Festive Medieval Christmas

Festive Medieval Christmas When the holiday season engulfs us- and as we are subjected to a barrage of sentiment and commercialism (which are often indistinguishable from one another)- simpler days seem so much more attractive, and many of us tend to look to the past. Many of the customs we observe, traditions we practice, and foods we eat today originated in the middle ages. You may already incorporate some of these festivities in your holiday, or perhaps you might like to start a new tradition with a very old one. As you celebrate these customs, remember that they started with a medieval Christmas. A Christmas Carol and a flood of nostalgia for the Victorian era gives us a fairly good idea of what a nineteenth century Christmas was like. But the concept of observing Christs birthday goes back much farther than the nineteenth century. In fact, the origin of the English word Christmas is found in the Old English Cristes Maesse  (mass of Christ), and winter solstice festivities date back to ancient times in all corners of the world. So what was it like to celebrate Christmas in the Middle Ages? Early Medieval Christmas Observances Determining exactly what Christmas was like depends not only on where it was observed, but when. In late antiquity, Christmas was a quiet and solemn occasion, marked by a special mass and calling for prayer and reflection. Until the fourth century, no fixed date had been formally set by the Church- in some places it was observed in April or May, in others in January and even in November. It was Pope Julius I who officially fixed the date at December 25th, and why exactly he chose the date is still not clear. Although it is possible that it was a deliberate Christianization of a pagan holiday, many other factors seem to have come into play. Epiphany or Twelfth Night More commonly (and enthusiastically) celebrated was the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, celebrated on January 6. This is another holiday whose origins are sometimes lost in the festivities of the moment. It is generally believed that Epiphany marked the visit of the Magi and their bestowal of gifts on the Christ child, but it is more likely that the holiday originally celebrated Christs baptism instead. Nevertheless, Epiphany was much more popular and festive than Christmas in the early middle ages and was a time for the bestowal of gifts in the tradition of the three Wise Men- a custom that survives to this day. Later Medieval Christmas Observances In time, Christmas grew in popularity- and as it did so, many of the Pagan traditions associated with the winter solstice became associated with Christmas as well. New customs particular to the Christian holiday also arose. December 24th and 25th became a time for feasting and socializing as well as a time for prayer.

Cubas Government before Communism Research Paper

Cubas Government before Communism - Research Paper Example Several people believed that to publicize information that exhibits that pre-Castro Cuba was accurately an emergent country was a way of justifying the actions of Batista. The reality is that Cuban advancement of the period was basically as a consequence of the efforts indulged in all these sectors of the nation, as it marked the 57th years of the republic. In the year 1950, two years before Batista’s were granted the second credibility to power. It was fortunate as the Cuban Peso has the same monetary value as the U.S dollar. Given suggestion not only by the authorized press inside the island, and also by Radio Havana Cuba, a nationalized- run radio station that relays information globally in various languages, and by the authorized information organization Prensa Latina, the movement made outstanding prominence on the financial woe and misery under which the island theoretically lived. The campaign made exceptional emphasis on the economic wretchedness under, which the island hypothetically lived, and on the economic control that the United States had exercised over it. This section of the campaign was meant to help validate the continuation of a communist novelist, whose goals and ambitions helped him to renovate the deep transformations in the nation. These social renovations were termed as items of diminishing poverty (Urlich, 99). Those who believed in the Castroism propaganda had a depiction that Cuba was a nation with a 40%literacy level, within the gluttonous hands of multi-national US Corporation controlling every aspect of the national economy. Cuba was a country that had no enough doctors, workers of farmers, due to the high level of redundancy, and with houses of prostitution and gaming casinos on each corner. Cuba was an underdeveloped country and its resources distributed equally among all the people (Urlich, 100).  

Conflict in Employment Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Conflict in Employment Relationships - Essay Example Conflict with your boss doesn't have to lead to derailment if the effort is made to effectively manage the situation. By appropriately manage conflict, positive consequences can result. Managing conflict can lead to a more productive working relationship between the employer and you're the employee: Increases effort. In many ways, we need our differences to help us clarify our own positions and better understand others. The chaos and confusion that naturally surrounds a search for clarity can actually energize the efforts of all. To deal with the conflicts many organizations' human resources or the employment relationship departments have developed grievance procedures. These procedures facilitate in managing the conflict otherwise organizations may face huge losses in terms of employee turnover and employees themselves may find themselves loosing or changing a job too often. A grievance is normally a complain by an employee that to notify that management or the employer in some way or the other has violated any of the terms of their employer-employee contractual arrangement. Formally the grievance procedure is for the processing of allegations from the lower tiers of management to the upper tiers. This allows employees to lodge complains if they have any regarding the work environment, work situation and any of the working relationships also without any fear of reprisal if the process is really fair. A fair and a just grievance procedure may also lead to development of credibility as a good employer for the organization. One of the benefits of well developed grievance system is that it helps firms resolve any conflicts or differences in interest internally and not leading to any court involvement or furthermore any of the public announcements or disclosures that can be more costly. I do not agree with the statement that there is no need of grievance procedures in the organization. The arguments in favor are presented in the following text. The reason of my agreement which are elucidated as under includes: Saves costs for organization Gives employees a voice Provides a mechanism for employees to communicate upwards Represents justice Enhances organizations' capability Allows managers to learn of the grievances at lower tier But, since it is believed that the conflict between the employee and the employer is inevitable therefore, the systems may thought to be flawed or useless because there is always a bias involved in the relationship even

