HALLOWEEN HISTORY

1) How much do you know about Halloween? Look at the pictures and get some ideas for the class discussion.

2) Do you know the meaning of…?

1. Bonfire a. holy or saintly

2. Bobbing the apples b. A world believed to exist for those in the afterlife

3. Prankster c. an ancient Celtic festival held on Nov. 1 to mark the beginning of a new year.

4. Mass d. A large fire built outdoors, as for signaling or in celebration of an event

5. To trash e. One who plays tricks or pranks

6. Harvest season f. The act or process of gathering a crop

7. Samhain g. To ruin something. To mess around

8. Hallow h. To take apples with your mouth, without using your hands

9. Afterworld i. Public celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church

10. Frown on j. To regard something with disapproval or distaste

11.To bring into the fold k. to absorb, to include, to incorporate

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3) Listen and watch for the gist

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VRAemIvbI (National Geographic)

4) Listen for a second time and try to fill in the gaps with the words from the box below:

bobbing / trick-or-treating / life / earth / harvest / harmless / extortion / grew / Bonfire pumpkins / dead / pranks / veil / trash / occult / honor / immigrants / hooliganism / Church / afterworld / customs / mass / gradually / celebrated / removing / spread

From communion to the dead to ______and ______, Halloween is a patchwork holiday, stitched together with cultural, religious and ______traditions that span centuries. It all began with the Celts, a people whose culture had ______across

Europe, more than 2,000 years ago. October 31 was the day they ______the end of the ______season, in a festival called “Samhain”. That night also marked the Celtic

New Year, it was considered a time “between years”, a magical time when the ghosts of the

______watched the ______. “It was the time when the ______between death and ______was supposed to be at its thinnest”.

On “Samhain”, the villagers gathered and lit huge ______to drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away from the living. But, as the Catholic Church’s influence

______in Europe, it frowned on the pagan rituals like “Samhain”. In the 7 th Century, the

Vatican began to merge it with the Church Sanctum holiday, so November 1 was designated

“All Saints’ Day!, to ______martyrs and the deceased faithful.

Both of these holidays had to do with the ______, and about survival after death. It was a calculated move on the part of the ______, to bring more people into the fold.

All Saints’ Day was known then as “Hallowmas”. “Hallow” means “holy” “saintly”, so the translation is –roughly- “______of the Saints”. The night before October 31 was

“All Hallows’ Eve”, which ______morphed into “Halloween”.

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The holiday came to America with the wave of Irish ______during the potato famine of the 1840’s. They brought several of their holiday ______with them, including “______for apples”, and playing tricks on neighbors, like ______gates from the front of houses. The young pranksters were masked, so they wouldn’t be recognized. But over the years, the tradition of ______tricks grew into outright vandalism.

“Back in the 1930’s, it really became a dangerous holiday, and there was such

______and vandalism. Trick-or-treating was originally an ______deal:

Give us candy or we will ______your house.

Store keepers and neighbors began giving treats or bribes to stop the tricks, and children were encouraged to travel door to door for treats, as an alternative to trouble-making. By the late thirties, ______became a holiday greeting.

5) Answer the questions.

a) Why is it Halloween considered as a patchwork holiday? b) What was Samhain about? Why did the Celtics celebrate it? c) Why did the Catholic Church start celebrating All Saint’s Day? d) How were some of the Halloween customs introduced in America? e) What happened in the 1930’s?

6) Make up a Halloween story using, at least, six of the following words below:

HARVEST to go TRICK-OR-TREATING BONFIRE PRANKSTERS to CELEBRATE SAMHAIN HOOLIGANISM FAMINE MASS

CENTURY to SCARE to BELIEVE IN THE AFTERWORLD COSTUMES

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