Panaramerican Games

A history of the pan american games

The Pan American Games bring together athletes from the countries of the Americas in a festival of sport and international friendship. The Games are held every four years in the year preceding the Olympic Games. The first Pan American Games took place in 1951 at Buenos Aires, Argentina, but they originated more than two decades earlier. At the Olympic Congress coinciding with the 1924 Olympic Games at Paris, France, the International Olympic Committee members from Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico proposed the establishment of regional games for the countries of Central America. These games became reality two years later when Mexico City hosted the first Central American Games

At the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, representatives of the Latin American delegations proposed regional Games for all the Americas. This proposal eventually led to the first meeting of the Pan American Sports Congress at Buenos Aires in August 1940. The Congress selected Buenos Aires to host the first Pan American Games in 1942, but World War II forced postponement of these games.

Although the 1942 Pan American Games never took place, at least one poster was created on their behalf. The image shows a male figure in the foreground holding a javelin. The background reveals a view of the globe showing the Americas. The globe is encircled with the flags of 21 Pan American countries. Countries from the British Commonwealth, did not participate in the early Pan American Sports Congress. The lithograph poster was designed by artist Falier Totaro in 1941.A second Pan American Sports Congress met at the 1948 London Olympic Games where plans were revived. The first Pan American Games opened on February 25, 1951, at Buenos Aires. More than 2,500 athletes from 22 countries participated. The organization governing the Games was renamed, in 1955, as the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO). Currently, 42 nations of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean comprise the organization. The official languages are Spanish and English. PASO has headquarters in Mexico City and is presided over by Mario Vasquez Raña of Mexico, who also is a member of the International Olympic Committee.

The PASO emblem is a torch superimposed over five concentric circles of the colors green, yellow, white, red and blue. At least one of these colors appears on every national flag of the Americas. PASO’s motto "America, Espirito, Sport, Fraternité" incorporates four of the languages in common use in the Americas: Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. The phrase loosely translates to English as "The American spirit of friendship through sports." Retirado em: http://www.la84foundation.org/8saa/PanAm/pan_am_history.htm

The mascots of the Pan American Games are present from the Pan de San Juan in 1979. Below is a list of all the mascots of the Pan American Games.
Mascot of the Pan American Games in San Juan - 1979
He was honored a common type of frog in Puerto Rico. The Coqui Frog was the first mascot of all Pan-American Games.
Mascot of the Pan American Games in Caracas - 1983
Santiaguito The lion was a tribute to the founder of Caracas, Santiago de Leon. It also symbolizes unity and strength of every country in the Pan
Mascot of the Pan American Games in Indianapolis - 1987
The parrot Friend was chosen to represent a typical bird of the Americas. In addition to inspiring the brotherhood in the countries of the continent.
Mascot of the Pan American Games in Havana - 1991
Tocororo is the national bird of Cuba. The Games held in the capital had Tocopan the mascot, the mixture of the bird's name with the name of the event.
Mascot of the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata - 1995
The sea lion was chosen to represent the city of Mar del Plata. Lobi wears a uniform with the colors of Argentina and a map of the Americas.

Mascots of the Pan American Games in Winnipeg - 1999
There were two mascots in 1999, the Pan American Duck (crowd favorite) and Lorita Panamericana (a parrot).

 Mascot of the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo - 2003
The manatee Titus represents the ecological awareness in the Games. The choice of an endangered animal is a warning to all the Dominican people in the Americas.
Mascot of the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro - 2007
Chosen in popular vote, Cauê is the mascot of the Pan American Games Rio 2007.Cauê mascot was chosen for the 2007 Pan with 465,408 (38% of votes). Kuar got 388,404 (32%) and Luca had 372,751 (30%).
What does Cauê?Cauê originates in the salutation "Aue" in Tupi, can also mean "good man". Cauê is part of a legend of the mixture of races and the history of Rio de Janeiro. Cauê was the son of a French woman (Amanda) with the chief Macaw. The choice of the Sun as a mascot was to represent the spirit of Rio and Brazil's tropical climate. The other pets were meant to represent the Brazilian culture. Luca is "light" in Latin and Kuar means "sun" in Guarani.
How was the election that chose the name Cauê Mascot Pan American Games Rio 2007?The poll was conducted between July 13 and August 4 via the Internet, the polls in eight capitals (Rio, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Recife, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and São Luís) and text message on mobile phones. The election result was announced in Corcovado, one of the major postcard of Rio de Janeiro.
Learn more:• Cauê - mascot of the 2007 Pan American Games
Mascot of the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011

Gavo (a blue agave plant), Huichi (a deer) and Leo (lion) are the mascots of the Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011.
Retirado em: http://quadrodemedalhas.com/jogos-pan-americanos/mascotes-dos-jogos-pan-americanos.htm

Halloween History and Origin

Halloween is the one of the oldest holidays still celebrated today. It's one of the most popular holidays, second only to Christmas. While millions of people celebrate Halloween without knowing its origins and myths, the history and facts of Halloween make the holiday more fascinating.

