Halloween 1/ Introduction Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2021 will occur on Sunday, October 31 The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Hall[.]
Trang 1Halloween 1/ Introduction:
Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October
31, and Halloween 2021 will occur on Sunday, October
31 The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats
2/
Why Do We Celebrate Halloween on October 31?
Halloween falls on October 31 because the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain, considered the earliest known root of Halloween, occurred on this day It marked a pivotal time
of year when seasons changed, but more importantly, observers also believed the boundary between this world
Trang 2and the next became especially thin at this time, enabling them to connect with the dead This belief is shared by some other cultures; a similar idea is mentioned around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which also typically occurs in October and involves saying prayers for the dead This is also where Halloween gains its "haunted" connotations
3/
How Halloween Is Celebrated Today :
Halloween obviously remains a popular holiday in America today, but it actually almost didn't make it across the Atlantic The Puritans were disapproving of the holiday's pagan roots, so they didn't take part in the celebrations But once Irish and Scottish immigrants began to arrive in America in greater numbers, the holiday made its way back into the zeitgeist The very first American colonial Halloween celebrations featured large public parties to commemorate the upcoming harvest, tell ghost stories, sing, and dance
It's estimated that by the early 20th century, Halloween was celebrated across North America by the majority of (candy-loving, costume-wearing) people And this year, once again, we'll all be enjoying our favorite candy and admiring our neighbors' decorations on October 31—and the only spooky spirits we'll be talking about are the witch and ghost costumes our friends are wearing
Trang 34/ Some activities:
+ Trick Or Treat:
Trick Or Treat is the main activity of most children and teenagers in the US on Halloween night "Trick" originally means: trick, naughty ghost game: "Treat" is welcoming, kind treatment, hospitality
Children and teenagers, young people dressed up with clothes and masks of ghosts, then carried lanterns from house to house in the neighborhood, knocked on the door and said "Trick or Treat" - "Give sweets or get hurt prank"
This sentence can be understood as simply: "If you want
us to not play bad, then treat us to something"
Usually, neighbors always want to avoid "trick" meaning playing tricks, so they often treat them with candy and fruit (according to the custom with coins inside)
+ Dunking:
According to custom, the apple is a sacred fruit used to worship the gods, so many games are related to this fruit
on Halloween night, the most popular is the competition
to get as many apples as possible in a bowl of water, or when peeling an apple, the longer the apple peel, the longer it will live
Trang 4Dunking, also known as apple bobbing, in which there are apples floating in a bathtub or large basin of water and participants must use their teeth to pick up an apple
A variation of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between your teeth and trying to drop them onto an apple
Another popular game involves hanging molasses-covered pies or syrup sacks on a tree with a string and the player having to eat without using their hands, and this is sure to make the player in the game has a face covered in syrup
+ Divination:
Some of the traditional games played at Halloween are forms of divination The custom of picking apples on All Saints' Night is not just a game but is actually a ritual of luck The more apples someone gets, the more luck they will have in the coming year Any girl who grabs an apple, she will definitely get married that year
As in Scotland, divination to find a future spouse every Halloween is very common First peel an apple into a long strip, then toss the peel over the shoulder When the apple peel falls to the ground it will take the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name
Trang 5Unmarried women have said that if they sit in a dark room and look in the mirror on Halloween night, their future husband's face will appear in the mirror However,
if they die before marriage, a skull will appear That form appeared a lot on greeting cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
+ Decorate with lanterns:
The Lantern Festival originates from an Irish custom According to legend, Jack was famous for his alcoholism and intelligence He tricked the demon Satan into climbing a tree, then carved a cross on the stump and tied the demon on it Jack made a deal with the demon if it stopped teasing him then he would let it down Due to many sins, when he died, he could not go to heaven or go
to hell Therefore, he had to wander many places looking for a place to stay The only warmth that kept him warm
in the cold was the candle glimmering in the pumpkin Children often play the game of chiseling a pumpkin, a potato or a squash; then carve shapes of faces on it, put candles inside to light These lanterns are called "Jack O'Lantern"
+ Tell ghost stories and watch Halloween horror movies:
Trang 6When it comes to Halloween, people often think of ghosts Therefore, the ghost stories become even more ghostly on the night of the festival
Episodes of TV series and Halloween-themed specials (usually for kids) are typically aired on Halloween or before the holiday, while new horror films are typically released in theaters before the holiday to take advantage
of the holiday atmosphere
+ Make a fire:
The bonfire was considered a way of encouraging fairies
to come out of the graves and walk with the living
A lot of people believe that's why people like to dress up
