This is my wish for you:

Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life.

(Author Unknown)



Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

(Author: Clive Staples Lewis)


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Summing up of the article The Two Gentlemen of Verona by H. C. Goddard

GODDARD, Harold Clarke. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In: The Meaning of Shakespeare. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970. v.I, p. 41-4. 

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                                                                                                      By Profª. Drª. Bárbara de Fátima.   

 The Two Gentlemen of Verona is full noticed by the use of disguise in his script. The presence of a woman performing as a boy transforms the comedy in a real comedy because on the Elizabethan stage all women’s performance were played by men.

                       
                                      

        
                            
 2  women

                                               
 1  men                              3  boys
         
In Twelfth Night, we have a female character called Viola, who in fact is an actor, and after playing as Viola, she disguised herself as a boy called Cesario in order to work as a page in the Duke’s house.

         The author describes two ways of examining The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

11-  It is a kind of premonitional work. The theme which is presented in this play is the same in Twelfth Night, that is, the use of disguise.  Julia and Viola dressed themselves as a boy, and this situation is much more detailed in Viola’s performance.

22- Irony – Another character who presents a great importance is Launce because as a slave he has the perception to describe both gentlemen: Proteus and Valentine in a very ironical way. Why are they called gentlemen? According to Launce’s description of Proteus, he is a terrible, selfish, and false man and Valentine is presented as a man without no desire, and his loyalty and constancy becomes himself in a neutral man. As a juvenile work, it shows a boring wit; an incredible end in relation to Proteus’ final performance; Valentine believes in friendship above love and Proteus differs from him because he believes in love above friendship.

According to the play, the gentlemen are two men who are presented by their differences in character, personality and performance. They do not present the qualities of perfect gentlemen; Antonio, the Duke, Sir Thurio, and mainly Sir Eglamour who is a coward and he proves that it is, when he leaves Silvia with the outlaws in the forest. But sarcastically Shakespeare calls them gentlemen. Why? Because they belong to the upper class of society, they are rich, while Launce and Speed are slaves; their thoughts and position in society give them no opportunity to become gentlemen.

         The happy ending of the play is described according to Renaissance principles of friendship and love. In this play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the author makes use of an ironical tone: the “gentlemanly” concepts here are material, physical not psychological or spiritual.  Valentine is the best example of these concepts. He is a good speaker, for that reason he is chosen the captain of the outlaws. 

         All the gentlemen and lords presented in Shakespeare’s plays are used in a very ironical way. Their positions on the plays do not require great effort. The noble title presented by them says everything.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Summing up of the article Coming of age: marriage and manhood in Romeo and Juliet and the Taming of the Shrew by Coppélia Kahn


KAHN, Coppélia. Coming of age: marriage and manhood in Romeo and Juliet and the taming of the shrew. In: Man’s estate: masculine identity in Shakespeare. London: University of California Press, 1981. p.104-118.
___________________________________________________

                                                          
By Profª. Drª. Bárbara de Fátima.


Shakespeare described his male character, Petruchio, the tamer of his wife, Kate, giving him the precious tools to achieve his main intentions: money, power, ambition. He spends the whole play trying to tame her using non-human techniques, mechanisms which cannot be applied even to irrational animals. Everything is against Kate. Her father accepts her marriage to Petruchio because he has financial interests. Kate is, before marriage, a product of parental irresponsibility and stupidity. She is unkind, bad-tempered, sharp-tongued, and non-affective. Here, she represents the outlaw feminine principle. Petruchio is violent, tyrant (mechanical taskmaster and he has the financial power). But at the end of the play Kate becomes a product of marital power and love, that is, docile, polite, and kind. Here she represents the inlaw feminine principle. Petruchio was conquered by his wife’s love and submission. 
  
According to the play, we notice that Kate is a free woman, neither speaking about the chains of marriage nor the punishment that Petruchio brings up to her. Her freedom comes from the linguistic feature; her emancipation becomes greater and greater through the language spoken by her, the tone which is used a symbol to her ironical performance. It brings to her husband’s admiration and love.

She dominated her husband using her language, her inner feelings showed through her speech and her words called Petruchio’s attention to her as a human being. It sounds to him as subordination, but it isn’t. Her speech shows authority and wisdom, qualities which are supposed to be masculine. It sounds as the changing of rebel to conformist, but it isn’t. 

The fantasy which is present in Petruchio’s mind blinds him to see what really is in Kates’s mind; he becomes from victorious tamer to a complacent master. Petruchio’s performance describes the presence of the feminine’s weakness’ myth: only the woman has the power to subordinate a man, by transforming him her tamer.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Summing up of the article The Gender Principles by Marylin French

FRENCH, Marylin. The gender principles.  in: Shakespeare’s Division of Experience. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. chapter 1. p.13-24.
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 By Profª. Drª. Bárbara de Fátima. 


              
We used to study gender as a division between masculine and feminine types. The author presents this subject as a kind of myth which gives to the men all the right to subordinate women’s wishing and thoughts. According to this myth the women must stay at home while their husbands or fellows go to the work; another myth is showed when Adam ate the apple given by Eve, this action brings all the women’s suffering ant they lost the paradise. 

