The Meaning of Halloween: Why is Halloween celebrated?

This week the Halloween spirit is near already to be celebrated with little ghosts and goblins in the streets asking for candy and scaring one another. People make fires to tell spooky stories, go to cinemas to watch scary movies and decorate houses with pumpkins carved into jack-o’-lanterns.

But Halloween is not what we see commercialized and celebrated. Halloween is much more than fancy and creative costumes, decorations; the  holiday has a rich and interesting history.

Celtic Festival of Samhain

As the Encyclopedia Britannica states,

In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic Festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer…. 

The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature. In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.

The current Halloween practice, costumes and symbols have undergone significant change throughout history due to the Western culture. However, in early America Halloween was not celebrated as America had strong Christian roots. It is believed that in small Irish settlement people celebrated Halloween; because of the potato famine, many Irish people migrated to America taking with them their costumes.

Today’s Halloween is an Irish holiday at some point, with its origins going back to the Celtic winter festival. America witnessed a national spiritual rise in 1848  which spread the popularity of Halloween as well.

Interesting Halloween Facts

Celebrated with fireworks, Halloween is established as a national holiday in Ireland and on this day children are released from school for the week.

Witches put candles into skulls to light the way to coven meetings; carved pumpkins may have originated from the skull collection of witches.

People wore masks and scary costumes to frighten away the evil ghosts or to hide from them.

A special banquet table was set outdoors for the spirit of dead people to come over, after which people wearing their costumes tried to lead ghosts away.

Besides the scary costumes, people had light with them with a purpose of frightening and leading away the spirits of dead people.

Halloween masks and costumes may have originated from Celtic Druid traditions, when they wore animal heads and skins to acquire the power of the animal during ceremonies.

Through costumes, it was possible for people to change their personality and get into the spiritual world.

As a catholic legend goes, churches that did not have relics, they prepared a parade

where parishioners dressed as the patron saints; others dressed as angels or devils.

The tradition when people go from door to door may have originated from the Druid process of bagging material for the bonfire.

People, fearing the tricks of witches, prepared special ‘treating’ (food) for them. Otherwise, they believed that terrible things might happen to them.

It was a day of humor and fear…later on people turned this tradition into making tricks on other people, making jokes and harming others, and only witches and ghosts were blamed for that.  

Top 5 Amazing Benefits of Doing Yoga

Living with a healthy lifestyle is what we all want. But what to do for that, no one knows for sure. Several people suggest eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, others advise to be engaged in sports while the rest is enthusiastic about the benefits of doing yoga.

Here we will speak about one of them. Yoga is a big world, where you can choose whatever is close to your heart; it is a mixture of movements, relaxation, attention to breathing, flexibility, stress reduction, etc.People often ask about the benefits of yoga. Yoga includes a wide variety of activities, which will keep you beautiful from inside and outside. But let’s concentrate on several benefits of it in order to have a more vivid picture of its advantages.

The awareness of both physical and emotional sensations must be associated with food you eat.

The list of benefits is endless, but we have picked up the most attractive ones. Let’s go!

·        Thanks to yoga you can boost your immunity. Due to yoga your breath, movement and organism appear in a better state. So it is time to move more and to breathe correctly in order to have slim and healthy body.

·        As the research has shown the migraine sufferers has felt better after practicing three months of yoga. The main reason for migraine is unknown, but several doctors say that it can be a combination of mental stresses. Consequently, it is a well-known fact that yoga struggles against various types of stresses. It eases all types of stresses bringing peace and harmony to your mind and body.

·        Another important benefit of yoga is boosting sexual performance. Benefits of yoga for men and women in this field is essential. Twelve weeks of yoga are enough to improve your sexual life, by causing sexual desire, confidence, arousal and orgasm.

·        Sleeping is one of the most significant factors for a productive day. Bad sleeping habits or awful nightmares make your whole day a chaos. Yoga teachers say that it can cure such bad habits. As the yoga teachers mention, eight weeks of yoga will improve your sleep quality.

·        A regular yoga practice is closely related to meaningful eating. Thus, you should pay attention to whatever you eat and how you eat. The awareness of both physical and emotional sensations must be associated with food you eat. You cannot consume whatever happens if you want to be slim and beautiful.

As you can see, the benefits of yoga are numerous. So find time for practicing it and the results will be noticeable after a short time.

5 Important Tips for a Healthy Relationship

The tips for a healthy relationship are numerous, but let’s first of all cite an interesting quote which makes think about a lot of things.

“Good relationships don’t just happen. They take time, patience, and two people who truly want to be together”. Whoever is the author of this thought, we should admit that he/she has hit the point. 

