Halloween

Halloween, which is celebrated on the night of October 31, is a festival of the dead. In the ancient time, it was always associated with the beginning of the dard, cold winter, a time of year and human death. It is believed that wearing costumers and masks can ward off harmful spirits. In fact, people disguise themselves as monsters for the purposes to avoid harm. Common characters include the devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, goblins, vampires, werewolves, zombies, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats and crows.

Traditionally, on the Halloween eve people often place a candle on their western window sill to honor their departed, and carve lanterns from turnips and rutabagas with faces on them. However, pumpkins are used instead more popular nowadays.

EU policy about making European laws

Where there is a problem, there is a law. It is an accurate description of European Union’s policy about making laws. When problems arise, EU may draft a new law or suggest some measures to tackle them in order to provide the necessary powers. However the European Parliament and Council will review, and may amend, the Commission’s proposals.

Once a law has been agreed at European level member states are obliged to ensure their national laws are consistent with it. They must do so even if they opposed the law in the Council of Ministers but were outvoted by the majority. Any nation joining the EU must agree that laws passed at a European level take precedence over national law.

In fact, most laws benefit the member countries equally and for the purpose to unite them together and become more powerful.

Different national days of four nations in UK

It's universally known that Britain is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, the four nations don't have an uniform national day instand they celebrate their own Saint's days respectively.


Firstly, I'd like to say something about Saint David's day in Wales because I'm living in Wales now. It falls on March 1st to commemorate the death of St David. Legend of the sixth century when the Saxon invaded Wales, St David taught the Welsh to leek in the hats in order to distinguish friend and foe and then united to defeat the invaders. Welsh revered David as their national patron saint. On that day societies all over Wales celebrate with special meetings and events. For example, in St David's Hall, there will be a concert featuring a 1000-member male voice choir, specially formed for the occasion.














Male voice choir

Secondly, St George's day is celebrated on April 23rd which is the national day of England. St George was a brave Roman soldier who protested against the Romans' torture of Christians and died for his beliefs. On that day, people usually wear a red rose for England in your jacket lapel. As the national flower of England, the rose is a symbol of patriotic pride, read the “Legend of St George and the Dragon”, fly the flag of St. George, eat fish and chips which are England's favourite take away meal.

St George's day


When it comes to Scotland, St Andrew's day is the official national day celebrating on 30 November, which marks the opening of Christmas Markets. Around midnight on Nov. 29, the day before St Andrew's Day, it was traditional for girls to pray to St. Andrew for a husband. They would make a wish and look for a sign that they had been heard.



Scotland














Then, the national day of Ireland is St Parick's day. It is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland, and generally celebrated on 17th of March. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century,and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day.













St Patrick's day

Henry the Eighth

The second class introduced a brief history of Britain, which attracted me most was the legend of Henry the Eighth (1491-1547). I’d like to call his story as legend, maybe he wasn’t a hero, but his love story and his contribution to the English society were amazing. There is a popular sentence in England which said “Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived”. It accurately described the story about Henry the Eighth and his wives. He was married to a Spanish princess called Catherine of Aragon, because Catherine had a daughter only so that he desired to divorce her. However, in that period Pope didn’t permit this. Consequently, he created a separate Church which did not regard the Pope as its leader. Then he married and divorced again and again, as long as he didn’t satisfied with his wives, he divorced them even killed them.
Maybe he wasn’t a good husband and a good man, but he had the courage of his opinion. He was quiet a brave man. Being a King, he never afraid of Pope and never been restrained from the authority. He made every effort to do what he wanted to do. During his domination (1509-1547), England had significant changes especially in religion. The religion reform which seems was owing to his marriage had a profound influence on the English history, and at the same time Wales was united with England.