New Year Celebrations and Symbolisms From Around the World

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The countdown to the New Year is a ritual that is faithfully awaited by millions of people around the world. The season of celebrating New Year begins well before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. According to the Gregorian calendar which we follow universally, New Year falls on January 1 each year and ushers in 365 days till the next New Year comes up. This is what the international community follows as an undisputed practice. However, many countries follow different calendars, such as the Lunar Calendar and as part of their beliefs and traditions celebrate New Year on different days.

Even though New Year is not a religious festivity or occasion, there is a great deal of variety as there are several customs and traditions associated with the New Year. Ushering in the New Year with fun, positivity and zest underlines all these celebrations and the essence of it includes feasting, merrymaking and praying for prosperity, happiness and good luck in the year ahead.

Let’s take a look at the different religious contexts of the New Year.

Christianity

Celebrated in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, New Year for Christians begins on January 1 and usually commences with church services and traditional New Year songs followed by family get-togethers, fun and festivity.

Hinduism

The Hindu calendar follows a luni-solar pattern and has seen several changes since the ancient days. An almanac that calculates dates marks the beginning of the New Year on varying dates every year. By and large, New Year celebrations mark the victory of good over evil and Lakshmi and Ganesh are the popular deities worshipped. Diwali, a popular Indian festival, is associated by many as the beginning of the New Year especially for trading communities. It is celebrated with wearing new clothes, lighting of oil lamps around the house, exchange of gifts and sweets between families and friends and the bursting of firecrackers. Around India, which is home to the largest Hindu population, many different states celebrated the New Year according to their customs and traditions – notable examples are Baisakhi in Punjab, Bihu in Assam, Nobo Barsha in West Bengal, Puthaandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Maha Vishuva Sankranti in Orissa, Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Navreh in Kashmir. The diversity of Indian culture lends itself well to the colorful celebrations of New Year around India. Underlying all these diverse celebrations is the theme of the ‘triumph of good over evil’.

Islam

Muslims world over follow the Lunar Calendar which is evident in the different dates associated with the New Year each year. Generally, the first day of Muharram is considered the first day of the New Year as it is the first month in the Islamic Calendar. However, the celebrations are rather somber in remembrance of Prophet Muhammad and his flight from Medina to Mecca; time is spent in introspection on life and mortality. On the tenth day of the Muharram month, processions are carried out with replicas of the martyr’s tomb and charities are given to the poor and needy.

Sikhism

The Sikh New Year is celebrated according to the Nanakshahi Calendar, the date of which falls on March 14 according to the Gregorian calendar. Sikhs conduct worship services with devotional songs, sacred vegetarian food service to guests, dancing, martial arts demonstrations and fireworks.

Buddhism

These celebrations are dominated by religious customs and can extend to multiple days. Visiting monasteries, bathing Buddha statues, lighting of candles and chanting of hymns are commonly seen. Buddhists follow the Luni-solar calendar and the New Year date varies from one country to another – for instance, the Chinese, Koreans and Vietnamese celebrate New Year in January-February, Tibetans in March while Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand celebrate New Year in April. The common theme of these celebrations is happiness and merriment.

Jewish

Jews give the New Year utmost importance and reverence and the origins of their celebrations can be traced back to Biblical times. The Jewish New Year falls in the month of Tishri, which corresponds to September-October in the modern calendar. It is a ten-day celebration full of socio-religious customs and is known as the Shabbat Shuva, commencing with the Rosh Hashanah and ending with the Yom Kippur on the final day.

Whatever celebrations are in store for New Year for the world’s people, some symbols of celebration stand out each year like the dropping of the ball at Times Square, the lighting up of the Opera House in Sydney, the dazzling fireworks displays in China and the blowing of the ram’s horn in Israel.

The Concept of Beauty

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The concept of beauty has always given me food for thought. I’ve always wondered what exactly is beautiful and what is not. Some people are not exactly attractive but still have a charm or attraction in them. Is beauty on the inside or on the outside? Inside; it is the heart and soul that beautifies a person while others may consider the appearance or facial attraction as beauty. Is beauty natural or can be artificially created? Let us talk about these aspects of beauty.

For an apple cheeked women, hair has always been an important aspect of beauty. Although hair styles and hair colors go on changing from time to time when hair extensions come in fashion, they can be found in all styles and colors as portrayed by pop stars such as Beyonce Knowles who was seen trying hair extensions. In Eastern Europe and Asia, long hair is a major constituent of beauty as women with long hair are considered more beautiful which shows how beauty varies from culture to culture. Different hair styles and haircuts can be used to make the face look slimmer or to make women appear younger. Obviously, there are different hairstyles appropriate for different ages.Nowadays it is in normal for women of more than thirty years of age to keep grey hair and not to use hair dyes.

Hand and nails can play a major role in making someone look pretty. Pedicure manicures and nail fashion which are the other names of painting nails using different colors, designs is becoming very popular these days.. Red nail varnish is in fashion and many women especially teenagers are following this trend, the trend originated from the era of marlin Monroe. Movies play a major role in establishing what is meant by beautiful during certain time. For example, many women idealize different film characters or movie stars and try to be like them. It has been said that most women are never satisfied with themselves and will try different trends and fashion to look beautiful without thinking if it suits them or not. They will copy celebrities and try to look like them. The youth also look up to their role models and follow what they are wearing and what they wear becomes fashion.

