SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Muggle Studies Lesson 2 Presentation Thread

laudienne · 08-27-2007, 06:03 AM

Lauren walked to the front of the room confidently, clutching a brown paper bag in her hands. It was heavy and bulging around its sides: it was the only thing she could find to carry the props for her report. The muscles in her arms shook slightly as she heaved the bag up onto a desk and, turning to face the class, dove her hands and face into the bag. She rummaged around for a few moments, then retrieved what she was looking for: a large mass of white fabric. Lauren clutched the edge of the fabric with both hands and, with a sly smile to her classmates and professor, threw the sheet over her head. Her body was almost completely covered, but the shiny black leather of her shoes and the woolly fabric of her grey knee-socks were still exposed. She heard the class burst into small fits of laughter and, waiting just a few more moments, smiled to herself. This was exactly what she needed to really get them interested in what she had to say.

Having allowed the class to laugh and wonder at this nonsense for several long seconds, Lauren finally whipped the white sheet off of her body and set it down on the desk next to her bag. She ran a hand through her hair to smooth out the pieces that were disturbed by the commotion, and began, "Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31."

She continued. "It began as the Pagan festival of Samhain in Ireland and Great Britain," she said as she turned to the blackboard, scribing the letters of Samhain as carefully and neatly as she could, "and eventually evolved into All-Hallow-Even, or All Hallows' Eve. This holiday is named as such because it is celebrated the day before All Hallows' or All Saints' Day, which occurs on November 1 and is a religious feast day to celebrate all Christian saints."

Lauren waited a moment to give her classmates time to digest and to take notes. She then said, "Many people also believe that All Hallows' Eve is the time during the year when spirits of the dead are most susceptible to making contact with the physical world of the living. Muggles believe that this night is that during which magic is at its most powerful," she smiled. "No witch or wizard has proven this to be true as of yet, however.

"Now that we have taken care of the history bit, let's get on to things that are a bit more fun." She held up the sheet to her side. "You might be wondering what this was all about," she laughed, as several of her classmates nodded their heads. "Yes, well - this is a typical Muggle Halloween costume. On Halloween, children and even adults dress up in costumes to disguise themselves, then travel door-to-door in their neighborhood with baskets, pillowcases, or bags looking for treats. They ring the doorbells of their neighbors and, when the doors are opened to them, greet their neighbors with a spirited 'Trick or Treat!' The neighbors - most of them, anyway - are normally prepared, and dole out pieces of candy, little prizes, or even loose change as gifts." Tucking the sheet into a small ball and putting it back onto the desk, she patted the top of the white lump and said, "Children often wear white sheets such as this one so as to disguise themselves as ghosts, but other guises like witches, pirates, princesses, fairies, and pop culture icons are also very popular.

"Depending on where in the world you travel, Halloween customs vary. The one I just described can most typically be seen in the United States and Great Britain, though in Great Britain the tradition is growing to be considered an undesirable form of begging. In Ireland, great bonfires are lit and parties are thrown. In Scotland, "trick-or-treaters" may exchange that popular phrase for the song, "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" and actually must perform to make themselves "worthy" of their neighbors' gifts.

"Besides parties and trick-or-treating, there are several other activities that are connected with the holiday. Families enjoy the tradition of carving pumpkins, in which they go to stores or pumpkin patches, choose plump pumpkins, and bring them home." As she said this, she pulled a round, lumpy, rich orange pumpkin from the bag. "There, they use knives to carve designs into their pumpkins and put small tea-light candles inside, placing them outside to light up the dark night." Lauren picked up her wand, concentrating so hard that little wrinkles etched into her brow, and attempted to perform the spell she had been practicing all of this past week. She waved her wand in the air and, as a series of glittering orange sparks flew from the end, the image of a small witch's hat was carved into the pumpkin. Breaking the spell and stopping the sparks from flying, her face eased as she performed another, simpler spell to ignite a small flame inside. "These pumpkins are also called "jack-o-lanterns," referring to the Irish tale about Stingy Jack, a man who tricked the devil and, as punishment, was cursed to wander through the night forever."

