Friday 23 May 2008

Working too hard..

First there was the Ravenclaw House Quiz - Can you keep a secrit? The headquarters for the order of the Phoenix is at No.12 Grimmauld Place.

This led me to my English Grammar books and a search to see if 'Headquarters Is' or 'Headquarters are'. After a long slog I finally found out that Headquarters is a noun which can be used with a singular OR a plural verb but the plural is more common. So Minee could have technically used either but it was really the peculiar spelling of 'secrit' that really had me struggling. Got there in the end though!

Then there was my Muggle Studies Extra Credit homework. This week we had free choice of topic so I decided to learn about Memorial Day as our Roommate dis-apparated at the weekend saying she would be back after it was over. Here's what I learned:-

Memorial Day is a holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed in 2008 on May 26). It is a holiday for American Muggles, British Muggles have something called the 'May Bank Holiday' instead. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. It is also traditionally viewed as the beginning of summer by many, since many schools are dismissed around Memorial Day.



Imagine that - school finishing at the end of May - some kids have all the luck. Here at Hogwarts term won't finish until the end of July.



Many American Muggles observe this holiday by visiting Cemeteries and Memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 9 p.m. US Eastern time. Another tradition is to fly the USA flag at half-mast from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers place an American flag upon each gravesite located in a National Cemetary. In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also a time for picnics, barbecues, family gatherings, and sporting events. ( that must be the event our room-mate is attending) Some American Muggles use Memorial Day to also honour any family members who have died, not just servicemen.



I tiried hard to find something funny or weird about Memorial Day but alot of the humour is contentious so I settled on this from IndyStar.Com



Nuff Said.....

1 comments:

Arianne said...

Tag! You're it!

Miranda Moonstone, I want to know more about you! (Especially what you were doing 10 years ago. What year are you in at Hogwarts? You were probably 7 or something!)

:) I did mean you you know.

P.S.- I got splinched!