Amazing Halloween Traditions Around The World

Let's find out amazing Halloween traditions around the world via this article: 

Austria

funny images on Halloween

Austria has a Pumpkin Festival in Retzer Land called Kürbisfest im Retzer Land. On November 11, Austria celebrates Martini which includes costumes and a lantern procession. Some people in Austria believe that if they leave bread, water, and a lighted lamp out, dead souls will be welcomed back to earth for that night.

Belgium

In Belgium some villages celebrate Halloween while other villages focus on celebrating All Saints' Day. On Halloween night, a Belgian may be found lighting a candle in memory of a dead relative.

Canada

In Canada, the Halloween celebration began with Scottish and Irish immigrants who arrived in the 1800s. Canada actively celebrates Halloween each year on October 31 with decorations, costume parties, and trick-or-treating.

England

The "trick-or-treat" custom originated in England known as "Mischief Night." Whereas we in the US carve pumpkins, English children would carve designs out of large beets which were known as "punkies."

France

As Halloween is not really a French holiday, there is some controversy pertaining to October 31 festivities. This holiday is a new trend for some of the French and they celebrate withHalloween costumes parties and dressing in scary outfits.

Germany

Halloween auf Deutsch became popular in the 1990s. People start to decorate around mid-October and use Halloween as a party theme. On November 11, Germans celebrate Matinstag which includes costumes and a lantern procession.

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Ireland

Halloween is considered to have originated in Ireland. There are many similarities between how Halloween is celebrated in Ireland and the US, yet the Irish still have unique traditions. Apart from trick-or-treating, children also play a trick known as "knock-a-dolly" which involves children knocking on their neighbors' doors and running away before they answer them. The Irish traditionally eat a fruitcake called barnbrack on this day. Barnbrack has a treat baked inside the cake and, depending on which treat is inside, will foretell the future of whoever receives it.

Japan

Halloween in Japan became popular when Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan began to promote Halloween celebrations. In 2000, Tokyo Disneyland had its first Halloween event, which has grown tremendously in popularity. The Japanese currently enjoy celebrating with decorations and dressing up in costumes.

Korea

Halloween is not celebrated in Korea. However, Korea has a harvest festival called Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day). During Chuseok, Koreans visit the places where their ancestors used to live and feast on traditional Korean food.

Latin America/Mexico/Spain

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is the popular celebration in these regions. The belief is that on October 31, spirits visit their families and then depart again on November 2. The families set up decorations and food for the arrival of the spirits. This time period represents a celebration of death as opposed to mourning.

Keep following to check out more news about Halloween traditions around the world, Halloween costume ideas, adult Halloween costumes on factoflife.net.

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Nobel Prize - the international award given yearly to honor work facts

All interesting facts in the world from science facts to nature facts included in our site. And now, it's the time for Nobel Prize - the international award given yearly to honor work facts

1. Three prisoners received the Nobel Peace Prize

Three laureates were in prison when they received the award, all of them winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. German pacifist and journalist Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991 and Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in 2010

2. There are 49 years without Nobel Prizes

Since the start, in 1901, there are some years when the Nobel Prizes have not been awarded. The total number of times are 49. Most of them during World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945).

3. The large number of Peace Prize candidates

The class of 273 Peace Prize candidates for 2015 was the second-largest ever, behind 2014's record of 278.

4. Nobel Prize has been sold

Physics winner Leon Lederman, who won in 1988 for his co-discovery of the muon neutrino, sold his Nobel earlier this year to cover medical care expenses. The buyer, whose identity was not released by the auction house, paid $765,000 for it. Only two Nobels have ever been sold during a winner’s life. Both such sales occurred in the past year.

5. Posthumous nominations can't be made for Nobel Prizes

A person must be alive to be nominated. If they die during the consideration period, their name will be removed. Only if a person is announced as a winner and dies prior to the ceremony, will a posthumous award be given.