Most people say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and everyone has a different image of beauty is being yourself and being what you want to be, dressing the way you want to dress, and being confident about yourself. Beauty comes from the inside rather than from physical appearance.

Fashion always varies in nature besides being short lived. When a fashion is in full swing, it is visible in what we wear, designs of our clothes, hair styles, nails, etc. No doubt, fashion is a way of making oneself appear beautiful but everyone has his own concept and definition of beauty. Some people say that real beauty is the beauty of face while other think those sterling qualities of head and heart constitute the real beauty. Some hold the view that real beauty lies in the face of a man because soul secretes the face as a shell-fish secretes its shell. Face is the index of the mind. However, a thing of beauty is a joy forever because truth is beauty and beauty is truth.

Easy Dog Recipes – Making Your Own Dog Food

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Give your best friend a special treat and try making your own dog food. In past years there have been concerns about substandard ingredients in many of the commercial foods for canines, with some of these foods even causing severe illness and death.

Pet food is not regulated in the same way that human food is, therefore many of the grocery store and cheap foods have ingredients that are deemed unsuitable for human consumption. Ingredients such as meat by products include what is called the 3 D’s. These are dead, dying and diseased animals these by products also include nails, beaks and even euthanized animals.

In recent years the low quality ingredients found in many pet foods have come to the forefront. Consumers have responded by making their own dog food. Making your own dog food is actually very simple. Home cooked dog food is one of the easiest ways to cook for yourself and your dog at the same time, you can simply make an unseasoned stew, chili or meatloaf relying heavily on meats. Take into consideration the dangerous food for dogs, when making a stew or chili simply take your pups portion out prior to adding onion, garlic or any other ingredients that may cause harm to your pet.

The raw diet for dogs is another way to make your own dog food. Fresh raw meats and vegetables have all of the nutrition intact. Your dogs digestive tract can easily handle most raw meats and many people have had terrific results feeding a diet that consists of raw meats and vegetables. One consideration for people feeding a raw diet is that even though your dog can handle these raw meats people can not. If you have children and your dog likes to give kisses you should be aware that unsafe bacteria can be passed on to you or your children.

It’s just a fact that even though Making your own dog food can be relatively simple its difficult to get complete, proper nutrition with all of the essential vitamins and minerals that many good commercial foods provide. After the tainted food scare, many pet food companies have stepped up their game and new pet food companies were formed, Some of these companies raised the bar by creating foods that are natural and even organic. Organic dog food is judged at the same level as the ingredients that go into organic food made for human consumption.

If you want to feed your dog the best diet and avoid the vet. I recommend feeding your dog, quality organic dog food and supplementing this food by making your own pet food as a special treat.

The Undisputed Benefits Of A Healthy Lifestyle

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When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, you are going to find that this isn’t as easy as it may seem. Because of all of the pre-packaged foods that you get in the supermarkets, and all the unhealthy fast food joints around this could be a challenge. In case you are driving down the road and decide you want to get a quick snack, the options for finding a healthy snack are usually few and far between. Simply because everybody’s life is so hectic, individuals can rarely find the time to make sure they’re getting enough exercise. It is incredibly important that you find the time to live a healthy life and below you’re going to see a number of good reasons for this.

In relation to healthy living, the very first thing you need to understand is that for the most part, that if you live a healthy lifestyle you will end up living longer. In the same way as you take care of your vehicle by changing the oil and maintaining the regular service intervals you are assured that it will last much longer. In a similar fashion as you not only need to fuel your body with proper food, but also need to keep it clean and nourished, accompanied with an exercise routine.

One of the initial things you ought to realize is that your body requires a number of different vitamins and minerals in order to keep your body functioning properly and healthy. Just about everyone is aware that vitamin C is one of the main vitamins you need in order to fight off certain diseases like a common cold. When you would like to have a healthy heart, you have to make sure of eating plenty of garlic and consistent intake of vitamin E. Even though nutrition is very important for a healthy living, fast food outlets don’t take this into account when preparing the meals for you. You need to make sure you’re eating a great amount of fruits and vegetables as well as getting your fair share of lean meats and fish.

Another thing for you to recognize that is s similar between vehicles and individuals, is that if you do not use your vehicle for some time, seals and other mechanical parts can wind up being damaged from not being used. The same thing goes for your body, if you’re not getting steady exercise you will see that when eventually getting around to a little exercise you might end up pulling a muscle or causing other harm. So in order to avoid physical damage to your body it’s important that you obtain some type of exercise each day.

If you are really serious about living a healthy lifestyle you’re going to find the proper diet and exercise will be the two main keys to accomplishing this. But also do not discount the benefits linked to topping up your diet with natural food supplements. The ultimate function of a good nutritional supplement is to balance what the body lacks whilst simultaneously boosting what is already present in the system. It takes care of nagging or dormant ailments while protecting what is healthy.

Intelligent food supplements only attack those substances that harm the immune system, or the specific parts that need healing in the body. This is therefore nature’s intelligent way of allowing the body to heal itself in as natural a form as humanly possible.

You may actually realize that you are limiting your existence by not taking care of your body and supply it with everything that it is going to need in order to remain healthy for an extended period of time.