Saturday, 31st October 2009 (All Saints' Eve)

Let's learn some new vocabulary

IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween is a special night for everybody! Here you have some vocabulary that you can use to talk about this scary holiday.

1.Halloween (N) a holiday celebrated on October 31 in which people dress in scary costumes
2. to carve (V). to cut with a large knife
3. pumpkin (N). a large, orange vegetable associated with Halloween
4. jack-o-lantern N. Americans traditionally cut out scary faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside. These pumpkins with faces are called "jack-o-lanterns." Jack-o-lanterns are made to scare away evil spirits on Halloween.

5. costume (N). scary clothing on Halloween
6. trick or treat On Halloween, children go from house to house and say "trick or treat." This phrase means "give me candy or I will play a trick on you." Families usually give the children candy. If the children don't get candy, they sometimes play mean tricks like breaking the house's jack-o-lantern or putting soap on its windows.
7. a costume party (N). a party where everyone dresses in scary costumes

8. a mask covering for all or part of the face, worn to disguise the wearer's identity.

9. bobbing for apples 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.

10. a skeleton (N). a body of nothing but bones
11. a ghost N. the spirit of a dead person which appears again
12. a vampire (N). a legendary being, often said to be a revived corpse, that preys on people in order to suck out their blood.

13. a monster (N). an imaginary or mythical creature, often with features of two different animals or of animals and humans.
14. a witch (N). a woman with magic powers (usually evil)
15. a warlock (N). a man with magic powers (usually evil)



Vocabulary in practise. Now, try to fill in the gaps of a text about Halloween using the previous vocabulary. Click on the following link: fill in the gaps text


Halloween Adjectives

1. cackling......to make an evil, witch-like laughing sound
2. evil...........very bad in thought and behavior
3. gruesome...terribly shocking and sickening (often describes an act or event)
4. haunted.... inhabited or visited by evil spirits or ghosts
5. hideous .....describes something which is so sickening and ugly that you can't look at it
6. horrified ....very shocked and scared
7. howling .....making a long, loud cry like a wolf or a dog
8. possessed ..controlled by an evil spirit or ghost (usually describes a person)
9. shrieking ....sounding like a high-pitched, terrified screaming
10. wicked .....very bad or evil (often associated with witches)

Halloween traditions: a little bit of history

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st. When the Celts lived in Ireland, Britain and France over 2,000 years ago, they had a pagan agricultural festival on this day. They believed that the dead came back, so they used to light large bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought this tradition to North America in the 19th century.

The word "Halloween" is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve", meaning the evening before "All Hallows' Day" or "All Saints' Day", which is November 1st.

In the past, poor people went around asking for food in exchange of a prayer for the dead. Nowadays, this tradition was changed. In Ireland and the United States, children dress up and go door-to-door collecting candy. This is called "trick or treat", meaning that if they don't receive candy they will make a trick or a spell.

The carved pumpkin has become the symbol of Halloween. It's called "Jack-o-lantern", from an Irish legend about a man called Jack. He was a lazy farmer, who tricked the devil and refused to free him unless he agreed to never let Jack go into hell. So, Jack started to wander the Earth looking for a resting place, carrying a carved turnip with a candle inside.

Halloween in different countries
If you want to know how Halloween is celebrated all around the world, clik on the following link Halloween around the world (they also mention Spain)

A superstition of Halloween: Did you know that on Halloween, journeys must be finished before sunset?