã©  ¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ for today’s presentation. [Conclusion] Through these discussions, we could find various inventions of each program. For children, the programs are produced to focus on the purpose to make children have some interests to English. Therefore, the producer especially tries to reinforce its entertainment using songs, games, pictures etc. We found that children imitate the teacher’s pronunciation, sentences, phrases, and words more easily than adults. So, it is important to teach the second language by the interaction of instructors and learners. As a result, the English knowledge that children could acquire by these TV programs will help to open many opportunities for them in the future. On the other hand, the programs for adults are produced to focus on the purpose of flexible contents. As a result, they can choose the field what they really interested in; they are able to acquire the topic thoroughly. We thought there is interactive effect as well: like conversation with native speakers. The conversations with native speakers speaking in English enable the learners to be generally fluent in speaking English. Basically, it is important to make the learner have interest to English; however, the most important thing is to create programs tailored for each target.

A Natural and Privatized life Essay

Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer of short story, The Year of Spaghetti. The depiction of Murakami’s stories with point-of-view narratives provides certain distinctiveness to the characters, depending on how the dialogue is conveyed. The abstract things the narrator says and does provide the idea of human isolation with little feelings of fear. Although the story has no definitive plot, it grabs hold of conflicting emotions between fear and loneliness. The unnamed protagonist in The Year of Spaghetti, illustrates the meaning of loneliness through naturalization and privatization. According to the Article, Murakami Haruki and the Naturalization of Modernity, â€Å"Privatization is the process that makes naturalization possible.† (Cassegard 87) The first paragraph of Haruki’s story, The Year of Spaghetti, already shows how alone and private his life it. He says, â€Å"I cooked spaghetti to live, and lived to cook spaghetti.† (pg. 178) It already seems as if his mind is made up for the rest of his life. That he has found his life’s calling to cook spaghetti every day and every night. That is what is natural to him. Naturalization means, â€Å"that one has grown used to an environment that was once shocking.† (Cassegard 83) Nothing really phases him, however, he could not have reached naturalization without having privatization occur first. Privatization is: The process whereby individuals â€Å"become used† to solitude, or—to be more precise—their instinctual needs and fundamental impulses become channeled in such a way that their gratification is made less dependent on relations to other people. The term does not imply that human interaction decreases, but stands for the subjective process whereby such interactions become less important as sources of gratification for individuals. (Cassegard 87) This explains how the protagonist in this story can be conveyed as someone who is lonely, hurt, and avoiding the rest of the world, but could actually just be content with life. Privatization explains that the interactions with other people are not necessarily something he is bad at or is avoiding, but  just has less interest in it. The story then goes on to how the protagonist’s phone rang and how he could barely even recognize the fact that someone was calling him. This was due to the fact that he does not call nor get calls regularly. This is a shock to the protagonist because he was not expecting anyone to call or talk to him. As he answered the phone it was his friend’s ex girlfriend and by the sound of her voice he already knew she needed some kind of help. He then says to himself, â€Å"whatever trouble was brewing I knew I didn’t want to get involved.† (Murakami 180) Before even knowing what the girl’s problem was he already knew he did not want any part of it. This is part of his privatized life. According to Cassegard, â€Å"Their peace of mind is paid for by loneliness.† (pg. 87) Cassegard is trying to say that Murakami’s protagonist likes being alone and therefore, knows, getting involved in any type of way with this girl or anyone else for that matter will interfere with him being alone. He is so use to his everyday life of buying different types of spaghetti every week, cooking it in his, â€Å"huge aluminum cooking pot, big enough to bathe a German shepard in.