She took the newly-carved pumpkin in her hands and blew into the carved-out holes to extinguish the flame. Then, Lauren rested the pumpkin on the mound of white sheet and dove into the bag once more. She produced several thin cardboard cut-outs of a black cat, an ugly-looking, greyish green man with a rectangular head and scars all over his face, a pale white skeleton, and a rickety, dark house with its shutters falling off and ominous shadows appearing in its windows. She held each one up and then passed them to the closest student, indicating that they were allowed to share them with the class. "Many people have taken to decorating their houses for this holiday. The most common colors of Halloween are orange and black, and many of the symbols connected with the holiday are black cats, bats, goblins, ghosts, haunted houses, skeletons, werewolfs, and Muggle monsters such as Frankenstein, who is pictured in that particular decoration," Lauren said, gesturing to the student who currently was looking at that piece of cardboard.

"Now," Lauren said, clasping her hands loosely in front of her and smiling knowingly at the class, "a visual aid. Something to show you all just how excited many children can be about this holiday..." And with that, she lifted the brown bag and turned it upside down, letting a shower of small pieces of candy fall onto the desk below. There were chocolates, toffees, nougats, truffles. There were little pink pieces shaped like strawberries, and little green pieces shaped like limes. At the sight of sugar, her classmates perked up, and even those whose faces were glazed over and eyelids were drooping just moments before were now craning their necks and moving in their seats to get a better view. Lauren began scooping up heaping handfuls of candy, dropping them in front of each of her eager classmates. Once this was finished, she packed up her bag, putting the leftover candy, the sheet, the decorations, and her pumpkin all back into the bag. She closed her hand over the bag's handles but, before she picked it up and returned to her seat, she had a thought and dropped her hand from the bag.

"Any questions?"

