In Britain and the USA, the 31st of
October is an important date in the calendar, especially for young children. It
is the night of Halloween. The name comes from “All Hallows Eve” .The word ‘hallow’ means ‘holy, saint‘ and ‘eve’ means ‘the day or night before an
important day’ so it is the day before 1st November.
Before Christianity, the first of
November (All Saints’ Day) was the first day of the year. At this time, many
people believed that bad spirits of the dead revisited their homes. They also
believed that other evil spirits like witches and demons were free, too. For
this reason they were scared and stayed at home.
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However, nowadays it is a different story. Today children have lots of fun on Halloween. They dress
up as witches, devils, black cats, skeletons, vampires or other scary
characters.
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With the help of their parents, children make
lanterns out of pumpkins (also called jack o’ lanterns)
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To make a pumpkin lantern you cut out the insides
and then cut out two eyes, a nose and a mouth in one side
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of
the pumpkin. Next, you put a candle inside the pumpkin and light it. Now you
have a jack o’ lantern; you can make the faces as frightening as you like!
Small groups of children dressed up as
witches, black cats, etc go into the street and knock on people’s doors. When a
person opens the door, the children say “Trick or Treat?” Most people usually
say “Treat” and give the children some sweets or small change (some money).
However, if someone says “Trick”, then the children do something bad, for
example, they put dirty water on the windows or car, ring the doorbell and run
away, repeatedly knock on the window or throw flour on the floor... Water guns
are very popular, too.
After spending the night
Trick-or-Treating, the children go back home to eat the sweets. Sometimes,
groups of friends have parties, where they eat food in the form of Halloween
shapes, and play Halloween games. One game is called “Bobbing for Apples”. In
this game you have to pick up an apple with your mouth from a bowl of water,
with your hands behind your back (you can’t use your hands!). It’s very
difficult and you get a wet face but you have a great time!
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