We’ve all been there before.  Dressed up as Superman, a Ghastly Ghoul or a Vampire, as children we’ve trudged our local neighbourhood in search of sweets.  In return for not playing a ‘trick’ on our victims we’ve all enjoyed a feast of ‘treats’.  But how much do we know about Halloween’s roots and traditions?

Roots

Halloween evolved from Celtic Pagan rituals in Ireland and Scotland.  Pagans strongly associated winter with human death.  November 1, indicating the start of 6 months of winter, came to be known as the Day of the Dead.  And on October 31 the Celts celebrated Samhain, the summer’s end of 6 months of sunshine.   As the Pagans survival through the harsh winters relied upon the prophecies of their druids they lit bonfires and reinforced boundaries in search of protection from evil spirits.

This blurring between life and death, a seminal line between this world and the next, gave rise to the occult.  Many believers choose Halloween to attempt to contact the dead.  The Christian Church soon got in on the act.  In the 8th Century November 1 was established as All Souls Day and on October 31st All Hallow’s Eve.  A feast on All Souls Day was held in celebration of those in purgatory, awaiting their fate.  Many Christians now choose to distance themselves from the ancient Pagan traditions and from the modern interpretation of dressing up and trick or treating.

Traditions

Today’s incarnation of Halloween has much to thank Ireland for its observation of traditions such as lighting bonfires, dressing up as creatures of the underworld and later spectacular fireworks displays.  The Irish still to this day take a national day’s holiday on the 31 October with children up and down the land knocking on neighbour’s doors to gather fruit, nuts and sweets.  Families make a barnbrack fruit bread cake, with a piece of rag, a ring and a coin baked inside.  If your slice contains the coin you can expect a prosperous year, the rag financial ruin and the ring a future romance or prolonged happiness.

Populist

IncarnationThe dawn of the 20th Century meant Halloween became heavily commercialised.  Taking the lead from America, Halloween is now big business.  From Masks to Movies you can now purchase a whole array of products to help celebrate Halloween.  These include Scarecrow effigies, Inflatable Pumpkins and Electric Lanterns, not to mention Dracula, Frankenstein and Witches Suits.  In New York City, two million spectators flock for the annual Greenwich Village Halloween parade, the largest of its kind in the world.  Whilst across the States trick or treaters are welcomed with porch lights and Jack O’Lanterns (carved out pumpkins with a candle inside).

Apple Bobbing

A popular game to play at Halloween is Apple Bobbing.  The object is to take an apple out of a bucket of water without using your hands and only your mouth.  Less well known is that traditionally the apple is peeled and the peel dropped back into the water.  If this spelt a letter this would be the start of the name of the bobber’s true love.  Interestingly, the record for the number of apples bobbed in a minute has just been broken in London at a party organised by UK based charity Zimbabwe Rural Schools Development Programme.   Al Graham and Naser Turabi both successfully bobbed 17 apples in a minute!  The previous record was a paltry 8.  See more on Apply Bobbing

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!  (This article was previously publish in European Vibe magazine).

Nice.  Not a word most rock bands would aspire to but for 70’s throwbacks The Feeling it could not be more apt.  For the 5 piece band from Sussex play hummable pop tunes with catchy hooks and are storming up the UK charts.  Their debut single Sewn got to Number 6 in the UK Download charts.

The Feeling are unashamed to admit their influences include Queen, Elton John, Supertramp, ELO and 10cc.  Yes it seems MOR is making a comeback!  (Middle of the Road) Occupying space taken more recently by bands such as the Scissor Sisters and The Darkness they aim to prove that pop with guitars doesn’t need to sound like Busted or McFly.  Yet given this is the sort of music your Mum and Dad could well like, they have some way to go to gain the credentials to be labelled an Indy band.

Before Twelve Steps from Home sent them on their way to stardom the band did their musical apprenticeship as a covers band in the French Alps.  Given that this included playing pop classics such as TV Killed the Radio Star and all time favourite Walk Like An Egyptian it is no surprise they are more Pop than Rock and Roll.  “Those classic pop songs do teach you a lot about writing,” says singer and guitarist Dan Gillespie, what “make them attractive to people.”  Clearly this gave them a good grounding in writing melodies and how to work a crowd.  They have been wooing audiences across the UK, the festival scene and Europe all summer.

We have some tickets left for this Friday night at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.  If you are interested in going, let me know: james@answerenglish.com

Oh what a night!  We celebrated our first Language Learning Experience evening yesterday in Central London.  We had 12 Spanish speakers and 12 English speakers nattering away in each others languages.  The idea was to give language learners a chance to meet people, make friends and practice what they’ve learnt in an informal setting.

