HALLOWEEN

Halloween is upon us, when ghouls, ghosts, witches and warlocks come out to spook the living... and the living dress up like the undead. Halloween is a time for fun, a time for superstitions and spirits. Fancy dress, fake blood and trick-or-treat are traditional but many people celebrate Halloween without knowing how this holiday was originated and how it evolved into what it is today.

Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was a pagan holiday. All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is the evening before All Saints´ Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and it is celebrated on November 1st.

ANCIENT ORIGINS

Halloween´s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (Old Irish-meaning summer´s end). The Celts, who lived 2000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and Northern France, celebrated their New Year on November 1st. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. On the night of October 31st, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to death!

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic dieties. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other´s fortunes.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. 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 the late October when Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1st All Saints´ Day a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the Pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All- hallowmas (Middle English-meaning All Saints´ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and , eventually, Halloween.

THE COMBINATION OF ENDURANCE

An amazing, inspiring and courageous effort on the part of the miners and their rescuers!

In a world in which disasters often end in tragedy, this event is a beacon of hope for humans everywhere.

"MISION CUMPLIDA CHILE"

NON-VIOLENCE

Throughout the history of the world there have been many movements which have attempted to transform society. Most of these movements have been violent. However, there is also another attitude which has been maintained through the course of the centuries. This is a belief in the ideals of brotherhood, love, and above all, peace.

The first positive movement to change society by peaceful means began with Jesus Christ and Christianity. The movement against violence has had many followers through the centuries, such as Saint Francis of Assisi.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the cult of non-vilence progressed greatly, due to the work done by Gandhi. He held no official position in a Government but he symbolized a universal spirit of peace and brotherhood without distinction as to race or nation. After his death in 1948, and as a reaction to Vietnam War, the Hippy Movement grew up, developed from Gandhi´s doctrines,and reached its peak in the 60´s. Hippies had strong feelings about racism and persecution. They took part in the Civil Rights Movement and they made their beliefs known to the world in many ways including musical shows, pacifist folk songs and through peaceful sit-ins.

Nowadays more and more people are looking for an ideal to save the world. They are looking for something sublime, so simple to understand, and yet so difficult to get- PEACE.