Cases Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cases Analysis - Research Paper Example The prime role of the central reservation offices is to handle all calls coming from customers. The hotel call centers primarily handle calls regarding rooms’ reservations. Hotel call centers primarily serve the clients seeking for services from hotel chain companies. The central reservation office therewith provides the hotel reservation voice services on a continuous basis. It restores the customer’s feedbacks and provides accurate support to the customers too (Naveed, 2012). To improve hotel positioning, the hotel call centers should need to implement few strategies that can support it to increase its market share. Every individual hotel should suggestively try to establish its own call centre for promoting its business. Every hotel should also develop its own circuit for providing better customer services. Additionally, persons who have been appointed for voice processes are needed to be acquainted with the knowledge of several languages for services in international market. 2. Currently, the hospitality business has gained immense popularity among a large number people. After experiencing the success in leisure online travel market, the Online Travel Agencies (OTA) is observed to drive this success to a larger realm in the business industry. It is also noteworthy that the US travel agencies, such as American Express Travels as well as Carlson Wagonlit Travel have gained huge profit due to the establishment of online facilities. Those online travel agencies have expanded their business from traditional level to a large travel management companies, as observable in the current phenomenon. Moreover, few leisure sites, such as Expedia as well as Travelocity have also developed their sister sites for serving the business travelers. Currently, OTA services have been expanded to the cruise line industry besides making technology innovation to sustain in the global domain. Online marketing in the cruise line tourism industry is

Global warming & economy problems with Cold Waves Research Paper

Global warming & economy problems with Cold Waves - Research Paper Example These heat also contain unprecedented levels of humidity along with extreme temperatures, the heat index touches dangerous levels because of these dangerous factors. Nothing much is known about heat waves because heat waves are usually not seen like hurricanes, tornadoes and other such things. Hyperthermia and dehydration are commonly caused because of heat waves; these can be very deadly and at times life-threatening also. Crops are also damaged because of extreme heat waves, heat expansion and heat cramps are also commonly caused by heat waves. The dry soil erodes affecting agricultural land; no agricultural activities are possible once the soil is eroded. Temperature is often increased overnight by several folds because of the urban heat island. It also affects the animals, livestock and other animal population can also reduce significantly because of heat waves. â€Å"Global warming has loaded the dice in favor of heat waves and may be to blame for the scorching weather across m uch of the United States and Europe this summer, according to several of the world's leading climate scientists.† (Global Warming) Like heat waves there are cold waves also, again nothing much is known about cold waves because it cannot be seen like other things.

Emerging technologies proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Emerging technologies proposal - Essay Example An interesting consequence of this is that materials with a negative refractive index have been constructed that can focus light much more finely than conventional lenses and can also be used for energy harvesting (Ball, 2007). The study and construction of metamaterials has given a new direction to the field of Plasmonics, the study of Plasmons. These are small waves of electron density that are produced by using light. Using Plasmons, optical signals can be squeezed into very small wires. The induction of plasmons in metamaterials can induce extraordinary optical and magnetic properties in them. Together, these two developments can be used to envisage higher capacity optical data storage and telecom systems that are ultrafast, compact and highly integrated (Atwater, 2007). The Technology Review, the publication from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has identified Metamaterials as one of the top ten emerging technologies in a special review. They offer significant size reduction in optical data storage and computation. When combined with plasmonics, they demonstrate electromagnetic properties that are impossible to achieve with conventional materials. Thus, they can be effective circuit elements of very small size but increased complexity and performance. They can also enable the Radio Frequency (RF) signals to be shaped and controlled in a completely novel way. This will miniaturize the devices and processors for computers, help the information processing be faster. Eventually, this technology could change the future of telecommunications and data storage. I am interested in the application of plasmonic metamaterials to computer chips in the IT industry. Miniscule plasmonic devices with arrays of metamaterial stripes and gaps can be produced to act as computer chips. The arrangement of these arrays acts as a plasmonic circuit that can convey much more data at a significantly higher rate than conventional

Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction Assignment

Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction - Assignment Example This research will begin with The Profiles Interviewed Employees. The selected employees for the interview are Frank and Janet (these are not their real names for purposes of concealing their identity). Frank is a chief accountant to Nestle at the headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. Frank has joined Nestle six years ago, by then as the cost accountant. Three years later, the management promoted him to the position of the chief accountant. Frank, therefore, has an experience of six years as the accountant of the company and three years as a chief accountant. Janet is the overall marketing manager of Nestle. Initially, Janet was the production unit supervisor for four years after joining the company, but because of her remarkable performance, the management promoted her to the general marketing manager and posted her at the headquarters in Switzerland. Janet has five years experience as a marketing manager. Start of the Interview Interviewer: Particularly concerning the number of years you have worked for this company, why have you not left this company to work for a different organization?   Interviewee: The main reason for my extended stay in this company is the motivation that I get from my employer. I have my own intrinsic motivation; that is, the internal desires to produce the best. The company has enabled me to develop positive attitudes towards my work through the extrinsic motivation it offers through bonuses, rewards, recognition, and promotions. Interviewee: Have you ever encountered any problem of receiving your benefits because of your race or gender? Interviewer: No, I think the company has very strict policies to counteract any form of discrimination among the workers. Interviewer: Do you believe that your working in this organization has a meaning? Interviewee: Yes, I do. Working for this company promises a bright future for me and my family. I am fully satisfied with working here because my job tallies with my profession. I am contented with what I receive from here, and I am ready to work here until my retirement age. Interviewer: Does Nestle provide you with opportunities to grow and develop as a professional and as a person? Interviewee: The company is excellent is providing the best opportunities for professional and personal development. The company has a program for allowing employees study leaves and grants financial support for employees who want to advance their careers. There is a pension scheme program where every employee is deducted a certain proportion of income and paid to them upon retirement. Interviewer: Are there any feedbacks you would expect to receive from your company in relation to your performance that you are not receiving? Interviewee: I think I receive