Some people view Halloween as a time for fun, putting on costumes, trick-or-treating, and having theme parties. Others view it as a time of superstitions, ghosts, goblins and evil spirits that should be avoided at all costs.

As the Christian debate goes on, celebrating Halloween is a preference that is not always viewed as participating in an evil holiday. Halloween is often celebrated with no reference to pagan rituals or the occult.

Halloween History

Halloween is on October 31st, the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Halloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago.

All Hallows Eve is the evening before All Saints Day, which was created by Christians to convert pagans, and is celebrated on November 1st. The Catholic church honored saints on this designated day.

Origin of Halloween

While there are many versions of the origins and old customs of Halloween, some remain consistent by all accounts. Different cultures view Halloween somewhat differently but traditional Halloween practices remain the same.

Halloween culture can be traced back to the Druids, a Celtic culture in Ireland, Britain and Northern Europe. Roots lay in the feast of Samhain, which was annually on October 31st to honor the dead.

Samhain signifies "summers end" or November. Samhain was a harvest festival with huge sacred bonfires, marking the end of the Celtic year and beginning of a new one. Many of the practices involved in this celebration were fed on superstition.

The Celts believed the souls of the dead roamed the streets and villages at night. Since not all spirits were thought to be friendly, gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil and ensure next years crops would be plentiful. This custom evolved into trick-or-treating.

Retirado da internet em 28/10/2011: http://www.halloween-website.com/history.htm

Halloween Comes to America

Traditional Halloween symbols (witches, black cats, pumpkins, candles, masks, parties and pranks) appeared in the U.S. during the late 1800's. In 1848, millions of Irish emigrants poured into America as a result of the potato famine. With this sudden influx of people, the holiday of Druidism found its new home on alien shores. "Proudly Celtic, they called Halloween Oidche Shamhna (`Night of Samhain'), as their ancestors had, and kept the traditional observances" [Common Boundary, Sep./Oct. 1993, p. 31].

The Jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul. Originally the Irish would carve out turnips or beets as lanterns as representations of the souls of the dead or goblins freed from the dead.

When the Irish emigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into Jack O'Lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.
Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons and was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits. It was said that if a demon or such were to encounter something as fiendish looking as themselves that they'd run away in terror,thus sparing the houses dwellers from the ravages of dark entities. They would have been carried around the village boundaries or left outside the home to burn through the night.

Bats, owls and other nocturanal animals, also popular symbols of Halloween, were originally feared because people believed that these creatures could communicate with the spirits of the dead.

Black cats have religious origins as well. Black cats were considered to be reincarnated beings with the ability to divine the future. During the Middle Ages it was believed that witches could turn themselves into black cats. Thus when such a cat was seen, it was considered to be a witch in disguise.

Witches and witchcraft are dominant themes of the holiday. Witches generally believe themselves to be followers of an ancient religion, which goes back far beyond Christianity, and which is properly called 'wicca'. Witches are really just one side of a modern revival of paganism - the following of pre-Christian nature religions, the attempt to return to worshipping ancient Norse, Greek or Celtic gods and goddesses.

To witches, Halloween is a festival of the dead, and represents the "end and the beginning of the witches year. It marks the beginning of the death and destruction associated with winter. At this time the power of the underworld is unleashed, and spirits are supposedly freed to roam about the earth; it is considered the best time to contact spirits" (Halloween and Satanism, P. Phillips and J.H. Robie, 1987, p. 146).

The apostle Paul said Witchcraft is one of the acts of the sinful nature and those who practice it will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:16-21; see also Revelation 22:15).

Divination

The various activities traditional to Halloween are mostly associated with the idea of obtaining good fortune and foretelling the future. Samhain was a time when it was customary for the pagans to use the occult practice of divination to determine the weather for the coming year, the crop expectations, and even who in the community would marry whom and in what order.

• The idea behind ducking, dooking or bobbing for apples seems to have been that snatching a bite from the apple enables the person to grasp good fortune. Unmarried people would attempt to take a bite out of an apple bobbing in a pail of water, or suspended on a string. The first person to do so was believed to be the next to marry.
• Samhain is a time for getting rid of weakness, as pagans once slaughtered weak animals which were unlikely to survive the winter. A common ritual calls for writing down weaknesses on a piece of paper or parchment, and tossing it into the fire.
• There used to be a custom of placing a stone in the hot ashes of the bonfire. If in the morning a person found that the stone had been removed or had cracked, it was a sign of bad fortune. Nuts have been used for divination: whether they burned quietly or exploded indicated good or bad luck.
• Peeling an apple and throwing the peel over one's shoulder was supposed to reveal the initial of one's future spouse.
• One way of looking for omens of death was for people to visit churchyards, because the spirits of those who were going to die during the coming year were thought to walk around the churchyard during this night.

Retirado em: www.jeremiahproject.com/halloween.html