IT'S HALLOWEEN AGAIN! (2)

Two years ago, on the 28th of October of 2009, we posted the first entry about Halloween on this blog. Take a look (by date 28/10/2009 or by label: tradition, halloween) because you can read a complete report on what Halloween is all about. This year we include two videos, so you can listen about it. First a basic vocabulary for the season and second, two videos with short histories of Halloween. In between an easier version of the history of Halloween posted in 2009.

Video Halloween Vocabulary:

Halloween (also spelt Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It's a festival of Celtic origin, Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is a secular celebration which has religious influence.
The day is often associated with orange and black, and with symbols like the jack-o'-lantern, a pumpkin with a frightening face and a candle lit inside. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

Halloween has origins in the ancient festival known as Samhain, which comes from Old Irish and it means "summer's end". This was a Gaelic festival celebrated mainly in Ireland and Scotland. The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, spirits (both good and bad) pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while bad spirits were guided away. It is believed that the need to guide the bad spirits away made people wear costumes and masks. By disguising oneself as an evil spirit, people aren't attacked. Samhain was also a time to take stock food supplies and kill animales for the winter. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities.
The name Halloween and many present-day traditions, derive from the Old English era. The term Halloween, originally spelt Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǣfen. It is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day, which is November 1st. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day.

Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as sweets, candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a joke-threat to do to the homeowners or their property if they don't give anyt treat to these children. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go disguised. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.

Halloween costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. They are said to be used to scare off devils. Costumes are also based on themes other than traditional horror, such as those of characters from television shows, movies, and other pop culture icons.

Video "THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN":

Video "THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN/2":