6. The medal should remain with the winner

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov paid $4.7 million to buy the gold Nobel medal awarded to biologist James Watson for his work deciphering DNA’s double helix, but he then gave the medal back to the laureate. Usmanov said the medal should remain with the winner and that the monies he paid for it should go toward research.

7. Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

funny images

Adolf Hitler was nominated in 1939 by Swedish lawmaker E.G.C. Brandt for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is meant to promote "fraternity between nations" and global disarmament. Brandt later withdrew the nomination, saying it was meant as satire.

8. The prize awarded in Economics is not truly a Nobel Prize

Technically, the prize awarded in Economics is not a Nobel Prize, as it was not specified in Alfred Nobel's will. It has been nicknamed the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, and is selected by the same committee that selects the physics and chemistry prizes, but has only been awarded since 1969. It is award in memory of Alfred Nobel. Also, Mathemetic is not in the list of Nobel Prize.

9. The Nobel Prize money is used to divorce from wife

When Albert Einstein wanted a divorce from his first wife, he promised her to pay the Nobel Prize money he was confident he would win for his work, which he paid when he won the award a few years later.

10. The two opposite discoveries won the Nobel Prize

Thomson won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that electrons act as particles, while his son George Paget Thomson won the Nobel Prize for discovering that electrons act as waves.

Source: factoflife

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Is light considered matter?

Those who love to find out science facts will not want to miss this writing about answering question: 

That's a really great question. In fact this question caused a great debate among physicists during the time of Isaac Newton. Newton thought that light was a stream of little particles and other physicists such as Christian Huygens thought that the universe was filled with tiny particles called aether particles and that light was just a wave moving through the aether.

To make a long story short, it turns out they're both kind of wrong... and they're both kind of right. In some situations light sort of acts like a stream of particles and in others it acts sort of like a wave. Today many physicists (myself included) like to say that light is neither a particle or a wave... it's just light.

So, some might say that because light can carry energy from the sun to the earth it must be matter. Others might say that because you can't hold a lump of light in your hand light isn't matter. It all depends on what you mean by the word 'matter.' But the important thing to remember is that light doesn't care what you call it, it will still act the same way no matter what. That's why in physics we try not to worry too much about what things are called and focus on understanding how things actually behave.

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The ways giraffes take care of their young

Keep the learning going by this article about the ways giraffes take care of their young - baby giraffe. Enjoy!

Giraffes are the tallest known animals on planet earth. At birth a baby giraffe, called a calf, is typically six feet tall. Calves are active, playful and energetic, but it’s rare to spot a baby giraffe when out on a safari in Africa. One of the widely asked questions is: how are the young taken care of? Extensive research and a few treks into the safari give the answer.

The Life of the Giraffe

According to University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web, female giraffes will not breed until they are at least 4 or 5 years old, while males might not breed until they are around 7 years of age. Young giraffes are vulnerable to predators, so females rely on each other to keep their babies safe.

Baby's Coming

There's no specific breeding season for giraffes, so births occur at different times throughout the year. Mom is pregnant for up to 465 days before the baby -- usually one, although twins are possible -- comes around. Once it is time for the delivery, Mom will step away from the herd so she can give birth alone.

Baby's Here

At the time of birth, babies can be as tall as 6.6 feet. That's a good thing, since Mom gives birth standing up -- and it would be a long way to the ground if the babies were much smaller. Babies will be up and walking within minutes, and they'll begin to suckle right away. The mother and baby will remain isolated for about a week before they join a larger group. During that first week, babies will remain rather quiet and hidden, according to Animal Diversity Web. Mom will step away for short periods of time during the first few weeks, but will return at night to protect and nurse the baby.

Although giraffes are social animals, they don't form lasting relationships with partners or family members. That means the young ones will only stay with Mom -- Dad doesn't stick around -- as long as necessary to learn surviving skills. Weaning can take as long as 16 months, with females staying with their mothers longer than males. Once the young become part of a group, all females become "nannies," watching over them when moms step away to feed or drink.

