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Halloween is the 2nd
most commercially
successful holiday,
with Christmas being
the first.
HALLOWEEN AVANZADO 1
1. Read this text about the History of Halloween.
Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of
ancient Celtic practices, Catholic
and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that
blended together over time to create the
holiday we know today.
Straddling1 the line between fall and winter, plenty and
paucity2
and life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and
superstition.
Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can
return
to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear
costumes
to ward off these roaming ghosts. The Celtic holiday of Samhain
3, the
Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day
and the Roman festival of Feralia all
influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th century,
Halloween began to lose its religious
connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's
holiday.Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding
Halloween may have evolved over the years,
as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can
still look forward to parades, costumes
and sweet treats to usher4 in the winter season.
2. Watch the video and answer the following questions.
- What does Samhain mean?
- Why did the Celts light great bonfires?
- What do Samhain and All Saints Day have in Common?
- What was the cause of the massive Irish emigration to America
in the 19 th Century?
- What was the origin of Trick or Teating?
1straddle [transitive]
-to sit or stand with your legs on either side of someone or
something:
The photo shows him dressed in leather, straddling a
motorbike.
- to include different areas of activity, groups, time etc:
Her research straddles mathematics and social sciences.2paucity
[singular] formal
less than is needed of something [= lack]3
Samhain [saUn]4usher in something[phrasal verb]
- to cause something new to start, or to be at the start of
something new:
The discovery of oil ushered in an era of employment and
prosperity.
Did You Know?
One quarter of all the
candy sold annually in
the U.S. is purchasedfor Halloween.
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GLOSSARY (video)
patchworkholiday: a type of sewing in which many coloured
squares of cloth are stitched
together to make one large piece.
prank: a trick, especially one which is played on someone to
make them look silly.
A childish prank
pagan: pagan religious beliefs and customs do not belong to any
of the main religions of theworld, and may come from a time before
these religions.
Ancient pagan temples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VRAemIvbI
KEY
- What does Samhain mean?
It was the end of the harvest season. That night also marked the
Celtic New Year.
- Why did the Celts light great bonfires?
To drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away
from the living.
- What do Samhain and All Saints Day have in Common?
Both these holidays have to do with the afterlife, survival
after death.
- What was the cause of the massive Irish emigration to America
in the 19 th Century?
Potato famine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
- What was the origin of Trick or Teating?
Originally, it was an extortion deal.
