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.
Good evening! I have never celebrated Hollywood 🍾. In my country people don't celebrate the holiday. But it's interesting to me. I want to wear such kinds of costumes. I like the holiday
No I don't celebrate Halloween. Because in Kazakhstan it isn't holiday. We haven't such holiday like Helloween.
In my country people do not celebrate .But many public places are being decarated with pumpkins and black horror witches .I like Helloween ,I like wearing beautiful different clothes and eating sweets
The celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies.
unfortunately, this holiday is not celebrated in our country. But I have always liked this holiday, the way it is celebrated.I especially like children dressed up in costumes. The most interesting and original costume was the costume of the mummy and Frankenstein.I remember how high school students walked around the classrooms and amused the children with their appearance.
I had always wondered where this tradition came from. At first I thought it had to do with evil , but I see it is a tradition as many others which have evolved through history. Although in my country we celebrate All Saints's day, as we call it and the Day of the dead, we don't have that tradition as our own. Nonetheless, it has permeated in our culture as many other traditions from other cultures as well. The globalization, the media , the intercontinental travel, all have taken part in this phenomenon in which there is a transculturalization among the peoples, as a result, some people do celebrate it in my country, Venezuela.
Do you celebrate Halloween? What’s the best fancy dress you’ve ever seen?
I don't celebrate Halloween. in my country anybody celebrates this type of festival, I never heard before this type of festival
No, I don't celebrate Halloween, I have never wore a costume,some people don't see that tradition as an appropriate tradition because they think it is religious , but to me it's just a party where children and young teens wear costumes,watch horror movies and try to scare each other.In my country Halloween isn't an official holiday although some of us celebrate it.Bars and pubs organize parties,even some highschools do.I just enjoy watching decorations, eating candy and watch some horror movies with my friends.
we really have same opinion
I think Halloween is a very cool celebration and it should be celebrated in more places in the world except for America or Canada, because it is very interesting for children and teenagers.