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Strange tiger facts

You can get tigers facts by this writing that is really amazing 

1. Tigers have eyes with round pupils, unlike domestic cats, which have slitted pupils. This is because domestic cats are nocturnal whereas tigers are crepuscular – they hunt primarily in the morning and evening.

2. Despite not being strongly adapted to the dark, tigers’ night vision is about six times better than humans’.

3. Most tigers have yellow eyes, but white tigers usually have blue eyes, due to the gene for blue eyes being linked to the gene for white fur. The gene for being cross-eyed, or boss-eyed, is also linked, so many white tigers have crossed blue eyes.

4. Tigers scratch trees and use their urine to mark their territories. Their urine smells strongly of buttered popcorn.

5. Tigers have spiked penises. Also see penguin facts

Ouch. Just writing that sentence made me uncomfortable! Tigers are unable to become erect when aroused. Instead, males penises’ have a bone located inside (called a baculum) and are covered with barbs. Those prickly spikes aid in “keeping the connection” (no pun intended) between the male and female during copulation.

6. A backhand from a tiger can kill you

While tigers typically prefer to use their 10 cm long teeth to crush a victim’s jugular (lovely!), a single strike is enough to do some serious damage. One swipe from a tiger’s front paw is strong enough to smash a bear’s skull or even break its back

7. Tigers do not normally roar at other animals, but instead they roar to communicate with far-off tigers. A tiger about to attack will therefore not roar, but might hiss and fuff instead.

8. When several tigers are present at a kill, the males will often wait for females and cubs to eat first, unlike lions, which do the opposite. Tigers rarely argue or fight over a kill and simply wait turns.

9. The stripes on each tiger are unique, like human fingerprints.

10. Tigers’ have wicked short term memories. A tiger has a short term memory about 30 times longer than a humans’. That means it can remember how amazing that wild boar take-down it just performed was for a while. “Wow, I’m good…”

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Information about Bengal tigers

Would you like to know more about tigers for kids? Keep reading  to find out Bengal tigers.

From head to tail, males can measure from two to three meters. The height of his withers (neck) is of 91 cm. The males weights about 250 kg. He can live up to 25 years. He lives in the south of the Sundarbans delta, the largest mangrove forest in the world, which lies in India, and spreads across areas of Bangladesh.

Bengal tigers can also be found in north and central India, as well as in Birmania and in Nepal.

In 1900, they were about 40.000 – 50.000. Around 1972, there remained 1.850. In 1984, thanks to a program of protection, they were numbered approximately 4.000.

Tigers hunt at night. They assault their preys on the side or at the back. They bit to death at the nape of the neck small preys; they bit at the throat bigger preys and let them suffocate to death. The Bengal tiger hunts the “yaur” (kind of wild bull), the buffalo, the (wild) boar, monkeys and lizards. When hungry, a tiger can kill up to 30 buffaloes per annum. He can also eat 31 kg of meat within a night. It takes between 2 or 3 days for a tiger to eat its prey. Between two meals, he covers its prey with leaves.

The Bengal tiger usually breeds in the springtime. A male from a neighbouring field comes on the female's field. About 15 weeks later, the tigress brings between 2 and “babies” into the world, sightless during the first ten weeks. After eight weeks, the latter will be able to start eating the little preys brought by their mother. The tiger is a night hunter and lonesome. He does not like sharing his territory with other tigers. Tigers mark their territory by urinating and secreting which smell strongly and indicate their presence. They can also savage to pieces the bark of a tree. He can run up to 45 km per hour.
Related to: elephant facts for kids

A tiger print can measure 13 cm of diameter that is to say the equivalent to your two hands placed side by side. A forefoot has five fingers, and a hind foot has four fingers. Thanks to the cushions under his feet, the tiger can approach a prey without making any noise and absorb the choc of his gigantic leaps.

