The truth about Halloween candy - Jenks Public Schools

Feature Page 4Unfolding the facts behind superstitionsThere is no shortage of supersitions inthe world - walking under ladders, spillingsalt, and opening umbrellas inside thehouse are all activities that are rumoredto bring bad luck. They are so common,in fact, that some people may not evenbelieve them to be superstitions, and justconsider them common fact. Superstitionsare, in general, hard to date, and it’s mostlyunclear where they originated from.The number 13 is considered to be theunluckiest of numbers, but the exact reasoninghas become lost through thousandsof years of human records. One of the firstdocumentations of its misfortune comesfrom ancient Egpyt. People there believedlong ago that there were 13 stages of life-12 on Earth and one more in the afterlife.This contributed to their belief that 13was synonymous with death, and so hascome to be considered unlucky even inmodern times. Friday the 13th is calledthe unluckiest day of the year due partly torecords that tell of awful things happeningon that day in history, such as the arrest of13Rachel LampiReporterthe Knights Templar, a Christian militaryorder in the 12th century. Many people willnot even leave the house on Friday the 13thfor fear of something bad happening tothem. The superstition about 13’s unluckynature has become so pronounced andwell-known that popular movies, books,and television series have begun to use itas a tactic to frighten people.Another fairly common superstition isthat of black cats. In theory, it is supposedto be unlucky when they cross the streetin front of someone. Cats in general arethought to bring bad luck in Italy and theNetherlands, but the color specificationsorginated in seventeenth-century Massachusettsduring the Salem Witch Trials.Black cats were often said to be witchesin disguise, or companions of those whopracticed sorcery. When a black cat wouldcome near, it was an omen of death andmisfortune, and in some cities the mythwent so far as to put death sentences onanyone found in possession of a black catas a pet. However, in some countries suchThe chineseexchangecomes againEmery SkeltonReporterDuring the beginning of school every year, students allacross campus take sight of new students that are very foreignto them. These new students, in fact, are foreign exchangestudents from Cheng Du, China.When in the United States, all of the exchange students getto experience many different forms of American living. Oneexperience is the American school life, which greatly differsfrom their fourteen-hour school days.Junior Rhett Upthegrove took his exchange student, Wangphoto courtesy of Jenks Chinese Exchange ProgramWentao, whose english nameis Victor, to Frontier City.After Frontier City Rhetttook Victor on his first paintballingexperience.“It was his first time togo paintballing and he wasso much better than me,”Upthegrove said.The exchange studentsended thier visit and headedback to China on Sept. 23.The Trojan exchange studentsvisit China for a coupleweeks including a week ofspring break.During their visit theexchange students experiencechinese ways of life andlearn all about the cultureand historic traditions.With the chinese culturecomes a variety of homemadeorganic chinese foodsthat the students get to experience.Some of these foodsinclude a variety of differentstyles of chinsese dumplings,as Scotland and Ireland, black cats areconsidered a symbol of good luck, makingthe tale following it fairly uncommonamong the superstitious.Originally, the myth about breakinga mirror came out of two different superstitions.When a mirror was broken, thesoul was said to be trapped in an entirelydifferent world, and it would take sevenyears for the trapped body to escape thealternate dimension. This eventuallyevolved into the more commonly knownbelief that breaking a mirror will earn theperson who breaks it seven years of badluck. Another potential source for this notioncomes from the mirror’s former statusas an object that could only be affordedfor the wealthy. If an indentured servant,broke a mirror while cleaning it for thefamily then it would mean bad luck.The world is riddled with these typesof myths and folk tales, and are a large partof cultures across the globe. Whether factor fable, it appears that superstitions andfolklore are here to stay.Chinese exchange studentsand their sponsorsTang Shihao hosted by Adam BrobsonLi Anjian hosted by Sam KurtzWang Wentao hosted by Rhett UpthegroveGao Hannu hosted by Blake KleinWang Yangujin hosted by Alisha DevoreYao Zhanyi hosted by Gabby BairXu Keren hosted by Olivia AndoeWang Lanjing hosted by Kyra WilliamsShe Qinke hosted by Ellen OkudaLuo Yalan hosted by Emery TennekoonZhang Xianwen hosted by Anna LeChen Yuguo hosted by Blake Kleinand the teachers Ren Tianfu hosted byMike Honaker and Zeng Zongying hostedby Shannon Fitzpatrick.a variety of fish cooked in many forms,noodles with vegtables boiled, friedand steamed, and of course large quantitiesof rice.The Trojan students will also travelall around China with thier exchangefamilies to see numerous attractionsand get the oppurtunity to visit thefamous Great Wall of China.