Learning English with Daniel's Language Services: October 2022

Easier

Halloween is a celebration on the night of October 31st. It is most popular in the United States and Canada. Children wear costumes and go to people's homes saying "Trick or treat!" to ask for candy, and people give it to them. The origin of this expressions means: "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you."

For Christians it is the eve of All Saints' Day, which begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide. This covers the three days – October 31st (All-Hallows Eve or Hallowe'en), November 1st (All Saints) and November 2st (All Souls). All Hallows' is a Christianized holiday and originated in Ireland. It also has pagan roots.

Origins

Halloween originated from the ancient peoples, called the Celts, who lived in Ireland. The pagan holiday Samhain, which the All Saints holy day replaced, was also known as the Day of the Dead. It is the day that some believed the souls of dead people come back to Earth. Even though it celebrates the dead, this is a happy holiday because some of the souls will visit the homes of their family, and it is a time to remember and honor the dead. Pope Gregory III originally designated Halloween on November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day included some of the traditions of Samhain.

After mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century, Halloween became a major holiday in America.

The pagan traditions of earlier times evolved into fun and games. For example, the theme of the dead returning to the Earth was replaced with stories about ghosts and the supernatural or fortune-telling, telling the future. Bobbing for apples became popular as a fortune-telling game on All Hallows' Eve: apples were selected to represent the men who wanted to marry a women, and the apple she bit into would supposedly represent her future husband.

Symbols

Symbols connected with Halloween developed with time. Jack-o'-lanterns, pumpkins with faces cut into them, are traditionally carried on All Hallows' Eve in order to scare evil spirits. Elements of the fall season, such as pumpkins, harvest, and scarecrows, are also common. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the supernatural and monsters. Black cats, which have long been connected with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, and orange are Halloween's traditional colors.

Costumes

During Halloween some people, especially children, wear a costume. People have worn costumes at Halloween for centuries. Wearing a costume may come from Celtic festivals like Samhain and the Christian Allhallowtide.

Early costumes were usually scary. They were often supernatural beings or from folklore. In the 1930s costumes of characters from literature, radio, or movies became popular, and such costumes are also popular today. Scary costumes are still popular.

Games and Other Activities

In addition to trick-or-treating, there are several traditional activities related to Halloween.

In old times people would try to tell the future, especially to try to learn who they would marry.

People will make Jack-o-lanterns and place them in front of their houses.

People will play a game called apple bobbing. In this game apples are placed in water, and people must try to remove the apples with only their teeth.

Telling ghost stories, listening to Halloween-themed songs and watching horror films are common activities on Halloween. TV shows (with special shows usually for children) are commonly shown on or before Halloween, and new scary films are often released before Halloween.

Visiting a 'haunted attraction'. These are places like houses, farms, or forests, which are decorated in a scary way, and where actors dress in costumes make scenes to scare the visitors.

Decorating one's house and front yard. People will often decorate the front part of their houses with Halloween-themed symbols like ghosts, graves, and black and orange colors.

Harder

Halloween is a celebration on the night of October 31st. It is most popular in the United States and Canada. It is mainly a children’s holiday, although these days, people of all ages participate in some of the traditions. The main tradition is for children to wear costumes and go to people's homes in the evening saying "Trick or treat!" to ask for candy, which people then give to them. The origin of the expression means, "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you."

For Christians it is the eve of All Saints' Day, which begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide. This covers the three days – October 31st (All-Hallows Eve or Hallowe'en), November 1st (All Saints) and November 2nd (All Souls). All Hallows' is a Christianized holiday and originated in Ireland. It also has pagan roots.

Origins

Halloween originated from the ancient peoples, called the Celts, who lived in Ireland. The pagan holiday Samhain, which the All Saints holy day replaced, was also known as the Day of the Dead. It is the day when the souls of dead people come back to Earth. This is considered a happy holiday because some of the souls will visit the homes of their family, and it is a time to remember and honor the dead. When Christianity replaced paganism many of the pagan traditions were incorporated into Christian holidays. Pope Gregory III originally designated Halloween on November 1st as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain.

After mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century, Halloween became a major holiday in America.

The pagan traditions of earlier times evolved into fun and games. For example, the theme of the dead returning to the world of the living was replaced with stories about ghosts and the supernatural or fortune-telling, telling the future. Bobbing for apples became popular as a fortune-telling game on All Hallows' Eve: apples would be selected to represent a woman's suitors, and the apple she ended up biting into would supposedly represent her future husband.

Symbols

Most of the symbols of Halloween come from the evolution of the holiday through history. Jack-o'-lanterns were traditionally carried on All Hallows' Eve in order to scare evil spirits. Elements of the fall season, such as pumpkins, harvest, and scarecrows, are also common. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the supernatural and monsters. Black cats, which have long been connected with witches, are also a common symbol of Halloween. Black, and orange are Halloween's traditional colors.

Costumes

Early costumes were usually scary. They were often supernatural beings like ghosts or witches. In the 1930s costumes of characters from literature, radio, or movies became popular, and such costumes are also popular today. Scary costumes are still popular.

Games and Other Activities

In addition to trick-or-treating, there are several traditional activities connected with Halloween.

In old times people would try to tell the future, especially to try to learn who they would marry.

People will make Jack-o-lanterns and place them in front of their houses.

People will play a game called apple bobbing. In this game apples are placed in water, and people must try to remove the apples with only their teeth.