During the warm hours of the day, the tiger stays in one of his cool hiding places. His strong smell is so dread that not one single animal dares to disturb him while he's resting. He tiger has a fur striped with black, white and reddish-brown. He becomes invisible when he hides away in the long grass of the jungle. Thanks to his camouflage, he can approach his preys without been noticed. A tiger inspects is territory everyday. It takes him three days to go round and visit all his hiding-places. Intruders: beware! The anger of the master of this place can be violent!
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How old grows a penguin?

It is not easy to answer the penguin facts question: "How long does a penguin live?" or "How old grows a penguin?" or "What is the life expectancy of a penguin?", here are some general remarks about it

"The average lifespan of penguins is probably 15 to 20 years. Some individuals live considerably longer (Sparks and Soper, 1987)."

(Source: Longevity and causes of death : Seaworld)

"Penguins in captivity will live longer than penguins in the wild since they are fed nutrionally balanced meals and do not have to contend with predators. Generally, penguins will live from 15 to 20 years. A female Humboldt penguin in my study group (in captivity) lived to 17 years."

(Source: Kevin Welch)

"How long do penguins live? In the wild there haven't been any reliable long term studies of individual penguins that can tell how long they live. The only such study was carried out in the 1940's and 50's by Lance Richdale in New Zealand. He monitored a population of Yellow-eyed penguins over a 15 year period. Certainly there were some chicks that he saw hatch that survived through most of the study; so it is reasonable to put the lifespan of Yellow-eyed penguins at 15 years or more. The only other information comes from studies on captive birds. Zoos and aquaria often know how old their birds are when they die. However, the common causes of death in captivity (Avian Malaria and Aspergillosis) are not particularly prevalent in the wild so the experiences with captive birds are probably under-estimates. On the other hand the captive birds will not suffer starvation if fish stocks go down suddenly and they have no predators (such as leopard seals and killer whales) to kill them. Anyway, zoos reckon birds live 10 to 20 years depending on species, with the larger species generally being longer lived."

(Source: Pete and Barbara's penguin page FAQ's)

"The oldest known penguins are about 20 years old. Most penguins don't get that old however. Less than half of all chicks live through their first year of life and about 90% of the adult penguins live from one year to the next. The average age of a penguin that shows up at Palmer to breed is probably around 6 or 7 years old."

Source: Antwoord op "Penguin's life span" door John Carlson, Research Assistant, Dr. Fraser's Team, 

Palmer Station, Antarctica, Sat, 15 Feb 1997, NASA)

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Elephant eating habits

Keep reading for more interesting information about elephant facts, about their food.

Elephants living in the wild eat mostly grasses, sort of like cows do, but they also eat tree leaves and shrubs and even branches. It is believed their favorite is the acacia. They are also very happy to raid farmers' crops and eat all manner of vegetables. 

Diet

• Elephants eat between 149 and 169 kg (330-375 lb.) of vegetation daily.

• Elephants consume several hundred pounds of vegetation daily.

• An Asian elephant at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay eating a palm frond.
• Sixteen to eighteen hours, or nearly 80% of an elephant’s day is spent feeding. Elephants consume grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots.

• Nearly 80% of an elephant's day is spent feeding.
• Tree bark is a favorite food source for elephants. It contains calcium and roughage, which aids digestion. Tusks are used to carve into the trunk and tear off strips of bark.

          For more facts tigers facts

• Elephants require about 68.4 to 98.8 L (18 to 26 gal.) of water daily, but may consume up to 152 L (40 gal.). An adult male elephant can drink up to 212 L (55 gal.) of water in less than five minutes.

• Elephants drink up to 40 gallons of water a day.
• Elephants can use their trunks to spray water in their mouths.
• To supplement the diet, elephants will dig up earth to obtain salt and minerals. The tusks are used to churn the ground. The elephant then places dislodged pieces of soil into its mouth, to obtain nutrients. Frequently these areas result in holes that are several feet deep and vital minerals are made accessible to other animals. Ex: Over time, African elephants have hollowed out deep caverns in a volcano mountainside on the Ugandan border, to obtain salt licks and minerals. Hills have been carved by Asian elephants in India and Sumatra searching for salt and minerals. These carved areas in the landscape provide valuable food and shelter resources for a diverse array of native wildlife.

