Halloween

Halloween

October 31 is Halloween and is now celebrated in many countries around the world, but do you know anything about the origins of this scary special day? Read the article and find out.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Preparation

The origins of Halloween

If you think of Halloween, you probably think of scary carved pumpkins, all kinds of fancy dress and children asking for sweets. And if you think of a country that celebrates Halloween, you probably think of the United States first. Americans and Canadians have adopted Halloween in a big way, but Halloween traditions actually come from 16th-century Ireland, Scotland and England.

The tradition of Halloween on 31 October comes from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain was the Celtic New Year and they celebrated it on 1 November because that was the end of summer and harvest time (life) and the beginning of winter (death). It was also the time for ghosts to return to earth for a day. People lit a big fire, wore special clothes made of animal skin and hoped to be safe from the ghosts and the winter. In AD 609, the Catholic Church put the Christian celebration of All Saints Day on 1 November. In AD 1000, the church added All Souls Day on 2 November, and All Hallows Eve – or Halloween – moved to the night of the 31st.

Pumpkins

The Celts carved faces into vegetables like turnips, potatoes and squash (a pumpkin is a kind of squash) to scare the ghosts and other spirits and make them go away. It was sometimes called a jack-o’-lantern because of an Irish story about a man, Jack. He played a trick on the devil and then had to walk the earth for all time as a punishment. Irish people who came to live in the United States in the 1800s found pumpkins much easier to carve, and the tradition became the one we see today.   

Fancy dress

The Celts were afraid of the ghosts that came on Samhain. If they went outside after dark, they covered their faces with masks. They hoped any ghosts they met would think they were ghosts too and would leave them alone. In early America, the Native Americans and the first Europeans celebrated the end of the harvest, but not Halloween. When Irish people arrived, the harvest festival started to look more like Halloween and it became popular across the country. In the late 19th century, people tried to make Halloween less about ghosts and religion and more about celebrating the season with a party for neighbours and family. That’s why Americans today wear all kinds of Halloween costumes and not just scary things like witches and ghosts like in other countries.

Trick or treat

This is another tradition that began in Europe, this time in England. When the church introduced All Souls Day, rich people gave poor people ‘soul cakes’, a small cake made with spices and raisins. It replaced the Celtic tradition of leaving food outside houses for the ghosts. ‘Going a-souling’ was popular in England for hundreds of years until about the 1930s. The Americans kept the tradition, but today children knock on people’s doors and ask for sweets. Going trick or treating is so popular that a quarter of the sweets for the year in the United States are sold for this one day.

The rest of the world

Halloween has become the United States’ second-biggest commercial festival after Christmas. Halloween is also celebrated in other countries, but it’s not as big as in the United States, even in the countries where the traditions began. Mexico celebrates the Day of the Dead from 31 October to 2 November and some of its traditions, like giving gifts of sugar skulls, are starting to mix with Halloween. In this way, the celebration of Halloween continues to change as new traditions join the oldest of the Celtic ones.

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Average: 4 (34 votes)

Submitted by burkatan38 on Sun, 14/11/2021 - 19:41

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As a person who lives in Turkey, Halloween seems so interesting and funny to me. We are living in a world where all the culture mixed all around the globe. İn here we are celebrating the new year eve also but not as a religional holiday as you say Christmas. A lot of young people also into the cos-plays like harley quinn - Joker, Japanese animation characters etc.
İn my opinion halloween is gonna become a thing in here within five to ten years in here also.

Submitted by Bhanu on Sun, 24/10/2021 - 05:41

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Halloween is going on changing its way of celebration thats good thing with modern and it should be celebrated in whole world..

Submitted by Tonya on Tue, 19/10/2021 - 06:23

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In my country peoples don’t celebrate the Halloween. But in my opinion it’s funny, interesting fest with good traditions.

Submitted by Alexsandra Mar… on Thu, 14/10/2021 - 21:45

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I use to buy sweets to give to all childrens neighborhood that knock in my door. I really appreciate this celebration time.

Submitted by Thinthinmyoe on Tue, 19/01/2021 - 10:57

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No, I have never celebrate Halloween party.But, I have been seen this view in the TV series of "The Moon is embracing the Sun".
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Submitted by danisep on Thu, 17/12/2020 - 18:34

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No, I don't celebrate Halloween, I have never wore a costume, this is a religion country and some people see that tradition like inappropriate, I don't care really to me it's just a party where adults hanging over there and take advantage to get drunk with friends there is how adults and Youngs celebrate here Halloween. I just enjoy watching decorations, fancy dress and some horror movies.

Submitted by cittàutopica on Mon, 30/11/2020 - 14:50

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When I was a little girl, there wasn't Halloween in my country. But adults and childs celebrate this festival everywere now and this is gradually erasing the religious significance of the All Saint's Day.

Submitted by Phyo Hein Htet on Fri, 30/10/2020 - 16:20

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Thank u for this interesting article..

Submitted by Lilly098 on Tue, 27/10/2020 - 02:18

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I don't celebrate halloween. In Japan, halloween is for young people only, not for kids. Halloween became our traditional celebration just ten years ago. On halloween night, all young people gather at Shibuya, one of the most popular city in Tokyo, and just walk while drinking; or we go to Tokyo Disney land with a cute Disney character costume. No one care about their concept or history. Unfortunately, Halloween is just a crazy big party day.

Submitted by AprilApple on Mon, 26/10/2020 - 07:10

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No, I don't celebrate Halloween Day in my country. Nevertheless, this festival is very interesting. I hope I will have a chance to join the celebration if there is any around me.