The nature created the women and gave to them the ability to produce milk, to give birth, to menstruate, and these natural abilities brought up all the men’s fears in relation to them, but their domination over the women went on.

The women’s performance is fully described through these myths principles. Their role in society and in literature is showed in a very deep way according to their thoughts, writings, active presence, and as a human being who has intelligence and experience to present.

 The study of the women was presented in many of the Shakespeare’s plays. For example, in The Comedy of Errors, the male characters appear to show a world made of love, kindness, emotion, and mainly domination over the female characters. One of the female characters is Adriana who shows her feelings in relation to the marriage, her rebellion makes it clear because she was not able to accept the man’s power over her. Here we have the presence of the outlaw feminine principle; but at the end she accepts her destiny of subordinated woman. In this case, she will belong to the inlaw feminine principle.

To the men is given all right to fall and to raise. It is a natural principle. But in relation to the women nothing is allowed in relation to their behavior. If a woman falls, she will have no opportunity to raise because it will require a great redemption in order to return to an insignificance place in the world as an object of men’s world. 

In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, the author presents Petruchio, the central male character who becomes himself the tamer of Kate, his wife. He uses his money and his power to buy her from her father as an object. He uses terrible methods and as a taskmaster he fails. She is a rebel, a woman of opinion, a shrew, representing at first the outlaw feminine principle, but in the end, she accepts all her husband’s domination and oppression.

Another character who must be emphasized is Bianca, Kate’s sister, who is kind and easily adjusted to the inlaw feminine principle and the men who fall in love with her present the same inlaw principle. Their behavior is naturally accepted by the interested audience. It is very difficult to understand when the female characters try to perform according to the outlaw principle (the male model), they try to change everything and very often, they adjust themselves to a world which is completely rejected by their male principles.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Lesson Plan - Our Favourite Halloween Treat

 Overview



Students conduct a survey to determine the class' favourite type of Halloween candy. Candy wrappers are used to create a bar graph by type of candy. Data are described in mathematical terms and questions are posed about the data collected. The activity is presented as a Halloween theme but may be used at any time of the year if students bring in pictures of their favourite treats instead of candy wrappers.



Objectives



The goal of this activity is to encourage students to see the need for organizing information and to start developing the skills needed in data management.



Outcomes



    conduct a survey about their favourite Halloween candy/treat

    sort candy wrappers according to specific attributes (i.e., chocolate, gum)

    organize the candy wrappers or treat pictures on a wall chart of a bar graph by type of candy



Materials



    A newsletter to be sent home a week prior to Halloween.

    Assorted candy wrappers or treat pictures to be provided by the students.

    Glue sticks or scotch tape.

    Large piece of grid paper.

    Coloring utensils.



Classroom instructions



This activity will last a whole week but you will only need two half-hour lessons to teach the content involved. Start preparing for this activity at least one week prior to Halloween by sending a newsletter to parents informing them of this lesson on Data Management and encouraging them to communicate with you any concerns they may have (see Teacher notes below). You should also mention that as part of next week’s activities their child will be required to bring to school 1 or 2 candy wrappers a day.

Lesson One



The day before students go out for Halloween introduce the activity by perhaps sharing some information about your favourite Halloween treats or by telling them why we give treats out on Halloween and where the phrase "trick or treat" comes from. Then engage the students in a conversation by asking such questions as:



    "What is your favourite Halloween treat Johnny?"

    "How many people like ________?"

    "Is there another Halloween treat you enjoy eating?"

    "How many people like this treat?"

    "Which would you say is our class’s favourite Halloween treat?"



Write the answers given on the board under the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".



After receiving a number of responses explain to them that asking questions about your class's favourite Halloween candy is called a survey and that their answers are called data. Write the words "survey" and "data" on the board.



Continue by asking: "How can we find out which Halloween candy is really our favourite?" Wait for responses. After a while the students should be encouraged to realize that in order for this data to make sense you need to organize it in some way. Suggest that you make a chart where your data is recorded.



On a large piece of grid paper write the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy", or the title that best suits your classroom's needs. Close to the bottom of the paper draw a straight horizontal line and explain that each day during the week following Halloween each one of them will be required to bring one to two wrappers of their favourite candy. Using a glue stick or scotch tape they will tape it on the chart.



Ask: "How will you know where exactly you should stick your wrappers?" Establish through discussion that each type of candy should have an appropriate place on your chart. Point to the first column on the grid and explain that will be the "Hershey Kisses" column. Therefore, anyone bringing "Hershey kisses" wrappers will have to stick them on a square in that column (grid paper is divided into squares). Label the bottom of the first column "Hershey kisses". Repeat this procedure 5 or 6 times using different candy label for each column. Label the last column as "Other" for those items that have not been labeled on your chart. Explain that placing each candy wrapper in its appropriate place is called sorting.