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Why tiger is considered as India's national animal, not lion?

Keep reading for more interesting information about tiger facts and the reason why tiger is considered as India's national animal, not lion?

First, let me state upfront, as someone who works to conserve wildlife, no beast is greater or lesser than the other.

But the lion, majestic as he is — lacks national character, given his very limited range. For nearly two centuries, it has been confined to a small part of Saurashtra in Gujarat — the Gir National Park, and increasingly its surrounds. Once upon a time, its range extended over northern India (Emperor Akbar hunted lions near Mathura), in the east it extended up to Bihar, with the Narmada river marking the southern limit, till it was exterminated by hunting. The last wild Asiatic lion was reported outside Saurashtra in the 1890s.

A national animal by its very definition must have a wide range in our country, it must be familiar to its citizens, representative of its varied ecosystems, rooted in our culture — part of our lore.

The tiger is all of it, and more. Saving the tiger has earned India the position of a pioneering leader in conservation. The tiger today is a beloved symbol of the country, has spanned a business around its tourism, and serves as India's brand ambassador. Even when some US Presidents come visiting, like Bill Clinton, meeting the tiger is on their agenda.

This proposal is strange, given that Gujarat has fiercely held on to its pride — refusing to part with even few of its lions to send them to an alternate home — even though science argues that confining the lion to a small, single area places the population at greater risk for genetic inbreeding and the fear of an epidemic.

If the lion becomes the national animal, one wonders if it will be allowed to cross borders.

One must add here that the Gujarat government has done extremely well by its lions, but given the fact that the tiger is a resident of varied states, and a wanderer across borders, its conservation — while the prime responsibility of states — must have national stewardship, particularly amid of the increasing threats it faces.

Related to: elephant facts for kids

I hasten to add that this is true not just for the tiger, but for all wildlife.

In fact, the lion was India's national animal between 1952-72, when the Indian Board of Wildlife took a decision to anoint the tiger as it was found in largest swathes of the country — there are tiger reserves in 18 states and tiger presence extends to atleast four others. The tiger is truly representative in its range, found in diverse ecosystems — along the Himalayan foothills of Haryana through to Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, North Bengal, extending upto Assam; in the sholas of the Western Ghats, the deciduous forests of the Eastern Ghats, the evergreens of the northeast, and the sal jungles of central India. It thrives in the dry forests of Rajasthan and in the mangrove delta of Sunderbans. The big cat has been known to survive in the higher ranges of Nainital, and even above 10,000 feet in the Himalayas — in Sikkim, Arunachal.

The tiger was made the national animal as its numbers were declining, there was an urgent need to protect it.

More importantly, the idea of protecting the tiger was not just about saving this one animal, however charismatic it is. Saving the tiger meant that we saved its forests — forests from which rivers birthed and flowed, that heralded monsoons, nourished our soils, and served as carbon sinks.

The tiger is not just the soul of India. Saving the tiger means that the ecosystems it lives in, which sustain India, thrive too.

This is why saving the tiger must rise above politics and continue to represent the nation.

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How can rainbow form?

In order to answer the science facts question: How can rainbow form?, let's have a look the article as below:

One of nature's most splendid masterpieces is the rainbow. A rainbow is an excellent demonstration of the dispersion of light and one more piece of evidence that visible light is composed of a spectrum of wavelengths, each associated with a distinct color. To view a rainbow, your back must be to the sun as you look at an approximately 40 degree angle above the ground into a region of the atmosphere with suspended droplets of water or even a light mist. Each individual droplet of water acts as a tiny prism that both disperses the light and reflects it back to your eye. As you sight into the sky, wavelengths of light associated with a specific color arrive at your eye from the collection of droplets. The net effect of the vast array of droplets is that a circular arc of ROYGBIV is seen across the sky. But just exactly how do the droplets of water disperse and reflect the light? And why does the pattern always appear as ROYGBIV from top to bottom? These are the questions that we will seek to understand on this page of The Physics Classroom Tutorial. To understand these questions, we will need to draw upon our understanding of refraction, internal reflection and dispersion.

