Islândia despede-se do McDonald's

Milhares de islandeses alinham-se às portas dos restaurantes da McDonald's na despedida da cadeia norte-americana do país.
A cadeia de restaurantes McDonald's anunciou, no início da semana, que hoje, sábado, seria o último dia de actividade na Islândia devido à crise económica que assola o país e que tem causado prejuízos à empresa.
Depois do anúncio, milhares de pessoas fizeram fila para poder comer, pela última vez, um “verdadeiro Big Mac”, disse à agência Reuters um dos muitos apreciadores de hambúrgueres que aguardavam a sua vez para serem servidos.
O detentor dos direitos da exploração da marca na Islândia, Jon Ogmundsson, revelou que o negócio “disparou” depois do anúncio da marca, tendo vendido cerca de 10 mil hambúrgueres por dia nos três restaurantes existentes no país.
Desde Outubro de 2008 que a Islândia sofre os efeitos da grave crise financeira mundial. A McDonald's justifica o fim da actividade com a desvalorização da moeda e afirma que não tenciona voltar a abrir restaurantes naquele país.

Halloween

Origins

Halloween is now celebrated beyond Britain and Ireland but it dates back more than two thousand years to the Celtic Samhain festival. November 1 was the first day of the Celtic New Year. The transition between the old and new year was when the Celts believed the souls of the dead and evil spirits could visit the living world.
The Catholic church moved All Saints Day from May to November, perhaps in an effort to contain the Pagan festival of Samhain which became known as Halloween - the eve before All Hallows or All Saints Day.


Traditions
The Scottish tradition of 'guising' can be traced back to Samhain where people would use masks and decorations to disguise themselves and scare away evil spirits.
Halloween gifts given to guisers also have their origins in Samhain as sacrifices were made in order to placate evil spirits. The tradition also encompasses the tradition of 'Mummers' who would dress up and perform plays in return for food and gifts.
Candles and lanterns were used to keep the dead away from the living at Samhain and this tradition was carried on with the use of turnip lanterns in Scotland for Halloween. Pumpkins are now more commonly used as the commercial aspects of Halloween are imported from the US.

Halloween rituals in Scotland include:

Ghostly landscape

'Dooking' for apples. This may have evolved from the Roman celebration of honouring the goddess of fruit 'Pomona' represented by an apple. It may also have its origins in witches being 'ducked'. Eating treacle- covered scones hanging from a string is another part of a traditional Scottish Halloween.

Other traditions involving apples include peeling an apple in a long peel then throwing the peel over your shoulder - the letter the peel forms would be the initial of a future spouse. It was thought that a future spouse may also appear by slicing an apple in half and eating it in front of a mirror by candlelight.

A marriage partner's shape could also be guessed at by going into a field of kail and pulling a stalk of kail from the field. It was thought that the shape of the kail would match the shape of a future spouse.

City of London prepares for Halloween festival

About 30,000 people are expected in Londonderry this weekend to celebrate one of the biggest Halloween carnivals in the country.
The Halloween carnival parade on Saturday features puppets, dancers, bands and carnival characters.