Having a boyfriend or girlfriend is enjoyable, funny, interesting and captivating. There are so many things that interest us in them: their personality, their likes and dislikes, their lifestyle, their habits, their hobbies, so on so forth. Irrelevant to the type of the relationship, all of us experience its ups and downs, when something is incorrect, when something lacks or seems totally wrong.

     In any relationship, communication is an essential factor.

But it is a matter of time and matter of personality, if you are made for each other; then it will take just some time, to feel the same again. But there are exceptions as well as there are people who want their partners to be like them.

People are too various, and it is difficult to be like others, to think like them, to live like them, moreover, there is no need to do so. If someone will require your being like him/her, then you should stop that kind of relationship as soon as possible. 

Though, if the reason of your quarrel is different, then take a breath. There is no escape. You can say Goodbye to him/her whenever you want, but should you?

Don’t hurry to quit with it, as here is a good piece of relationship advice, which will help you in whatever relationship you are.

·        There is nothing more terrible than being suspicious. It is a worm that eats you from inside. If you are in long term relationships, then you should leave no room for doubts. You should trust each other whatever unbelievably happens. Moreover, you should trust with your heart and soul that your partner loves you.

·        You should qualify the time you spend with each other. There isn’t time for chit chatting, especially when you have a full working schedule, so use your time correctly. You may do meaningful, funny and interesting things together and express your love by making fascinating surprises for each other.

·        In any relationship, communication is an essential factor. Irrelevant to the place you are, you should communicate with each other, be it via Skype, Email or whatsoever. Often common relationship problems occur because of distance. So you should make the distance a minor obstacle for you.

·        Small acts of kindness play a crucial role in any relationship. Whether you are next to each other or apart, don’t forget to be attentive to each other. You may do it by sending postcards, flowering, making wonderful meals for both of you, give hugs and kisses. These small acts are vital. 

·        Expressing your love is of utmost importance. You should show your love by words, actions or even by non-verbal communication. There is no necessity to make the expression “I love you” a daily routine, as it is dull. Show your love in the way you find the most exciting. Make you’re a loving relationship with your partner and the life will seem easier.

How To Be Healthy. The Secret is Revealed

All of us are gourmands starving for delicious food. And, please, don’t try to reject that fact. If we put aside the question “How to be healthy”, then we all are ready to consume everything that is edible.

Chocolate, cakes, various sweets, burgers, pancakes, sandwiches, all of them smile us from the glass windows of pastry shops. The desire to stay healthy, slim and preserve the beauty of twenties becomes a topical question.

It is so simple to stay healthy and to eat well that you cannot even imagine. The tortures of all types of diets are already in the past, it is time to eat what you want without counting the calories. By following a few simple steps, you can make your life healthier happier.

It's simple to stay healthy...

• You should remember that it is useless to speak about healthy lifestyle if you don’t eat much fruit and vegetables. So it’s high time to make healthy choices while buying foods. Don’t forget to keep the color balance of your purchase: green apples, yellow bananas, red tomatoes, etc. As different is your basket as healthier you will be. You may search for healthy dinner ideas and make a to-do-list for your every dinner. You may include all the above mentioned products in it.

• Taking and changing your whole eating habits is like Armageddon. There is no need to waste time on it. You should start slowly and change anything step by step. The bad habit of eating overnight, to put it mildly, is not realistic or wise. Forget about overnight festivals. They ruin your life. The next step is replacing your favorite chips with a salad (Mind; it should consist of foods of at least four colors). And then comes the turn of butter, for a healthy lifestyle the use of olive oil is more advisable than butter. You can add other options as well; it is up to you.

• Trying to reject the desire of “off-limit” foods by using only healthy food reminds me about the Biblical forbidden fruits. It will be stupidity if you try to forget completely about your favorite cakes, sweets or fast food. The more forbidden is the product, the more desirable it becomes. So start with small steps, try with small portions. Otherwise, you will awaken the hungry beast in yourself, who is ready to consume all the cakes and sweets that exist on the Earth.

• Take your time while eating and chew every bite slowly. We are used to quickly chewing and swallowing whatever appears in our mouth, but it is not smart. We should feel the taste and flavor of the food and combine the pleasure with eating.

There are numerous options that are useful for a healthy lifestyle, but it is us who should decide what is better for us. So start from this very day, don’t delay it and ask yourself: “What is better for me”?

Weird Facts about Dreams You Didn’t Know

Dream is a succession of images, emotions, sensations, ideas, that people experience while sleeping. There exists a scientific study of dreams, which is called oneirology. Indeed, you have heard numerous weird facts about dreams and still you can’t believe them. Specialists argue about the content of dreams till now. What is the purpose or motivation of dreams? No one knows for sure. However, there are a lot of dictionaries, books and journals about dreams and what they mean.

