Part I:

Halloween Traditions

Halloween is thought to have originated among the ancient Celtic Druids. The Druids believed that on that evening, October 31 - the day preceding the Christian feat of All Saints Day, Saman, the lord of the dead, called forth evil spirits.

In modern times, Halloween has become a fun-filled secular holiday which focuses on ghoulish things like skeletons, cemeteries, warlocks, goblins and more. It is celebrated on October 31 in some English speaking countries including the USA and Canada. Some favorite Halloween traditions include children who go trick-or-treating. Young children dress-up in costumes as ghosts, witches, monsters and other imaginative things and go door-to-door saying "Trick or Treat". In other words, either you give me a treat or I play a trick on you. Of course, this is just tradition, and adults all hand out a treat to the children. Treats are usually little pieces of candy or candy bars.

Adults also like having wild parties on Halloween. Many times these parties are costume parties with some people wearing pretty strange costumes! One of the favorite activities at these parties is "bobbing for apples" - a game during which participants try to fetch apples out of a container of water using only their mouths.

In the United States, most homes also have a carved pumpkin, called a Jack-o-lantern, in front of the house. These pumpkins are usually hollow with a funny or frightening face carved into the pumpkin and lighted from inside by candle.

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Part II:

Halloween Vocabulary

Study the following vocabulary related to Halloween.

·Bobbing for apples
Noun (game) - This is a traditional Halloween game. You put apples in a barrel of water and people try to take the floating apples out of the water using only their mouths.
·Cackling
Adjective - An evil, wild, other worldly laughing sound
·Carve
Verb - (regular: carve - carved - carved) to cut with a knive, in the context of a pumpkin to cut a face into the pumpkin.
·Evil
Very bad behaviour with cruel intent.
·Haunted
Location containing evil spirits or ghosts, usually a house or castle.
·Ghost
Noun - the spirit of a dead person which appears again. Ghosts at Halloween are usually dressed in white sheets.
·Hideous
Adjective - Something so ugly you cannot look at it.
·Horrified
Adjective - very frightened, afraid or scared.
·Jack-o-lantern
Noun - A carved pumpkin usually with a candle burning inside to illuminate the pumpkin.
·Pumpkin
Noun - A large, orange vegetable in the squash family associated with Halloween.
·Skeleton
Noun - The bone structre of a body without the flesh.
·"Trick or Treat"
Saying - Used by children when going from house to house asking for candy. The phrase also means that if you don't give me a treat I will play a trick on you!
·Wicked
Adjective - the same as evil.
·Witch
Noun - A woman with magic powers (usually evil).

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