Visiting a 'haunted attraction'. These are places like houses, farms, or forests, which are decorated in a scary way, and where actors dressed in costumes make scenes to scare the visitors.

Decorating one's house and front yard. People will often decorate the front part of their houses with Halloween-themed symbols like ghosts, graves, and black and orange colors.

--Written with the help of https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Vocabulary:

Celebration: a party or other special event that you have for an important occasion, holiday, etc.

Ghost: the spirit of a dead person that a living person believes they can see or hear.

Witch: a woman who is believed to have magic powers, often to do evil things. In some stories, she usually wears a black hat and flies on a broomstick.

Christian: a person who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ, the man who Christians believe is the son of God and whose life, death, and resurrection as reported in the New Testament of the Bible are the basis of the Christian religion.

Eve: the evening or the day before a special day or important event.

Saint: a person who is officially recognized by the Christian church as being very holy (close to God) because of the way he or she lived.

Soul: the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever.

Pagan: a person who worships many gods or goddesses or the earth or nature : a person whose religion is paganism.

Ancient: very old : having lived or existed for a very long time.

Designated: to officially choose (someone or something) to do or be something : to officially give (someone or something) a particular role or purpose.

Spirit: a ghost or nonphysical, supernatural being.

Jack-o'-lantern: a pumpkin that has had its insides removed and a face cut into it for Halloween. You put a candle in a jack-o'-lantern so that light shines out through its eyes, nose, and mouth.

Pumpkin: a large, round, orange vegetable used as food and sometimes as a decoration.

Harvest: the season when the plants, which have grown on a farm, are gathered from the field.

Scarecrow: an object that looks like a person and that is placed in a field to scare birds away from the plants.

Supernatural: unable to be explained by science or the laws of nature : of, relating to, or seeming to come from magic, a god, etc.

Folklore: traditional customs, beliefs, stories, and sayings; ideas or stories that are not true but that many people have heard or read.

Haunted: lived in or visited by ghosts.

Decorated: to make (something) more attractive usually by putting something on it.

Front yard: the outdoor area in front of a house, usually covered by grass.

Additional Vocabulary:

scary, costume, frightening, fearful, terrible, eve, terrify treat, trick, decorate, haunted, carve, ghost, demon, devil, skeleton, witch, hallow, haunted, decorations, horror, pagan, saint, soul, supernatural, weird pumpkin, jack-o’-lantern, lantern, harvest, scarecrow, uncanny, gore, spooky, broomstick, cobweb, coffin, crypt, to dress up, face paint, fang, cemetery, grave, gravestone, tomb, zombie, werewolf, ghoul, goblin, mummy, nasty, nightmare, prank, mischief, mischievous, repulsive, scream, skull, specter, spirit, superstitious, wand, wicked, howl, curse, monstrosity, abomination, eerie, fairy, goosebumps, cackle

Conversation Questions

What do you know about Halloween?

What do you think about when you hear the word ‘Halloween”

Read the text about Halloween at the begin of this post (above) or at: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween . What did you learn from the article?

What day of the month is Halloween?

Why is Halloween celebrated?

Can you explain the history of Halloween?

How is Halloween celebrated in your country?

Are there any holidays or festivals in your culture where people dress in costumes or get treats?

What costume would you wear (as a kid; as an adult)?

If you had celebrated Halloween as a kid, what kind of costume would you have worn?

What are some of the symbols of Halloween?

What kind of costume are you going to wear to the Halloween party?

What Halloween stories/scary stories do you know/like?

Do you know any ghost stories?

Do you have any favorite stories about ghosts, horror or the supernatural?

Do you know any supernatural or weird stories?

Do you believe in ghosts or other supernatural things?

How about magic or witches?

Did you know there were real 'witch trials' in the seventeenth century?

Why do you think they happened?

Do you think there are really witches and monsters and creatures living amongst us in the real world, or are those things just from our imagination?

If you could use a magical spell, like a love spell, on somebody, would you?

Have you ever been to a ‘haunted attraction’ like a haunted house?

Do you believe some places are really haunted?

Have you ever made a jack o lantern?

Is your pumpkin still out?

What’s your favorite type of candy?

Do you get a lot of trick-or-treaters?

Why do you like to celebrate Halloween?

What other countries celebrate Halloween?

Can you describe the best costume you've seen?

Are you going to have a Halloween party?

Would you go out and trick or treat? Who would you go with?

Do you know any Halloween legends?

Do you think Halloween is dangerous?

Do you know about mischief night?

What do you know about the history of the holiday?

Do you think it is appropriate to celebrate it still today?

Have you ever been to a haunted house/attractive ?

Have you ever decorated your house for Halloween?

What are your plans for Halloween?

Scary stories about ghosts, horror and the supernatural

On Halloween, stories about the ghosts, horror and the supernatural are common. There are many books, short stories, and movies on this subject. Many of these stories are from folklore or legends. Can you think of any of these stories? Do you have any favorites?

One of the shortest horror stories ever was written in 1948, by Frederic Brown. It has only two sentences:

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door ..."

Can you write a scary, short story with only two sentences?

Halloween-themed stories and movies:

Pre-intermediate to intermediate

VOA stories

Some of the following stories from Voice of America's American Stories collection:

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-washington-irving/3579369.html

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-black-cat-edgar-allen-poe/3714772.html

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-tell-tale-heat-edgar-allan-poe/3538402.html

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/cask-of-amontillado-edgar-allan-poe-american-stories/3249195.html

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/william-wilson-part-one-edgar-allan-poe/3757653.html