Halloween- EXT

-Samhain (Sel-win)

-Harvest Festival

-Permeable

-Life or Death

-Prayers - Soul Cake

The year 7&8 extension class has researched more about the true meaning of Halloween. Here is one version of what Halloween is all about.

The Celtic Calendar has a light half and a dark half. The Celtic tribe would celebrate a harvest festival called Samhain (sel-win) near the beginning of the dark half. This was also near Halloween for us. People feared this festival because it was a matter of life or death. If the food they were harvesting wasn’t ready they would starve and die. When it was the harvest time, days would get shorter while nights were getting longer.

When it was time to change from light to dark, a veil that was in between life and death was thin. This made it easy for people from both worlds to permeable (easy to pass through).  

On May 13th pagans would celebrate a celebration called Lemuria. This was a time where Christians would convert pagans. Romans would go to graveyards and pour milk and offer soul cakes to the Christian souls. Now a days we get given or give out lollies as an offering.

They then changed the name of the day to All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. Not only did they change the name but they also changed the date to November 1st to drain the pagan Samhain. Because Samhain festival was before All Hallows Day people started calling Samhain, All Hallows Evening. This was shortened to All Hallows Eve, then Hallowe’en then finally to Halloween. On November 2nd they celebrated All Souls Day.

Life in Auckland vs Syria

Morning: Waking up to the smell of pancakes shot me out of bed. I walked to the kitchen with anticipation. My mum placed a plate of freshly made pancakes on the table, and I sat down with no time to waste. “Now this is what I call a good breakfast” I said with joy.

Awoken by the sound of a baby crying made me think, another exhausting day for me. I managed not to wake up the other 11 people in the room by carefully walking silently around on the cold, hard floor.

Day:

Hanging out with my friends in class always brings a smile to my face. Laughter, joy, happiness are all the emotions I feel when I’m with them. “Netbooks out class. Once you’re on, start your writing about your weekend” our teacher said. I took my netbook out and began my writing. It was the same day as usual. I stepped out of the abandoned building that I called home and looked around. Destruction was everywhere. The buildings on my street were all busted down and the sound of gunshots had everyone terrified. The pressure was on me though to look after my family and find the things we needed. It was hard, as everything here was scarce. Night: All snuggled up in my warm bed. I was stuffed. “Im not eating another hamburger until the next week or so” I said to myself. I had no more energy to do anything so I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. This wasn’t the life I was wanting. I wanted to be like other kids around the world. Play with my friends, play sports, learn, know that my family is safe, and sleep peacefully in a stable home. But that wasn’t going to happen. Anyway, I had to get back to my family. The only thing I found was a loaf of bread. Hopefully that was enough to keep us alive for another day.

Mihi

Kia Ora Tatou
Greetings to us all

kua hui mai nei
who have gathered here

ki tenei huihuinga

to this gathering

ki te mau mai

to bring 

i nga whakaaro pai.

the good thoughts.

Ka nui te koa

Great is the happiness

mo to koutou maia

for your strength

ki te haere mai

in coming

ki te awhina

to support/help

i nga kaupapa

the topics

e pa ana ki tenei hui

concerning this gathering

No reira tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra tatou katoa

Therefore greetings once, greetings twice, greetings again to us all.

Halloween

-Trick or Treat

-Lollies

-Costume

-Pumpkins

-October 31

-Devils Birthday

-Death
-Dressing Up


Halloween. What is Halloween all about? Many people think that halloween is all about Trick or Treat, lollies, scary costumes, witches, or carving jack-o-lanterns. It could be. But to me, I think Halloween is all about remembering the Dead. The word Halloween is short for All Hallows Evening which can be known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve. In extension we are learning about Halloween. So after all my research hopefully I can understand what the true meaning of Halloween is.

Day 3- Riverside Camp at Willow Park

I woke up to the sound of the bell. All I could hear was leaders yelling “GET UP! Everyone get up and go down stairs!” It took a while for everyone to come downstairs into the Rimu room. But once everyone was in the Rimu room we were told what today’s fitness was. The thought of climbing the stairs kept going through my mind, but luckily for us today wasn't the day. “Viv, Ata and Brooklyn. Can you get the Cyber Coach set up in the gym?” Mr Burt asked. We replied with a yes and ran to the gym. Everything was set up and soon everyone walked in ready to get warmed up for the day!

Time flew by quickly. We finished everything, fitness, breakfast, washing up and our duties. The first fun activity for today was playing with the Willow Park toys. I knew everyone was waiting for this part of camp. There are lots of exciting toys to play with like the scooters, bikes, green machines, but my favourite the quad bikes! Since there were a lot of teams we had to be paired up with another boys team. Our team, P.O.B, was paired with the O.D’s (Original Dude’s) led by Ryan and David. I’m sure everyone enjoyed their time playing on the Willow Park toys.

