HALLOWE'EN
Acting
is like a Halloween mask that you put on.
River Phoenix
•
When is Halloween celebrated?
• Do you usually celebrate Halloween?
• If so, what do you usually do on that night?
• What is the Catalan festival celebrated on the same day?
• Do you celebrate it?
• What do you do/eat/drink … on that night?
• …………
• ………..
The
celebration of Hallowe'en today is a mixture of rituals
and celebrations from a lot of different people. The earliest origin
is from the Celts, who lived in Scotland. On October 31,
they celebrated what they called Samhain (pronounced
So-in). It was the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the
cold, dark winters. The Celts believed that on Oct 31, the Lord of Death
released souls back to Earth.
On October 31, the Celts wore scary costumes because they believed that
then the evil spirits wouldn't recognize them as humans and wouldn't
mess with them. This is probably where the tradition of dressing up
in costumes on Halloween came from.
When
the Romans conquered the Celts in 46 AD, they combined the Celtic rituals
with their own harvest celebrations: this is where apples (as in 'Bobbing
for Apples') and corn came into the celebration.
As Christianity spread, the church combined the non-Christian celebration
with their own celebration of All Saints' Day (also called All
Hallows' Day, celebrated on Nov 1). To celebrate all Saints'
Day, young men went door-to-door asking for food for the poor. This
is one of the places Trick-or-Treating came from!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/competitions/halloween/index.shtml
One more thing. Wonder where the whole Jack-o-Lantern thing came from? Well, before there were flashlights and such, Irish people used to carve out turnips and put a candle in them for a lantern. When they came to America, they noticed there weren't many turnips, but lots and lots of pumpkins, so they used them instead!
taken from http://www.zeeks.com/423.html
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HALLOWE'EN
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