† (Murakami 178), then eating it all by himself. Perhaps the German shepard is also a symbol of loneliness because this is all he did in 1971. He did it everyday and that is what he sees as normal. He kept his life privatized like this and that is why nothing is a shock to him, because it is natural to him. The protagonist’s tone in the story sounds content with subtle undertones of fear. It is like the spaghetti has some type of deeper meaning in accordance to his loneliness. When explaining how spaghetti is cooked a specific type of way he also mentions more than once how he must eat it alone. He even says he expects to be alone, and him subconsciously thinking people are at his door proves how lonely he really is. The protagonist says: Every time I sat down to a plate of spaghetti- especially on a rainy afternoon- I had the distinct feeling that somebody was about to knock on my door. The person who I imagined was about to visit me was different each time. Sometimes it was a stranger, sometimes someone I knew. Once, it was a girl with slim legs whom I’d dated in high school, and once it was myself, from a few years back, come to pay a visit. Another time, it was none other than William Holden,  with Jennifer Jones on his arm. (Murakami 179) Although he may be content and satisfied with being alone, you can still tell how lonely he really is by his actions. Whenever, he eats spaghetti alone he imagines people coming to visit. He especially imagines people up when it is a rainy day. The rain symbolizes the mood of sadness and loneliness, therefore, especially on rainy days he would doze off. The protagonist in the story shows his loneliness because he has to daydream of random people that are visiting him but do not actually come inside. According to Cassegard, â€Å"Few things are as striking in the protagonists of Murakami as their loneliness, even when they are with other people.† (p. 83) Cassegard is saying that Murakami’s protagonists are always perceived to be lonely even when interacting with others. For example, when the protagonist in The Year of Spaghetti is talking to the girl on the phone, he makes up a lie so that he can hang up with her because he does not want to speak or help her with her problem of needing to contact her ex boyfriend, the protagonist’s friend because he owes her a sum of money. He is not happy to have a phone call because he likes to be alone, so therefore, he lies about cooking spaghetti just to cut the conversation off. After he lies he thinks to himself, â€Å" I lied. I had no idea why I said that. But that lie was already a part of me- so much so that, at that moment at least, it didn’t feel like a lie at all. (Murakami 181) That line can make us idealize the fact that he has been cooking spaghetti for the purpose of a lie that has turned true. Him cooking spaghetti symbolizes his way of privatization. Eating spaghetti provides allusion to the idea of a tangled relationship that he is avoiding with anyone, especially the girl he was speaking on the phone to. His constant rejection to the world has lead him imagining a pot with water, on his stove, and an imaginary match. (Murakami) This collectively provides the constant isolated relationship between him and his world. Murakami is a different kind of Japanese writer. He adapted his writing style from the Western side. DiConsiglo says, â€Å"Growing up, he dreamed of America. He read American detective novels, and listened to American music  on the radio. Even the defining moment in his life was distinctly American. At age 29, while watching a baseball game, he suddenly realized he wanted to be a writer.† (pg. 1) Murakami then says, â€Å"Writing in Japan for Japanese people is in a particular style, very stiff. If you are a Japanese novelist you have to write that way,† Murakami has said. â€Å"But I am different in my style. I guess I’m seeking a new style for Japanese readership, and I think I have gained ground. Things are changing now.† (DiConsiglio) Murakami was always teased for the way he writes. He was a disgrace to the older Japanese people because of the way he wrote. Japanese people would tease Americans and call them names like batakusai, which literally means, â€Å"stinking of butter.† (DiConsiglio 1) Murakami has been different from everyone else as he group up because of his interests and that is possibly why his characters in the stories he writes are so lonely, privatized, but also natural. His characters in the stories never seem to be shocked by anything because they accept everything as they are. They do not have any desire to figure out or question why certain things are the way they are. The characters just exist neither happy nor sad. And that is how the protagonist in Murakami’s story The Year of Spaghetti is like. His character shows not much emotion to anything else except his love for spaghetti and his few day dreams of random imaginary people. That is really lonely but does not seem to shock the protagonist nor phase him, because as said, t hat is what is natural to him. (DiConsiglio) In conclusion, the point of view narration has emphasized the point that gives his stories uniqueness and relatable aesthetic. It’s tone helps a reader to understand the author and protagonist’s ideas of privatization from the world that became natural to him. It is only then the symbolism of spaghetti provides a greater and deeper meaning to why the protagonist acts in the certain way that he does- a privatized and natural life. Works Cited Cassegard, Carl. â€Å"Murakami Haruki And The Naturalization Of Modernity.† International Journal Of Japanese Sociology 10.1 (2001): 80-92. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. DiConsiglio, John. â€Å"Haruki Murakami Stinks.† Literary Cavalcade 51.4 (1999): 15. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. Murakami, Haruki. â€Å"The Year of Spaghetti.† (2005): 178-83. Web.