The feedback we got was extremely positive and everyone seemed to enjoy the chance to practice both English and Spanish.  Everyone was greeted with a glass of Sangria and then seated in tables of four.  We divided the night into half hours of Spanish speaking and English speaking and got everyone to move around so they could meet as many different people as possible.

To round the night off we had a quick cultural quiz.  Congratulations to Helena & Covadonga who took the two first prizes of a Harper Collins dictionary and Alex & Jordi who were runners up.  You can see a little footage of the Language Learning Experience on You Tube.  And some more photos in our Past Events section.

As people left at the end of the evening we gave away a goodie bag.  Thank you to our partners La Tasca, Spanish Express, Instituo Cervantes, Don Quijote, Champs-Elysees, Harper Collins, Malvern House and EuroTalk for their generosity.

Thanks to all those that came, we hope to see you soon.  If you would like to come to the next Language Learning Experience on the 14 November, please e-mail: james@answerenglish.com to reserve a place. 

Calling all Skiers!  Answer English has just been presented with 3 Complimentary tickets to the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show at Olympia.  The show seems packed with fun stuff to do including a slope for your first ski lesson, a resorts village that gives you the chance to taste cuisine from around the world and a fashion show so you can look your best on piste and of course off it.

Some of the best skiers and boarders from around the world are convening to show off their skills on a 20 foot ‘quarter pipe’ slope.  And if that wasn’t enough you can have a go at assailing an 8 metre ice wall.  What more could you want?!

The Show runs between the 18 and 22 October.  Doors open 11am weekdays and 10am at the weekend.  For more information go to: www.metroskishow.co.uk.  We are giving the tickets away on a first come first served basis.  So if you are interested in going send me an e-mail to: james@answerenglish.com

Something’s in life never change.  I’ve been away in Madrid on business for a week, and come back to the disaster that is the English football team!  Last night England lost 2-0 away to Croatia in a woeful match.  To cap it all Paul Robinson was guilty of one of those ‘howlers’ that will inevitably be shown repeatedly for years to come.  Rushing out of goal to boot the ball up the pitch, the ball bobbled, and he managed to totally miss the ball and ‘air kick’ it.  Poor Paul was left to watch the ball trickle into his own net.  I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s on YouTube.  I’ve just done a quick search for it and couldn’t find it.  When it is I’ll post it up here so you can have a good laugh!

AS PROMISED! LINK TO YouTube: Paul Robinson’s Mis-Kick

Apologies first of all for keeping you uninformed on London Life, Learning English and other pieces of interest from the world of Answer English.  Most importantly we’ve made great strides towards our first ‘Language Learning Experience’ evening.  We now have the venue and have already starting selling tickets for the 24 October.  In fact we have sold nearly half the Spanish tickets and a third of the English ones.  So please Contact Us early to avoid disappointment! 

The Spanish – English ‘intercambio’ style night will be in a Central London Tapas Bar.  The evening will begin at 7:00 with an hour of Spanish and another hour of English.  You’ll have a chance to meet different people as we rotate the tables and then you can mingle until the close of the Bar.  We will have a teacher of both English and Spanish on hand to guide the evening and you will take a goodie bag away with you at the end of the night.  Tickets are £10 but we have an ‘early bird’ booking promotion.  For tickets sold before the end of next week, you can go for just £5 including a glass of Sangria. 

The night is a chance for you to meet people, have fun and practice your languages.  Click here Download the Flyer.  If you want to buy a ticket please contact James Herbertson by e-mail: james@answerenglish.com or call 020 7402 8651.

The world of language is constantly evolving.  No longer is language learning confined to ‘Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening’ classes with a teacher and white board.  Nor are additions like social activities, cafeterias, internet access, learning centres enough to whet students’ appetite.  Now language learners are looking for language classes in different environments.  Like using London as the classroom, as pioneered by Camden College of English and their Cultural Experience course.  Or combining Spanish with Salsa Dancing, Italian with Cooking, or German with Painting.

To see a whole host of language learning opportunities get yourself down to Olympia on the 3rd to the 5th September.  The Language Show hosts over 120 exhibitors from across the globe, is putting on 80 seminars and 29 taster classes.  If that wasn’t enough Answer English will be there too!  We are on stand 154 and are promoting our Language Exchange nights.  Over the 3 days we will be running a FREE Prize draw for a Language Course, Dinner for Two and Tickets to our Intercambio nights.

If you would like to go we have over 2000 The Language Show tickets to give away.  These cost £10 but you if you would like to go, please Contact Us and we will get a FREE ticket to you.

For further information go to: www.thelanguageshow.co.uk