Knowing English speaking countries: AMERICAN FESTIVITIES

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October. It is an exciting event in the
United States and in Great Britain. Every American calendar has Halloween
marked on it.

Halloween has ancient Celtic origins. On the Celtic calendar Samhain was
the last day of summer and the last day of the year, 31 October.
The Celtic priests, called Druids, practised religious rituals and magic
on Samhain. They also predicted the future. On this day the Celts made
big fires and dressed in scary costumes. They wanted to frighten the evil
spirits. They dressed as ghosts, skeletons and witches. They believed that
ghosts came out of their tombs on the night of 31 October.

Samhain also became a harvest festival after the Roman invasion of
Britain in 43 AD Christian practices replaced pagan practices. The
Christians called 1 November All Hallows' Day, the day of All Saints. The
evening of 31 October was called All Hallows' Eve. This became
Halloween.

At Halloween American children in elementary schools take their
costumes and masks to school. Typical Halloween costumes are the witch
ghost, skeleton, monster, vampire or alien. Young people have fun
making their own costumes, but some prefer to buy them.

In the afternoon the children put on their costumes and have a Halloween party at school.
Schools are decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, witches and bats.
It is a popular tradition to make jack o'lanterns out of pumpkins.
People put them in front of the windows of their homes. The jack o' lantern
is of Celtic origin too. There are funny Halloween games such as bobbing
for apples. Favourite Halloween foods are candied apples, nuts, liquorice,
popcorn and pumpkin pie.

American teenagers have a Halloween party in the evening. The party is
usually in the school gymnasium and everyone wears a costume and mask .
The best costume usually wins a prize.

In the 19th century Irish immigrants took their Halloween customs to the
United States. They introduced the custom of "trick-or-treating". American
and British children and teenagers go "trick-or-treating" on Halloween
evening. They go from house to house in their costumes and ring doorbells.
When the door opens they shout, "Trick or treat?" People usually give them
sweets or money. If not, the children playa trick. They write on windows
with soap or spray shaving cream on cars and people!