Psychologists state that women have more nightmares than men.

According to Sigmund Freud: “Dreams are manifestations of our unfulfilled and repressed desires”, whereas others believe that they are just side effects of our daily life. From the scientific point of view, certain weird dreams may be a result of sleeping disorders. There are a lot of pills that may cause sleeping disorder symptoms. Whatsoever, let the doctors and professors argue about the content and reasons of dreams, and we will enjoy several interesting facts about them.

•        Maybe unbelievable, but there are inventions inspired by dreams. One of them is the periodic table of Dimitri Mendeleev, another one is the splendid idea of Larry Page about creating Google, alternating current generator by Nicola Tesla, etc.

•        Probably you have heard about the adventures of sleepwalkers, or maybe you are one of them. Let me tell you a few interesting cases related to sleepwalking. 

There was a sleepwalker who walked out of the window while sleeping and survived. 

•        Another smart woman “decided” to have sex with strangers.

•        You may be surprised, but animals dream as well. If you follow them when sleeping you will notice that they make strange noises and movements, it means they are having a dream.

•        Research has shown that people may stay conscious while sleeping. In this case people appear in a passive state. The dream is very alike to reality, but the images may fade away quickly.

•        There is a type of lucid  dream. About 50 % of people have experienced this kind of dream, but few of them have it regularly. While having this sort of dreams, people are conscious that they are dreaming, but their brain is in a state of sleep.

•        Psychologists state that women have more nightmares than men.

•        This fact may leave you astonished. It turns out that blind people, who have not been born blind, see some images in their dreams, whereas born blinds see no dreams.

By summing up, we should say that there are so many interesting and meanwhile dangerous facts about dreams. Be attentive and take care of yourself whatever happens!

How to Start Running: A beginner’s Guide

Whether it’s your first time you try to start your running program or you try to get back to your running routine, there are basic tips and advice to take before you start your race safely.

You may always run, it’s free and it is the only exercise during which you burn a lot of calories. Regular running benefits you in several ways: it will reduce the risk of chronic illnesses, type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart diseases. Running will boost your mood and keep your weight under control.

It’s not a surprise that running is the latest carze of many celebrities who spend so much time doing their loved exercise.

It’s always a good thing to get enough information about the exercise basics before you start it. For the beginners, there are running basics to take into consideration: the speed of running, what to eat before running, and at last how to stay motivated for running. The good news is that you shouldn’t worry about the anxiety of running as it is an activity for anyone to try, regardless of age and fitness level.

This guide will help the beginners to enjoy running safely, as well as to stay motivated.

Before running

Before starting to run it’s important to check your GP, especially when you are worried about an existing condition or you have been recovering  a previous injury.

If it’s a long time you haven’t exercised, you should build your fitness levels for running from walking long distances.

Running doesn’t require special equipment, though a pair of good running shoes that suit you well, will save you from possible injury.

The market boasts in various types of trainers; you should get advice from a specialist running retailer who will assess your foot and give you the right size shoe. If you have already one good running shoes, just keep in mind that you should change them every 300 miles (482km).

Make a careful planning for your running routine and put it into your diary so that it won’t slip your mind.

Starting out

To avoid injuries and enjoy your running exercise you should get into it with ease; make your pace and distance longer over several outing. Before each run, you should do a little warm up for at least 5 minutes. It can be climbing stairs, marching on the spot, walking fast or several side stepping and knee lifts.

Before running, try to walk from 10 to 30 minutes (the amount of time that feels comfortable). As you accomplish your walking exercise easily, include some running intervals of one or two minutes into your walking at a speed that is comfortable for you.

With the time, make your running intervals longer until you run for 30 minutes as a whole.

As a beginner, you should give yourself a few minutes to  cool down and bring your heartbreak to normal by gently stretching leg muscles after each run.

Running regularly for beginners means to go out running twice a week. Your body will gradually adapt to a consistent training stimulus, as well as your running will improve.

It’s not recommended to run for four days a week and skip it for the coming three weeks.

How to stay motivated for running

 Set yourself a goal

The key to staying focused and motivated is to set yourself goals regardless of your fitness level. As you make your goals realistic you avoid becoming demoralized. You should find out some local events where you can participate in a charity run or even train for a race.

A running friend

A running partner should be more or less the same level with you. You will encourage each other when one of you is down. It’s a reason to stay motivated while running.

Add Variety

Running the same route won’t always be that interesting. You should vary your distances and routes. To keep your interest tuned, use Real Buzz’s route planner to find, record and share your favorite running routes.