Transcript Diapositiva 1 - Delmoral's Blog

Halloween
What do you think about Halloween?
Do you feel it is plain hogwash..
..or do you think there is some truth about it?
Or do you see it as pure fun?
Know the history of Halloween
Know how it all started
,
How the modern Halloween celebrations came into existence.
origins
Halloween is the one of the oldest holidays still celebrated
today. It's one of the most popular holidays, second only to
Christmas. While millions of people celebrate Halloween
without knowing its origins and myths, the history and facts
of Halloween make the holiday more fascinating.
Some people view Halloween as a time for fun, putting on
costumes, trick-or-treating, and having theme parties.
Others view it as a time of superstitions, ghosts, goblins and
evil spirits that should be avoided at all costs.
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. Straddling the line between
summer and winter, 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.
http://www.history.com/videos/haunted-history-of-halloween
The Celtic holiday of Samhain,
the Catholic period of All Saints' 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 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 still look forward to
parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter
season.
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom,
and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of
summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was
often associated with human death.
Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the
living and the dead became blurred.
On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of
the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought
that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to
make predictions about the future.
For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an
important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
Reading comprehension
 When and where did the Celts live?
 What did Celts celebrate on November 1 ?
 What did Celts celebrate on October 31 ?
 What did Celts believe that happened on Samhain?
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge
sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn
crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore scary costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins,
and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. With these scary costumes Celts wanted to frighten the
evil spirits.
Reading comprehension
 What
did Celts do to celebrate Samhain?
Druids built huge sacred bonfires, and people wore scary
costumes
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered
the majority of Celtic territory. In
the course of the four hundred
years that they ruled the Celtic
lands, two festivals of Roman origin
were combined with the traditional
Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans
traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead.
The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and
trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this
celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for
apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread
into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface
IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to
honor saints and martyrs.
The pope attempted to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with
a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. This celebration was
called All-hallows, and the night before it, the night of Samhain,
began to be called All-hallows eve and , eventually, Halloween.
Reading comprehension
 Where
does the word Halloween come from?
Trick-or-Treat?
Trick or treat, Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat !!!
Some trace the origins of present day "trick-or-treat" to Samhain.
Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the
countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly
lived. Frightened villagers tried to pacify these wandering spirits by
offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. They began the tradition of
placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the
household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the
hunger of the ghostly wanderers. If not placated, villagers feared
that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property.
Others trace "trick-or-treat" to a European custom called
"souling". The poor would go begging and the housewives
would give them special treats called "soulcakes". This was
called "going a-souling", and the "soulers" would promise
to say a prayer for the dead.
Over time the custom changed and the town's children became the beggars.
As they went from house to house they would be given apples, buns, and
money.
At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after
death, and that prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul's passage to
heaven.
Askmrty
Jack o'lantern
People have been making jack o'lanterns at
Halloween for centuries. The practice
originated from an Irish story about a man
nicknamed "Stingy Jack.“ He was a drunk,
troublemaker and mean man who spent his
days from pub to pub.
According to the story, Stingy Jack invited
the Devil to have a drink with him. True to
his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for
his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn
himself into a coin that Jack could use to
buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack
decided to keep the money and put it into
his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from
changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil,
under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and
that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul.
Next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing
into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up
in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the
tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down
until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for
ten more years.
Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an
unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had
played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not
allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a
burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip
and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer
to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack
O'Lantern."
The Custom of Carving Jack O’ Lanterns
Choose the correct word from the list below to fill in the blanks.
lantern – represent – tale – resting – wandering – tricks – carving – burning
The custom of _________ Jack O’Lanterns comes from an old Irish
folk _________ about a man named Jack. According to the story, Jack
always liked to play _________ on people and one time he played a trick
on the Devil. When Jack died, he couldn’t go to Heaven because he had
done many bad things in his life. He couldn’t go to Hell either because
he had played a trick on the Devil. Since then, Jack has been ________
around the earth looking for a final ________ place. He carries a
__________ to light his way in the darkness. Jack made his lantern by
putting a __________ piece of coal inside a pumpkin. The colors of
Halloween, orange and black, __________ the colors of pumpkins and
the darkness of the night.