Text: Halloween

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

Halloween Vocabulary

ghost	The spirit of someone who has died, esp. one that is believed to have returned to earth to haunt a place or living people.
haunted	Inhabited or visited by ghosts.
monster	An imaginary or mythical creature, often with features of two different animals or of animals and humans.
potion	A mixture for drinking, esp. one that is supposed to have medicinal, magical, or poisonous effects.
pumpkin	A large, roundish orange fruit that has thick edible flesh and is borne on a low-growing vine.
bat	Any of various usu. night-flying mammals that have wings that are covered with membranes and that sense objects mostly by means of reflected sound waves rather than by vision.
scary	causing fear; frightening.
vampire	A legendary being, often said to be a revived corpse, that preys on people in order to suck out their blood.
witch	A woman who practices or is believed to practice occult magic.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, the British Isles, Canada and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honour of saints. The Celts¹ celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. The spirits supposedly rose from the dead and, in order to attract them, food was left on the doors. To scare off the evil spirits, the Celts wore masks. Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighbourhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess

Do Research!

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? How far back does the celebration of Halloween date (origins)?	______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________
Write a brief report on what you have learnt from Halloween.	______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________

1 who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, & the United Kingdom