08-27-2007, 06:03 AM	#11 (permalink)
laudienne Wotcher, Harry! Slytherin Babe Puffskein Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 2,035	Lauren walked to the front of the room confidently, clutching a brown paper bag in her hands. It was heavy and bulging around its sides: it was the only thing she could find to carry the props for her report. The muscles in her arms shook slightly as she heaved the bag up onto a desk and, turning to face the class, dove her hands and face into the bag. She rummaged around for a few moments, then retrieved what she was looking for: a large mass of white fabric. Lauren clutched the edge of the fabric with both hands and, with a sly smile to her classmates and professor, threw the sheet over her head. Her body was almost completely covered, but the shiny black leather of her shoes and the woolly fabric of her grey knee-socks were still exposed. She heard the class burst into small fits of laughter and, waiting just a few more moments, smiled to herself. This was exactly what she needed to really get them interested in what she had to say. Having allowed the class to laugh and wonder at this nonsense for several long seconds, Lauren finally whipped the white sheet off of her body and set it down on the desk next to her bag. She ran a hand through her hair to smooth out the pieces that were disturbed by the commotion, and began, "Halloween is a holiday celebrated on October 31." She continued. "It began as the Pagan festival of Samhain in Ireland and Great Britain," she said as she turned to the blackboard, scribing the letters of Samhain as carefully and neatly as she could, "and eventually evolved into All-Hallow-Even, or All Hallows' Eve. This holiday is named as such because it is celebrated the day before All Hallows' or All Saints' Day, which occurs on November 1 and is a religious feast day to celebrate all Christian saints." Lauren waited a moment to give her classmates time to digest and to take notes. She then said, "Many people also believe that All Hallows' Eve is the time during the year when spirits of the dead are most susceptible to making contact with the physical world of the living. Muggles believe that this night is that during which magic is at its most powerful," she smiled. "No witch or wizard has proven this to be true as of yet, however. "Now that we have taken care of the history bit, let's get on to things that are a bit more fun." She held up the sheet to her side. "You might be wondering what this was all about," she laughed, as several of her classmates nodded their heads. "Yes, well - this is a typical Muggle Halloween costume. On Halloween, children and even adults dress up in costumes to disguise themselves, then travel door-to-door in their neighborhood with baskets, pillowcases, or bags looking for treats. They ring the doorbells of their neighbors and, when the doors are opened to them, greet their neighbors with a spirited 'Trick or Treat!' The neighbors - most of them, anyway - are normally prepared, and dole out pieces of candy, little prizes, or even loose change as gifts." Tucking the sheet into a small ball and putting it back onto the desk, she patted the top of the white lump and said, "Children often wear white sheets such as this one so as to disguise themselves as ghosts, but other guises like witches, pirates, princesses, fairies, and pop culture icons are also very popular. "Depending on where in the world you travel, Halloween customs vary. The one I just described can most typically be seen in the United States and Great Britain, though in Great Britain the tradition is growing to be considered an undesirable form of begging. In Ireland, great bonfires are lit and parties are thrown. In Scotland, "trick-or-treaters" may exchange that popular phrase for the song, "The sky is blue, the grass is green, may we have our Halloween" and actually must perform to make themselves "worthy" of their neighbors' gifts. "Besides parties and trick-or-treating, there are several other activities that are connected with the holiday. Families enjoy the tradition of carving pumpkins, in which they go to stores or pumpkin patches, choose plump pumpkins, and bring them home." As she said this, she pulled a round, lumpy, rich orange pumpkin from the bag. "There, they use knives to carve designs into their pumpkins and put small tea-light candles inside, placing them outside to light up the dark night." Lauren picked up her wand, concentrating so hard that little wrinkles etched into her brow, and attempted to perform the spell she had been practicing all of this past week. She waved her wand in the air and, as a series of glittering orange sparks flew from the end, the image of a small witch's hat was carved into the pumpkin. Breaking the spell and stopping the sparks from flying, her face eased as she performed another, simpler spell to ignite a small flame inside. "These pumpkins are also called "jack-o-lanterns," referring to the Irish tale about Stingy Jack, a man who tricked the devil and, as punishment, was cursed to wander through the night forever." She took the newly-carved pumpkin in her hands and blew into the carved-out holes to extinguish the flame. Then, Lauren rested the pumpkin on the mound of white sheet and dove into the bag once more. She produced several thin cardboard cut-outs of a black cat, an ugly-looking, greyish green man with a rectangular head and scars all over his face, a pale white skeleton, and a rickety, dark house with its shutters falling off and ominous shadows appearing in its windows. She held each one up and then passed them to the closest student, indicating that they were allowed to share them with the class. "Many people have taken to decorating their houses for this holiday. The most common colors of Halloween are orange and black, and many of the symbols connected with the holiday are black cats, bats, goblins, ghosts, haunted houses, skeletons, werewolfs, and Muggle monsters such as Frankenstein, who is pictured in that particular decoration," Lauren said, gesturing to the student who currently was looking at that piece of cardboard. "Now," Lauren said, clasping her hands loosely in front of her and smiling knowingly at the class, "a visual aid. Something to show you all just how excited many children can be about this holiday..." And with that, she lifted the brown bag and turned it upside down, letting a shower of small pieces of candy fall onto the desk below. There were chocolates, toffees, nougats, truffles. There were little pink pieces shaped like strawberries, and little green pieces shaped like limes. At the sight of sugar, her classmates perked up, and even those whose faces were glazed over and eyelids were drooping just moments before were now craning their necks and moving in their seats to get a better view. Lauren began scooping up heaping handfuls of candy, dropping them in front of each of her eager classmates. Once this was finished, she packed up her bag, putting the leftover candy, the sheet, the decorations, and her pumpkin all back into the bag. She closed her hand over the bag's handles but, before she picked it up and returned to her seat, she had a thought and dropped her hand from the bag. "Any questions?"