Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at 15, she signed her first record deal.
Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008.
Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", it became the US' best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.
Festival opens 'gates of Hell' for 15 days so people can feed starving ghosts
dailystar.co.ukCambodia sees the gates of Hell flung open and the ghosts of evil spirits released.In Autumn, the Pchum Ben festival allows families to honour their long line of ancestors as well as feed any hungry spirits.Also known as the Khmer Festival of the Ancestors, the event occurs every year between September and October during the 10th month of the Khmer Lunar calendar for 15 days. READ MORE: Top 20 signs you're a 'culture vulture' - from learning language to eating local food Throughout this event, it is believed the gates of Hell are opened and hoards of hungry ghosts are free to roam among the living, reports the Mirror.
The ghosts are thought to roam graveyards and temples in search of a meal from their deceased relatives to feed their hunger, or the living will have to face the consequences.Four specific types of ghosts are set temporarily free, including 'hungry' ones, others that consume only blood and pus and some that constantly burn and glow.Only the Pakrakteaktopak Chivi kind are allowed to receive food offerings from monks, that have been given to by families, while the rest have to reduce their level of sins before they can eat anything.A well-fed spirit will bring blessings upon its family but an empty-stomached one will return to Hell at the end of Pchum Ben and pass on its sufferings to the relatives.Chef and author Rotanak Ros told Atlas Obscura : "We believe that in Hell, they’re very hungry," but if the dead cannot find who they are looking for then “we, the living people, will get cursed by them.”The ancient custom, which is unique to Cambodia in South East Asia, sees families offer food for up to seven generations of their ancestors.Relatives wake up in the early hours of the morning and prepare dishes.
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