Halloween which is traditionally celebrated in all its ghoulish glory on the 31st of October each year is a major festival in the USA and several other countries in the world.  This festival which is eagerly anticipated by both children and adults however did not originate in the USA but was transported to the USA by Irish immigrants in the mid nineteenth century when nearly two million Irish immigrants arrived on America’s shores in order to escape the devastating Potato Famines.

Similarly Scottish immigrants carried the festival to Canada and once settled in their new countries these new immigrants continued to celebrate the festival within their communities until it spread far and wide and began to get increasingly commercialized as well. Today the festival enables  various types of retailers to take advantage of this burgeoning Halloween spirit to decorate their stores with traditional Halloween symbols and push sales of Halloween costumes, sweets and other decorative accouterments which are used for the celebrations of this ghoulish festival. read more

Diwali which is popularly also known as the ‘Festival of Lights’ is festival is celebrated in many parts of India and several other countries of the world where there are large expatriate Indian populations or local populations which are of Indian origin like the UK, Singapore and Malaysia. The festival holds much significance for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and is usually celebrated in the early November or late October in accordance with the dates of the Hindu calendar. This year the festival will be celebrated  on Tuesday the 28th of October.

Good triumphs over Evil

The festivities of Diwali are usually spread over five days and the festival has several different legends and stories associated with it. The most popular legend of Diwali is a story taken from the epic known as the Ramayana that states that Diwali is celebrated to commemorate the home coming of King Rama of the Kingdom of Ayodhaya after he had spent fourteen years in exile in the forests.  During his arduous exile, King Rama had protected the virtue of his wife Sita by destroying the demon, Ravana who had spirited her away to Sri Lanka. This legend is largely believed by Hindus of North India and Nepal who celebrate the festival and rejoice at the triumph of good over evil. read more

The canal city of Amsterdam is arguably one of the most exciting nightlife centers in the world as it boasts of a vibrant dance club scene where the sounds of techno, trance and house music reverberate loudly. This pulsating night club scene has also produced some of best DJs and producers in the world like Tiesto and Armin Van Buuren who tour the world and play in the best dance clubs located in different parts of the globe.

Now this exciting city which is also well known throughout the world for its relaxed stance on the sale of marijuana and prostitution is getting ready to host one of the most exciting dance festivals in Europe over four days and nights towards the end of October. This dance festival which is known as the Amsterdam Dance Event is celebrating its thirteenth anniversary this year and will be held be held from Wednesday the 22nd of October till Saturday the 25th of October in nightclubs, DJ cafes, record stores, lounges and art galleries located in the city of Amsterdam. After the festival ends on Saturday, the event will be followed by a spate of after-festival parties on the next day.
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If you love books and count reading as one of your favorite pastimes, then you must have surely heard of one of  the most famous literary events in the world, that is held in the German City of Frankfurt in the month of October every year and which is simply called  ‘The Frankfurt Book Fair’ or Frankfurter Buchmesse in German. The city of Frankfurt hosts a number of trade fairs all through out the year which are organized by the Messe Frankfurt Corporation and the world’s largest book fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, is one of its most important fairs in its annual trade show calendar. This year the Frankfurt Book Fair will be held from Wednesday the 15th of October to Sunday the 19th of October.

The Frankfurt book fair is an extremely important event for the entire publishing industry, both the print and online industry and the fair is attended by representatives from book publishing and multimedia companies from all over the world. At this event books are launched, international sale of rights and licenses are negotiated and new trends in the field of media and publishing are unveiled and discussed. In addition to books, comics, DVDs, CDs, audio books, calendars are also showcased at this fascinating event which also features many readings, forums, seminars and workshops. In fact this year’s fair is said to have more than 2700 events on its busy schedule. The Book fair will feature more than 7000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries and is anticipated to attract more than 280,000 visitors. read more