DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

 Everyone gets the chills when they walk through a cemetery, especially at night but mostly it is all in our heads. How could walking through hundreds of deceased people that are buried six feet under, get you thinking that there's ghost in that thar graveyard? Come and take a walk through some of America's most haunted cemeteries and read about the ghosts that choose to hand around them. Bachelor's Grove Cemetery One of the Bachelor's Grove ghosts     This secluded cemetery located in Chicago is said to be the most haunted graveyard in America. Bachelor's Grove has had numerous paranormal investigators that have investigated this cemetery and it has been reported that it has had over 160 cases of documented paranormal occurrences, which include everything from floating "orbs" to light and full body apparitions. Lafayette Cemetery Collage of graves at Lafayette Cemetery     Located in New Orleans, La. Is said...

    In Irish folklore, the Banshees are known as the ancestral spirits of the Fairy world. Their history extends way back into the dim and mysterious past.     Banshees are among the oldest Fairy folk of Ireland, associated as strongly as shamrocks and potatoes. Banshees, also known as Bean-Sidhe, were appointed to forewarn members of Irish families of impending death. Her prescence alone brings no harm or evil, but to hear a Banshee in the act of keening is to have witnessed the announcement of the death of a loved one. The Banshee's wail pierces the night and its notes rise and fall like waves over the countryside.     It is said that Banshees never appear to the one who is to die but to their loved ones. In times gone by she was seen washing human heads, limbs or bloody clothing until the water was dyed with blood. Over the centuries this image changed. The Banshee now paces the land, wringing her hands and crying. Sometimes she i...

     The Canadian Tulip Festival , now in its 59th year, has grown to become the largest Tulip Festival in the world. It preserves the local heritage of Canada’s role in freeing the Dutch during World War II, and the symbolic tulip; a gift in perpetuity to the Canadian people for providing a safe harbour to the Dutch Royal Family at that time. The festival’s mandate is to preserve this heritage and celebrate the tulip as a symbol of international friendship by engaging local organizers, volunteers, artists, performers, tourists and festival-goers in what has become an annual ritual of spring and one of Canada’s best loved and well-known cultural events. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands     In the fall of 1945,  Princess Juliana of the Netherlands  presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was given in appreciation of the safe haven that members of Holland’s exiled royal family received during the World War ...

    Trumpets blare, women weep and a giddy crowd roars as burly men carrying towering wooden pillars charge through narrow streets in a medieval tradition of pride and devotion to their patron saint.     For more than 800 years, the ancient central Italian town of Gubbio has erupted in a riot of yellow, blue and black each May for the " Festa dei Ceri"  ( Festival of the  Candles) to honor patron saint  Ubaldo Baldassini , a 12th century bishop. one of the teams grimacing with the heavy candle     In a day filled with feverish festivities that include hurling jugs of water onto a crowd, the highlight is a strenuous race where three teams tear through the town and up a mountain with 400-kg wooden pillars balanced on their shoulders.     The festival taps into a deep-rooted sense of local pride and tradition -- the sort of fierce identity tied to their town or region that Italians are famous for...

    I want to bring up some alternate methods of thought, that the best way to survive the zombie apocalypse is to stay mobile and not hunker down in a single place. Here's why that it might be true. A Zombie Apocalypse Isn't Siege Warfare     Zombie survivalists like to make a parallel between fending off zombies and medieval forms of siege warfare. At first glance, it's easy to see why they might make that comparison: you have an overwhelming mass of combatants outside your gates, but within a well-stocked stronghold, a small number of defenders can hold off almost indefinitely.     The problem with this idea is that surviving a siege puts faith in the idea that your attackers will eventually get bored or be incapable of feeding or otherwise supplying themselves and will soon stop attacking you.     We can't assume those things of zombies. Zombies don't get bored. Zombies are always hungry...

    Is it called  Memorial Day or  Decoration Day?      Many people, especially those in the south, ask themselves this question every year. Compounding the confusion is the fact that both celebrations are often held on the same weekend in May. Most of us have participated in Memorial Day celebrations. I've had the experience of participating in several Decoration Day celebrations as well. According to  History.com  Memorial Day was first celebrated as Decoration Day. This day first happened officially a few years after the Civil Warn ended on May 30, 1868.     General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic is widely credited for the original proclamation. This held great importance even though the Grand Army of the Republic was a group of former soldiers and sailors and not a governmental organization. President    Richard Nixon  officially declared Memorial Day to be a fed...

    The annual airing of  A Charlie Brown Christmas  has become as much a part of Christmas as Santa and Rudolph.     Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, Snoopy's decorated doghouse and Linus' classic recitation on the true meaning the season have become true baby-boomer Christmas icons. Throw in Vince Guaraldi's classic soundtrack, and you have an animated special that has defined a generation. A Charlie Brown Christmas was not the first time the Peanuts characters were animated. In the early 1960's they appeared in a series of commercials for the Ford Motor Company. A Charlie Brown Chirstmas was conceived, written, animated and produced in only six months, and was finished only a week before the air date. The first airing, on December 9, 1965, was sponsored by Coke. A CBS executive who watched a preview was disappointed and declared the program, "A little flat....a little slow", and said he thought Peanuts was better su...

     Golden Week (Gōruden Wīku ), often abbreviated to simply GW and also known as  Ōgon shūkan  ( "Golden Week") or  Ōgata renkyū  ( "Large consecutive holiday") is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays: April 29    Emperor's Birthday  (Tennō tanjōbi), until 1988    Greenery Day  (Midori no hi), from 1989 until 2006    Shōwa Day  (Shōwa no hi), from 2007 Perhaps a little kite flying during this holiday May 3    Constitution Memorial Day  ( Kenpō kinenbi) May 4     Holiday  (Kokumin no kyūjitsu), from 1985 until 2006     Greenery Day  (Midori no hi), from 2007 May 5     Children's D ay (Kodomo no hi), also customarily known as  Boys' Day  (Tango no sekku) Heading out to a movie or dinner for Golden Week History     Th...

some of the moors costumes     Araquio festival  is a celebration traditionally held every May in Nueva Ecija. The festival dates back to the Spanish colonial period and is celebrated with a theatrical/religious presentation similar to Spanish  zarzuelas , dramatizing the spread of Christianity in the country and the war between Christians and Muslims. Some of the Costumes History and Customs     The name Araquio is said to have come from  "Heraclio",  the name of a bishop during the time of  Constantine the Great . The first Araquio presentation took place in the town of Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija over 120 years ago. Before modern musical instruments were available, the bands used instruments made from indigenous materials like bamboo. According to Francisco Vergara Padilla, director of the Araquio group in the barangay of St. Tomas in Peñaranda, during his grandfather's time they used basins and utensils as ...