End the lesson by asking: "So if you were to bring in a "Mars" bar wrapper where would you stick it on the chart?" "What if you brought in a "Skittles" wrapper?" Give students an opportunity to have their questions answered. The week following Halloween briefly review what was discussed during Lesson One. Assist those who need clarification.

Lesson Two



At the end of the week following Halloween discuss the data collected and presented on the chart. Explain that the chart is now called the graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy". Point out that "Our Favourite Halloween Candy" is the title of your graph and that each stack of wrappers on your graph is called a bar. So your chart is a bar graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".



To examine students' understanding ask the following questions:



    Which candy is our most favourite Halloween candy?

    Which is our second favourite Halloween candy?

    Which column has the least number of wrappers?

    What does that mean?

    Does this mean that __________ are the favourite Halloween treat in Ms. Smith's class also?

    Last week we thought that __________ would be our favourite Halloween treat. Were we right?

    Was the bar graph a good way of organizing our data?



Evaluation



The students' responses to your questions and the quality of the discussions will indicate whether they were able to comprehend the words data, sort and bar graph and also what is represented by the chart. A checklist may be useful in evaluating students' understanding of the content taught and classroom participation.

Notes to teachers



Before beginning this lesson you should consider how appropriate this activity will be for your class. Some of your students, for example, may have food allergies or other health problems that prevent them from eating candies. Other families may believe that candy is not appropriate for their child's diet. Others may not be able to participate in this lesson because of religious restrictions/beliefs.



By Irini Clelland, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Lesson Plan - Differences between informal and formal



Lesson plans can be formal or informal.

An informal lesson plan is of casual nature. It is helpful as a reminder for teachers. There are two types of informal plans.

One is to write down definitions, synonyms, phonetic symbols, stress potions, or examples, etc. between the lines or in the margins of the textbook. Such teaching usually focuses on language points in grammar and vocabulary.

The other is one of brief notes reminding the teacher what to do step by step. Such teaching can be about interactive class that is categorized with activities or tasks.

Sometimes teachers can be carried away or distracted to remember what to do next. An informal lesson plan focuses on content of classroom teaching: language or tasks, but it lacks professionalism.

A formal plan is of high professionalism, including required components of a plan and with professional language expressions.

Writing a formal plan helps teachers acquire and use professional language. Usually the degree of formalness can suggest the teacher’s professional level.

However, there can be three problems with formal plan writing. First, it is time consuming; second, the teacher may pay more attention to how to write a plan than how to teach a lesson.

 The final problem is the teacher might be bandaged by his/her teaching plan in teaching.  

By English Teaching Methodology

Lesson Plan - How to develop a Lesson Plan

To begin, ask yourself three basic questions:

Where are your students going?
How are they going to get there?
How will you know when they've arrived?

Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan. While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage.

Goals

Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time. Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition. The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards.
What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan/curriculum?
What are your goals for this unit?
What do you expect students to be able to do by the end of this unit?

Objectives

This section focuses on what your students will do to acquire further knowledge and skills. The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period.
What will students be able to do during this lesson? Under what conditions will students' performance be accomplished?
What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged?
How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson?

Prerequisites

Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students. Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives.
What must students already be able to do before this lesson?
What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives?

Materials

This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready. A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful.
What materials will be needed?
What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations)
What needs to be prepared in advance? (typical for science classes and cooking or baking activities)

Lesson Description

This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers. It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose.
What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it? What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.)

Lesson Procedure

This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives. This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan. It also focuses on what the teacher should have students do during the lesson. This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure. There are several elaborations on this. We have linked to some sample lesson plans to guide you through this stage of planning.

• Introduction
How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson? How will you get students' attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention? How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities? What will be expected of students?

• Main Activity
What is the focus of the lesson? How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it? What does the teacher do to facilitate learning and manage the various activities? What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students? How can this material be presented to ensure each student will benefit from the learning experience?

Rule of Thumb # 1:
Take into consideration what students are learning (a new skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value).
Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are:
Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed
Explanation ==> outline the information to be explained
Discussion ==> list of key questions to guide the discussion
• Closure/Conclusion
What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end? How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning?
• Follow up Lessons/Activities
What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson?

Assessment/Evaluation

This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination. You will need to gather some evidence that they did. This usually is done by gathering students' work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives. You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson. You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well.
How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified? Have students practiced what you are asking them to do for evaluation?
 
Rule of Thumb # 2:
Be sure to provide students with the opportunity to practice what you will be assessing them on. You should never introduce new material during this activity. Also, avoid asking higher level thinking questions if students have not yet engaged in such practice during the lesson. For example, if you expect students to apply knowledge and skills, they should first be provided with the opportunity to practice application.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

History of Halloween

Introduction

Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. 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. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

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 other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire
to help protect them during the coming winter.

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

On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731–741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

Halloween Comes to America

Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common,
but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.


Today's Halloween Traditions

The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money.


The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last). Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands' initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands' faces. Other rituals were more competitive.At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others,
the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.

Of course, whether we're asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same "spirits" whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

(Source: www.history.com)