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 /sa Ʊn/ was the last day of summer and the last day of the year, 31 October. The Celtic priests, called Druids, practiced 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 (to scare, to terrify) 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 (when people pick fruit and vegetables in the autumn) 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.
Decorated jack o´ lanterns
There are funny Halloween games such as 'bobbing for apples' .
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 play a trick! They write on windows with soap or spray shaving cream on cars and people!
EIGHT SIGNS YOU ARE TOO OLD TO BE TRICK OR TREATING
8. You get winded from knocking on the door.
7. You have to have another kid chew the candy for you.
6. You ask for high fiber candy only.
5. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall over.
4. People say, “Great Keith Richards mask!” and you’re not wearing a mask
3. When the door opens you yell, “Trick or…” and can’t remember the rest.
2. You have to carefully choose a costume that won’t dislodge your hairpiece.
1. You’re the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker.
QUESTIONS- QUIZES
Why isn't Dracula invited to many Halloween parties? Because he's a pain in the neck...
Why did the vampires cancel their baseball game? They couldn't find their bats...
What did the skeleton say to the bartender? I'll have two beers and a mop...
When a witch lands after flying, where does she park? The broom closet...
What did one ghost say to the other ghost? "Do you believe in people?"
What kind of streets do zombies like the best? Dead ends...
KNOCK KNOCK JOKES
Knock, Knock. Who's there? Witch. Witch who? Witch one of you can fix my broomstick?
Knock, Knock. Who's there? Ivana. Ivana Who? Ivana suck your blood!
Knock, knock. Who's there? Frank. Frank who? Frankenstein!
SCARY STORIES
One night, these kids were coming home from a party and there was a cemetery about one block away from home. One kid was telling the others about a local legend. If you go and stand on the grave for ten seconds and stab a knife into it, that a hand will grab you and pull you into the grave with the corpse. One girl was brave enough to do it for $20.00. She got a knife, walked to a grave, stood on it, and stabbed the knife into it. Suddenly, her leg felt heavy and she tried to pick it up -- but something was grabbing HER! She was yelling and crying for help, but her friends thought she was kidding, so they just left. The next day, they found out that she had died, of fright. She thought that somebody was grabbing her, but the knife she was using had pierced her pants and held her there.
It was 9:30 at night and George and John where hanging around outside with "Kelly." They were headed up to the library and saw the big sign which read, "closed at four o'clock, enter after dark if you dare." They thought it was funny that they put up the signs and figured it was due to cameras catching them – boy were they wrong. They entered the library which wasn't even locked. They were walking around the high shelves when they saw a light. They walked up to it and saw that it was a lady wearing a dress. The lady turned around and revealed one side of her which was totally burned. The other side looked as if she had been paper-cut to death. What they did next was ran. They still have nightmares every night and it happened five months ago.