Halloween

Halloween originsHalloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Halloween activities

include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving Jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries

embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland,

Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. In Sweden the All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November History of name The term Halloween

is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also

known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day

from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1.. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two

holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other

vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st.. History Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival

known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes

regarded as the "Celtic New Year".Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that

on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or

damaged crops.

Day of all saints

The Day of All Saints is a religious holiday celebrated in many countries of Christian faith.

This instituted in honor of the Saints, to compensate for any lack of the feasts of the saints during the year by the faithful.

is celebrated on November 1 as the Christian world honors all the saints in heaven on this date.

The Church calls the "Saints" to those who have dedicated their lives to follow the example of Jesus Christ and have been "canonized", or officially declared saints by Pope.

Through his intercession has been made wonderful miracles, and because after having carefully examined his writings and have done a thorough investigation and questioning of witnesses who accompanied him on his life, he has concluded that the virtues practiced in grade heroic.

http://radioevangelizacion.org/node/1094

Witches

• One of the most typical symbols of Halloween. The legend tells that witches come at All Hallow's Eve night every year to celebrate a party.

• Witches are connected to Halloween by common sense, because of their powers..

Pumpkin• This irish legend is about a man called Jack,

who met the devil in a pub.• Jack was very selfish and convinced the

devil to change himself into a coin, in order to pay the drink. But instead of paying, the man kept the coin in his wallet. The devil couldn't change back to his original form because there was a cross inside of the wallet. Jack Told him he would release him if he let him in peace during 10 years.

• But 10 years later, Jack tricked the Devil again, and this time he asked him to leave him in peace for the rest of his life.

• But when he died, Jack couldn't go to heaven, because he was to selfish. He couldn't go to hell either, because of the tricks he did to the Devil. He was stuck in the darkness, and had to walk holding a lantern until the judgement day.

• People carves the supposed face of Jack O' Lantern on pumpkins in order to remember what will happend to those who're bad.

Bats

• Bats are connected to Halloween because of a practise which comes from our ancestors : They used to build some bonfires at this time of the year, in order to warm up the weather or even to ward off negative energies.

• But of course, those bonfires and every kind of light attracts all kind of bugs. Bats eat bugs and that's why we could see them a this time of the year (that's the same for owls too) !

Black cats

• Cats are supposed to be mysterious, independent, clever and discreet. And the colour black symbolises mystery, and it's even related to absorbing energy (actually it's just like when you wear a black shirt when it's too sunny !).

• People tought that cats were creatures linked with otherworldly/paranormal concepts.

Spiders

• Just like bats and owls, spiders could be found near the bonfires, because they eat bugs.

• And just like Cats, people thought they were linked with otherworldly/paranormal concepts.

Paranormal activities

In some places in the world the paranormal activities are usual.

But other people thinks no

• But there are a lot of stories about people who died and later their ghosts are staying in this world

In other countries

• In spain everybody buy flowers for their familys.

• In Mexico people go to cementery for have lunch in there.

What do you think true or false?

• Some scientists thought that these unusual activities are from our fantasy.

• But some people believe in ghosts…

Some halloween songs.Song: Three Black Cats

sung to the tune of "three blind mice "Three black cats, three black cats,

In black hats, in black hats, They all jumped into the Halloween brew. They teased the ghosts & the goblins too! Have you ever seen such a Hullabaloo??

On Halloween, On Halloween!Thanks so much to "Pat" for sending in this song!!

Song: In the Grave Yard

sung to the tune of "oh my darling "In the grave yard,In the grave yard,

When the moon begins to shine,There's a doctor, crazy doctor,and his monster Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster, oh, my monster,

oh, my monster Frankenstein,you are very, very scary, don't come

near me Frankenstein.1313

Song: In the Grave Yardsung to the tune of "oh my darling "

In the grave yard,In the grave yard,

When the moon begins to shine,There's a doctor, crazy doctor,and his monster Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster, oh, my monster,

oh, my monster Frankenstein,you are very, very scary, don't come

near me Frankenstein.

Desserts and sweeties-CupcakesIngredients:3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks/6 oz./170g) butter1 1/2 cups granulated sugar3 eggs3/4 cup milk1 tsp. almond extract2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour2 1/2 tsp. baking powder3/4 tsp. salt

-For the Frosting:Orange food coloring paste or yellow and red liquid food coloring2/3 cup water12 cups confectioners' sugar1 1/4 cups solid vegetable shortening3/4 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon almond extract1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla extract1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring

-Halloween Cutout Sugar CookiesComments:It’s easy to transform a basic sugar cookie dough into delightful Halloween treats. Using cutters shaped like ghosts and

black cats, you can create spooky sweets that will cast a magic spell over holiday gatherings.Ingredients:16 tbsp. (2 sticks/8 oz/226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature3/4 cup granulated sugar3 egg yolks1 piece vanilla bean, about 2 inches long2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 tsp. baking powder1/2 tsp. saltColored sugars and decorating pens Nutella Spiced Sugar Cookieshttp://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/1821/Recipe.cfm