in Halloween costumes, it makes each person live in a different person, no longer themselves
Costumes and masks will confuse evil spirits, or help keep them away
+ Masquerade festival:
This is the most popular custom on Halloween, especially among children Common costumes are costumes of witches, ghosts, famous cartoon characters or other supernatural creatures
Trang 75/ Halloween Symbols and what they mean:
Jack-‘o’-Lanterns
This has become one of the many popular Halloween symbols as well as rituals and traditions The pumpkin lantern has become a great representation of Halloween,
as families often get together to pick out their pumpkins and get them ready for the final look Yet few people know the supposed Irish folk origin of this carved pumpkin
It has to do with a stingy man named Jack who cheated on the devil not once but twice to keep the devil from taking his soul After Jack died, Heaven refused him, and Hell couldn’t take him because of the deal The devil sent Jack
on his way home from where he had come with only an ever-burning ember of hell flames to light his way Needing something to carry this hot coal, Jack found a turnip and carved out a lantern for himself Irish immigrants quickly discovered pumpkins and thought it would make a better candle holder to carry on their tradition than a turnip
Witches
These familiar Halloween symbols appear everywhere for the season, from decorations to greeting cards to Halloween costume parties, and for a simple reason
Trang 8Witches are around for eons and were often considering mystical powers, partially thanks to their connection to Satan or the mythical place The most notorious rallies occur during the two significant season changes, April 30 and October 31
Spells would be cast, witches brewed boiled beers, and these creatures often changed shape during witchcraft meetings They flew on brooms, gathered around cauldrons, made potions involving toads, and kept black cats as pets, which allowed all of these objects or pictures
to become symbols of Halloween as well
Bats
While not vicious, evil, or terrifying, bats became a well-known symbol of Halloween Much of this blame the vampire bats, which suck blood but simply enough to survive without typically killing another animal, like a cow Since most vampire tales claim that these mythological creatures transform bats to fly and enter places more easily, bats became a logo of evil and everyone that’s macabre
Bats have also been linked to witches by flying from their caves while witches perform their ritual ceremonies or being part of a witch’s brew Bat wings, blood, and other factors are notorious for being part of witch spell recipes
or options for giving oneself the ability to fly, as well as other not-so-nice things
Trang 9These arachnids are now part of Halloween imagery due
to their connections to witches as well as abandoned haunted houses It believes that witches invited spiders to their homes as pets, companions or for potions They are often associated with the extra goosebumps found in the upper corners of dilapidated houses of lairs or horrors Not to mention the stories related to writing spiders It believes that if a writing spider spins your name in its web, you are doomed to death shortly
Death and the Celts
It would be impossible to list each of the many Halloween symbols, along with their meanings Consider that many things that can represent the ancient Celtic holiday known
as Samhain, the original Halloween, or death conjure up holiday themes Halloween costumes, for example, have been used since the earliest Samhains, although the original disguises are animal skins
The link with death is also reminiscent of many images, especially of skeletons and ghosts Anything that could be considered scary and death-related, including graves and cemeteries, is bound to be a perfect subject for creating Halloween symbols
6/ Meaning of Halloween :
Trang 10Halloween is celebrated first on the eve of All Saints Day (1-11) and ends on All Souls Day (2-11)
These are three consecutive days and are celebrated with
a meaning to honor the saints who have or have not been
to Heaven, including the ancient Celts goddess of the harvest
Besides, this day also means to remember the loved ones who have passed away During Halloween, the spirits of the dead are allowed to visit their families Roman Catholics believe that earthly prayers will help souls wash away their sins and soon return to God
These are the factors that make Halloween often associated with images such as witches, ghosts, fairies ,
In addition, Halloween is associated with an Irish legend, about a teenager named Jack Jack died but his soul could not go to Heaven because when he lived, he was a greedy, miserly person, often hiding money, stingy never giving anyone anything However, he could not go to Hell because when he was alive he played with the devil, so the devil did not catch him
Seeing Jack suffering, the devil took some embers from Hell, put a pumpkin inside and gave it to Jack to keep warm on the way In order to let the air in to feed the fire,
Trang 11Jack had to puncture the pumpkin and the light from the fire shone from within to illuminate his wandering path This is also the reason why pumpkins have become the main symbol of Halloween
Through this legend, it also helps us to understand part of the meaning of Halloween, which is to remind those who are still alive that: "Living should not be greedy, stingy Must have charity, compassion , know how to help the needy."
The devil is understood figuratively as tricks, threats, making others afraid, the mischievous deeds of youth that sometimes harm society Playing, socializing with the devil will be easily tempted into darkness and sin
On this day, people often light a bright fire to ward off evil spirits and dress up as ghosts with a gruesome image
to "integrate" and avoid being recognized by the demons present
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