Halloween in Canada

Halloween is celebrated in Canada on or around October 31. It is a day to mark the single night in the year when, according to old Celtic beliefs, spirits and the dead can cross over into the world of the living. Some people hold parties and children may trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.

Black cats are part of the Halloween superstitions. Some people put a lot of effort into decorating their homes, yards and drives. They may even construct life-size replica graveyards or dungeons and invite people from the neighborhood to view their creations or hold a themed party. Other people may organize fancy dress parties for adults or children. Popular activities at parties include watching horror films and trying to make fellow guests jump in fright. Many children go out to play trick-or-treat. They dress up as ghosts, witches, skeletons or other characters and visit homes in their neighborhood. They ring doorbells and, when someone answers, they call out "trick-or-treat". This means that they hope to receive a gift of candy or other snacks and that they are threatening to play a trick if they do not get anything. Usually, they receive a treat and tricks are rarely carried out. There are special types of food associated with Halloween. These include candies in packets decorated with symbols of Halloween, toffee apples made by coating real apples with a boiled sugar solution, roasted corn, popcorn and pumpkin pie or bread. Halloween beer, which is made by adding pumpkin and spices to the mash before fermenting it, is also available in specialist stores. Children also take part in a long-standing Canadian tradition of "Trick-or-Treat for Unicef". Pumpkin-carving contests, pumpkin art tours, a reading marathon, and symbolic Walks for Water are just a few examples of the educational and fundraising activities schools and children develop to help provide thousands of children developing countries with basic quality education. Public life October 31 is not a public holiday. Schools, organizations, businesses, stores and post offices are open as usual. Some organizations may arrange Halloween parties, but these do not usually disrupt normal affairs. Public transport services run on their regular timetables. If people are driving around the neighborhood in the late afternoon or evening, it is important to be particularly aware of children, especially those wearing dark costumes, who may be unfamiliar with traffic conditions. Background Halloween has Celtic origins. In pre-Christian times, many people believed that spirits from the underworld and ghosts of dead people could visit the world of the living on the night of October 31. These spirits could harm the living or take them back to the underworld. To avoid this, people started dressing up as ghosts and spirits if they left their homes on October 31. They hoped that this would confuse the ghosts and spirits. Halloween was also a time, when spirits might give messages to people. In some areas, it was traditional for unmarried girls to poor molten lead into water. The shape that the lead took when it hardened was seen as a clue to the professions of their future husbands. Halloween traditions were brought to Canada by Irish and Scottish immigrants. Halloween is now celebrated in a range of other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Symbols There is a wide range of Halloween symbols. Symbols include animals, such as black cats, bats and spiders, and figures, such as ghosts, skeletons, witches and wizards. Pumpkins, graveyards, cobwebs, haunted houses and the colors green, orange, grey and black are also associated with Halloween. These symbols are used to decorate homes and party venues and are seen on costumes, gift paper, cards, cookies, cakes and candy.

The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving in Canada falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States. Because of the longstanding traditions of the holiday, the celebration often extends to the weekend that falls closest to the day it is celebrated.

The Order of Good Cheer, 1606 by Charles William Jefferys, (1925). The origins of the first Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Pacific Ocean. Frobisher's Thanksgiving celebration was not for harvest, but for homecoming. He had safely returned from an unsuccessful search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. In the year 1578, Frobisher held a formal ceremony in Newfoundland to give thanks for surviving the long journey.[3] Years later, the tradition of a feast would continue as more settlers began to arrive to the Canadian colonies.[4]

Oven roasted turkey The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving can also be traced to the French settlers who came to New France with explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century, who also took to celebrating their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing their food with the indigenous peoples of the area.[5] Champlain had also proposed for the creation of the Order of Good Cheer in 1606.[6] As many more settlers arrived in Canada, more celebrations of good harvest became common. New immigrants into the country, such as the Irish, Scottish and Germans, would also add their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the U.S. aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada.[5]

The meaning of Autumn Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere) when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier. The equinoxes might be expected to be in the middle of their respective seasons, but temperature lag (caused by the thermal latency of the ground and sea) means that seasons appear later than dates calculated from a purely astronomical perspective. The actual lag varies with region. Some cultures regard the autumnal equinox as "mid-autumn", others with a longer lag treat it as the start of autumn.[1] Meteorologists (and most of the temperate countries in the southern hemisphere)[2] use a definition based on months, with autumn being September, October and November in the northern hemisphere,[3] and March, April and May in the southern hemisphere. In North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox.[4] In traditional East Asian solar term, autumn starts on or around 8 August and ends on about 7 November. In Ireland, the autumn months according to the national meteorological service, Met Éireann, are September, October and November.[5] However, according to the Irish Calendar which is based on ancient Celtic traditions, autumn lasts throughout the months of August, September, and October, or possibly a few days later, depending on tradition. In Australia, autumn officially begins on March 1st and ends May 31st[6] According to United States unofficial tradition, autumn runs from the day after Labor Day (i.e. the Tuesday following the first Monday of September) through Thanksgiving (i.e. the fourth Thursday in November), after which the holiday season that demarcates the unofficial beginning of winter begins. Where does the word come from The word autumn comes from the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French), and was later normalised to the original Latin word autumnus.[7] There are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but it became common by the 16th century. Before the 16th century, harvest was the term usually used to refer to the season, as it is common in other West Germanic languages to this day (cf. Dutch herfst and German Herbst). However, as more people gradually moved from working the land to living in towns (especially those who could read and write,the only people whose use of language we now know), the word harvest lost its reference to the time of year and came to refer only to the actual activity of reaping, and autumn, as well as fall, began to replace it as a reference to the season.[8][9] The alternative word fall for the season traces its origins to old Germanic languages. The exact derivation is unclear, the Old English fiæll or feallan and the Old Norse fall all being possible candidates. However, these words all have the meaning "to fall from a height" and are clearly derived either from a common root or from each other. The term came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year".[10]

