READING WARM-UP What do you know about Halloween?

How do you
celebrate it?

The History of Halloween

The Celts celebrated their New Year’s Eve on October 31st. It was
celebrated every year with a festival called Samhain (pronounced “sow-
in”), that marked the end of the “season of the sun” (summer) and the
beginning of “the season of darkness and cold” (winter). The beginning of
the Celtic New Year is on November 1st.

The Celts believed that evil spirits came with the long hours of winter
darkness. They believed that on that night the barriers between our world
were at their weakest and therefore spirits were most likely to be seen on
Earth.

The Celts build bonfires to frighten spirits away, and feasted and danced
around the fires. The Halloween fires brought comfort to the souls in
purgatory and people prayed for them as they held burning straw up high.

Traditions of Halloween Dressing up

Jack-o-lanterns
The tradition of dressing
These are hollowed out pumpkins with a face in a costume for
cut into one side. People once carved out Halloween has both
beets, potatoes and turnips to use as European and Celtic
lanterns on Halloween. Nowadays we carve roots. On Halloween,
out pumpkins. when it was believed
that ghost came back to
According to the Irish legend, jack-o-lanterns the earthly world,
were named for a man called Jack, who could people thought that
never enter heaven because he was a miser. they would encounter
He could not enter hell either, because he ghosts if they left their
homes. To avoid being
Trick or Treat recognized by these
ghosts, people would
Halloween was a time of making wear masks when they
mischief when children would knock
left their homes after
on doors demanding a treat and dark so ghosts would
people would disguise themselvesmistake
as them for fellow
witches, ghosts, kelpies and spunkies,
spirits.
in order to obtain food and money
Today

Halloween is now celebrated on October 31st. It has

become a tradition within English and non-English
speaking countries. Pumpkins, witches, ghosts,
monsters and all kind of creepy things are part of
Halloween symbols. On this night children -
disguised in scary costumes - go from door to door
in their neighborhood and shout the phrase 'trick or
treat' when the door is answered. All kind of sweets
(the treats) are very welcomed by them - if you
don't give something be aware that they might play
a 'trick' on you!

Write True (T) or False (F)

1. _____ Celtic’s New Year began on November 2nd.

2. _____ The Samhain festival marked the end of

summer.

3. _____The Celts built bonfires to attract ghosts and

spirits.

4. _____People started wearing customs to avoid

being recognized.

5. _____ Mischief children knocked doors asking for

treats.

Answer the questions.

1. How did Celts call “winter”?

___________________________________
_______________________
2. What are jack-o-lanterns made
of?
___________________________________
_______________________
3. Why couldn’t Jack enter to
heaven or hell?
 ___________________________________
_______________________
4. Why did people place bowls of
food outside their homes?
___________________________________
_______________________
Discussion

Ask your classmates about other festivals in

their countries.

1. What festival is popular in …?

2. When does the festival take place?
3. What things do you do?
4. What kind of differences does Halloween have
from one of your own festivals?