The birth of each rainbow begins with millions of tiny rain droplets. The rain droplets serve as a type of reflector of light. White light enters one individual rain droplet and exits as one specific color of the spectrum. Without millions of rain droplets, a rainbow would not occur. If you only had a few rain droplets you would only see a few colors. This is typically why rainbow appear after a rain storm.

Each rain droplet has a function in the formation of the rainbow. Sunlight enters the rain droplet at a specific angle and the rain droplet separates the white light into many different colors. 

This angle is a fixed measurement between your eye and the sun. What color is refracted depends upon the critical angle, which is the angle the sunlight strikes the back of the rain droplet. Red light bends the least, exiting the rain droplet at a 42 degree angle, while Violet light bends the most, exiting the rain droplet at a 40 degree angle. All of the other colors of the rainbow exit the rain droplets at some angle between 40 and 42 degrees, thus making up the colors of the rainbow ROYGBIV, this order never changes.

Each rain droplet reflects all colors at a given point and time, but only one color comes back to your eye, requiring million of rain droplets to create a rainbow. As the rain droplets fall through the sky, the colors of the spectrum being reflected and refracted are constantly changing.

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Awesome world of animal facts

A lot of amazing animal facts that people can share with others, which raises a broader and more interesting about them as below
1. Dogs will sneeze to tell other dogs that they’re playing, so when they’re playing rough it doesn’t turn into a fight.

2. Gray squirrels bury nuts all over the place, and often forget them, growing new trees. This makes them more ecologically friendly than red squirrels, who store nuts in piles on the ground which don’t take root.

3. Infant Pygmy Marmosets babble to develop their language skills, similarly to the way human babies babble.

4. Two-toed sloths cannot shiver to stay warm like other mammals due to their low metabolic rates and little muscle tissue.

5. Yawning is infectious because it supplies a method for the most sleepy to forcefully communicate their need for rest and thus ensures that the group rests/sleeps together.

6. Crows are actually super smart. They even play pranks on each other just for fun.

7. Rare white tiger facts carry a gene that is only present in around 1 in every 10000 tigers.

8. The red panda uses its long bushy tail not only for balance, but also as a blanket during chilly winter nights.

9. The blue whale weighs as much as thirty elephants and is as long as three Greyhound buses.

10. A herd of sixty cows is capable of producing a ton of milk in less than a day.

11. A grasshopper can leap 20 times the length of its own body.

12. Baby Japanese Macaques make snowballs. They do not use them for any survival purposes, they just like to have fun.

13. Slow loris may be cute, but it’s the only venomous primate in the world. When it raises its arms, it’s performing a defensive stance, and preparing a venom.

14. At birth, baby kangaroos are only about an inch long – no bigger than a large water bug or a queen bee.

15. The smell of a skunk can be detected by a human a mile away.

16. There is a butterfly in Africa with enough poison in its body to kill six cats!

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What happened if you grew up with cats?

Are you wondering what are the most interesting animal facts, here is the right place to answer your puzzle. Here are some amazing struggles with cats when you grew up with them:

1. The tragedy of accidentally stepping on their paw.
2. Cleaning their litter box and wondering how one cat can shit that much.

3. Having intelligent conversations with your cat in order to get things off your chest.

Just finally, and belatedly, had the conversation about systemic racism with my cat. If her solemn meows are any indication, she's not happy

4. Feeling hella sad when they’re in the way sleeping and you have to move them.
5. Or giving up entirely and letting them dictate when and where you can go.
6. Leaving for just two seconds and coming back to this.

7. Having to buy new headphones every few months because your cat chewed through them.

8. When they bring dead animals to your front door and just…leave them there.

Also see: penguins facts for kids

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