Cleaning Tips Ideas by other people 1. I spray Febreeze on my vacuum roller brushes when I vacuum, makes the whole carpet smell fresh. Submitted by Carol L. 2. I use a lot of waxed paper to cover counters for dirty jobs... I hate scrubbing flour that has gotten wet and hardened! Submitted by Marcia S. 3. The bathroom will be much easier to clean after a steamy bath or shower. The steam will help loosen the dirt. 4. To get copper clean use orange koolaid. Submitted by Ruth G. 5. Apply a good paste wax to shower tiles and buff with a dry cloth to deter water spots. 6. Alcohol on a rag cleans keyboards great! Submitted by Rhonda W. 7. Rubbing alcohol takes off the sticky stuff left from scotch tape. Submitted by Becky S. 8. Use fabric softener sheets to collect dust off blinds. Submitted by Mary B. 9. Avon's Skin So Soft gets off the adhesive gunk off windows & mirrors. (no, I don't sell Avon.) Submitted by Ruth S. 10. When dusting, start at the top and work your way to the bottom. Vacuum last. ........................Continued in next blog post............................. Thank you for being a loyal reader of Multi Services Blog MULTI SERVICES Residential & Commercial Cleaning Professional Cleaners without the Professional Price 416-782-3417 www.multiservices-janitorial.com Derrick & Kerry

Cleaning: Tips to De-Scum Your Bathroom Probably the busiest spot in your house, the bathroom is also the place almost every guest visits. So if you start sweating whenever someone asks, "Do you mind if I freshen up/use the toilet/secretly judge your cleaning skills?" just relax. These tricks will get the room looking freshly scrubbed in 15 minutes or less. 1. In the bag. To start, hang a plastic sack on the doorknob for tossing the cleaning cloths you're about to use and emptying the waste¬basket — the easiest insta-tidy trick. 2. First, flush. Next, grab some bleach. Pour a cup into the bowl; brush around the sides and under the rim. Then move on to the next task for five minutes. 3. Quick shine. While the bleach is working, fill a spray bottle with equal parts water and white vinegar (or better yet, keep a bottle stored nearby for just this occasion). Spritz onto paper towels or a microfiber cloth, and zero in on those telltale soap drips and toothpaste spatters on faucets, mirrors, countertops, and in the sink — a definite dirty-bathroom giveaway. Optional (and only if you really care what your visitors think): Give spotty shower doors the same spray treatment. 4. Wipe control. Flip over one of those same vinegar wipes and run it across the back of your dusty toilet tank, then over, under, and around the seat. Flush the bleach that's been sitting in the bowl, toss the wipe into your doorknob bag, and move on. 5. Towel trick. Instead of scooping up all the used bath towels, just put out fresh hand towels — those are the only ones short-term guests use anyway. Leave the others on the bar; just straighten them. If you have linen spray, mist the towels. If you don't, a light body spray or perfume will do the job. 6. Exit strategy. Now it's time for the floor. Shake out your rug or bath mat to fluff it up so it looks recently vacuumed. Next, with a dampened paper towel, swoosh the corners of the room, where most of the hair and dust collects. And don't forget to take the plastic bag with you when you leave!

3 Minutes lost

Daytime continues to be longer than nighttime until after September equinox, which is always between September 22-24, the beginning of autumn. The word “equinox” means “equal night” and refers to when the sun crosses the equator. Days are shortened by three minutes per day, resulting in a half hour per week.

Fall brings an onslaught of allergies

Autumn is the favorite time of the year for many of us. Colorful foliage abounds. Humidity drops. We open our windows to let in the breeze and spend long hours outdoors hiking or raking up the falling leaves. Unfortunately, unseen allergens lurk in the crisp, fry air and all those leaves. Pollen allergies affect nearly 10 percent of our population, approximately 62 million people. They are the fifth ranking chronic disease and cost business and our health care system nearly $8 billion annually. There’s no reason to dread the arrival of autumn, however, if we reduce exposure to pollens and molds, this lessening our symptoms of sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, dry throat, congestion and runny noses, all of which can impair our ability to perform well at school or work. Ragweed pollen is one of the most common reasons for fall allergies. But pollen from other plants, trees, and grass can also trigger symptoms, as can mold. Tips for managing fall allergies: *Leave both house and car windows shut *Remove clothing worn outdoors after raking, hiking or mowing *Remove shoes at the door and go barefoot in the house or wear slippers. *Shower or rinse off exposed skin after being outdoors. *Use a saline nasal wash to remove allergens . *Use a dehumidifier to decrease indoor humidity. *Clean visible mold in showers with diluted bleach solution *Wear a face mask and goggles when doing yard work *Use an antihistamine to reduce or eliminate the effects of histamine. *Drink plenty of water; rehydration effectively eliminates toxins.