After playing on the toys we had dinner. Then we had concert practice. We had to practise really hard because we were performing tomorrow. I was sooo nervous because my team wasn't even half way there. They didn't know where to stand, the actions and even the words. My team worked hard till the end though and we ended up finishing everything. Im so proud of my team :)

Highlight for day 3 was definitely our Super Disco. Firstly, I would like to give a huge thank you to Mr & Mrs Samuel for the fabulous disco. Everything was superb! Lights, decorations and the funky music. Thank you! There was something different about this disco though. If you were tired of dancing you could play the game that was being played at the same time of the disco. In the beginning though, we were put into three teams. Smugglers, Buyers and The Cops. I was in the Buyers team!!! So for the smugglers to win they would have to find a buyer and sell their Diamond. The buyers are doing the exact thing except instead of selling the diamond they are trying to buy one. Then they would have to safely get back to their corners and that is one point.  The cops on the other hand have to try and catch a person with a diamond. If the cop catches someone and that person does not have a diamond, that cop would have to stay in jail for one minute. But, if the person did have a diamond, the cops would get one point and the person with the diamond had to stay in jail for a minute. This game is hard because you don’t know who is who. You may think someone is a buyer but they might actually be a cop. My team the Buyers came 1st. It was loads of fun!

The disco was finally over. It felt really short. Well, to me it did. I was just happy because I had lots of fun playing and dancing. Mr Burt gave us our next instructions which were TTB. Toilet, Teeth, Bed. We said our good nights and went off to our cabin. Each day was getting better and better! Day 4, here we come!!!

To Be Continued......

Day 2- Riverside Camp at Willow Park

Waking up in my cabin and seeing all my friends felt unreal. I couldn’t believe it was the holidays, and that I was spending the first week here at Willow Park with all of my friends. Anyway, we woke up and we had to do fitness! You didn’t know what to expect when it came to fitness. It could be a long run on the beach, cyber coach (Jump Jam) or even running up the stairs. In my case the only thing I wanted to do was cyber coach which was a lot like jump jam. Mr Burt decided to be nice and chose Cyber Coach.

Our first fun activity for day two was WATER GAMES!!! Peter came up with four water games for us to play. My favourite one was Protect Your President. In our teams we had to select a president and protect him/her. P.O.B’s (Princesses of Bel-Air) president was Khaia. The aim of the game was to wet the other teams president yet, keep your own president safe and dry. But there was one small problem, no one knew who was the president of each team. Well that was the aim of the game, but when I looked around, it looked like everyone was playing G.Y.O.B (Get Your Own Back) water styles though. So, I joined in with everyone and started throwing sponges at anyone I saw.

My highlight of day two though was Spotlight mixed with Capture the Flag. We were given glow sticks, we like to call them our life force. Our mission was to get to the other end where Jarred was. Once we were there, he would draw a mark on our hand and we had to go back and try and do it again. Sounds easy! But, on our way to Jarred there would be some obstacles known as the leaders with the torches. If they caught us we would have to give our life force (Glow Stick) to them and go back to the hospital, where the nurse will give us another life force (Glow Stick). It was easy for us to make it to the other side because we played at night and it was hard for the leaders to see. Ashleigh and I made it once and we were really happy. The hooter was blown and we went back into the Rimu room and tallied up the score. I can’t remember which girls and boys team won but all I know was that everyone had fun.

It was time for us to get ready for the TTB (Toilet Teeth Bed). Once everyone was finish it was lights off, and once my head hit that pillow, I was out. Being sooo tired made me be the first person to fall asleep in our cabin. I knew tomorrow was going to be another fun an exciting day for us!!!

R.I.P Ridgey!

At the age of 17 a friend of mine named Ridge Hilton died at Australia, Melbourne on Friday. It was a tragic day for everyone that knew him. He was a brother to everyone, he belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, he was part of G.I Ward, but most of all, he was the type of friend that cared for everyone.

Ridge was found dead in his bedroom after part of his house was burned down. His family was out on holiday while he stayed back home with his friends. Ridge was from New Zealand but moved to Australia with his family about a year ago. His family said that Ridge was quite popular in Australia and found friends very quickly. They also said that Ridge was a talented boy. His dream was to become a rapper and he was very good at it.   

Ridge will never be forgotten. He will always continue to be in everyone's heart. R.I.P Ridgey!! A great friend is gone :(


Here is more information on Ridge's death.... LINK

Day 1- Riverside Camp at Willow Park!

It was the first week of the holidays and I was really excited. Why? Well, today was Camp! Monday 30th of October 2013. My brother and I packed the last few things into our bag and we were off to school.

As we said goodbye to our mum and entered into the car park with our gear, I saw my friend Brooklyn and he saw his friend Peh So. I placed my bag with all the other gear and joined my friend Brooklyn who was helping Mr Burt. Time flew by quickly. Next thing I know, I was sitting on the bus next to my friends, Huelo-Ata, Brooklyn, Ashleigh, Rita and Shoal. We were on our way to Willow Park!

We arrived at Willow Park. It felt good to be back for the third time. Everyone helped unpack the bus and trailers. After that we were put into teams. Talking about teams, Brooklyn and I were the year 8 team leaders for Girls 3. Our group consisted of Khaia, Paige, Heather, Sesalina, Amethyst and of course me and Brooklyn. We got to know the girls better and finally figured out our team name which was, P.O.B (Princesses of Bel Air).

We did loads of activities on day 1 but my highlight was definitely doing the Crunchie Hunt. The leaders hid Crunchie bars all over the field and our job was to try and find them all. Everyone did well but no one could beat our score of 21 Crunchie Bars!!! We kindly donated some to the less fortunate teams. That was a fun game not only because we won, but because we got the chance to EAT IT!!!!!

To Be Continued.....