Halloween!

When is Halloween?

On Wednesday – the 31st of OctoberThe day before All Saints Day

A Halloween guessing game

What am I...?

I have got a tail

I am blackI can jump onto

things I have got four legsI have got whiskers on

my face

A black cat

What am I.....?

I am black

I like to come out at night

I can fly

I sleep upside down

A bat

What am I.....?

I cast spellsI make potions

I wear a pointy hat

I have got an evil cackle

A witch

What am I.....?

I am blackI am hairy

I have 8 legsI eat flies

A spider

What am I.....?

I am whiteYou might find me in an old house I haunt people

A ghost

They say I’m under a voodoo spell

They say I eat brains

What am I?

They call me ‘the living dead’

A zombie!

What am I.....?

I grow in a garden

You can eat meYou can make a lantern with me

I am orange

A pumpkin

Where does Halloween come

from?Halloween has evolved over more than 2,000 years

(even before Jesus Christ lived) – especially among Celtic tribes as their autumn festival,

Later, when the Romans conquered Celtic lands, the Celts added someRoman autumn feasts to their own. Celtic traditions remained especially strong in Ireland and Scotland.

The significance of autumn

Autumn was significant for practical reasons, of everyday life and especially the agricultural season.

1 November was the Celtic New Year, and this fitted in with their ‘pagan’ religious beliefs – this was a special moment in the year when time (past, present, and future) got mixed up, and the ‘curtain’ between life and death was lifted.

Everyday life in autumn

By the end of October:• Fruits and

vegetables had been harvested and had to be stored

• Animals needed shelter from the winter weather

• This was also the time to kill animals for their meat and their skin or furHow a Celtic village

might have looked, 2,000 years ago

Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) was a Celtic

religious festival on 31 October

On this night the ‘curtain’ was lifted between life and death - the dead walked the earth.

Celts welcomed the friendly dead with lanterns and food.

But there were also unfriendly dead –

especially one they called

the Night Hag.

Samhain (sow-in) when ghosts of the dead returned to earth

Celts wore costumes to protect themselves

from the unfriendly dead

The Catholic church decided to co-opt popular pagan festivalsIn the year 734 Pope Gregory III declared 1 November All Saints Day, or in old English All Hallows

Day orHallowmas, and so 31 October became All Hallow’s

Eve – or Hallowe’en. Catholics began to adopt and adapt the

pagan traditions.

And for the next 1,000 years Halloween continued to evolve –

especially in Ireland and Scotland.

In the 18th and 19th centuries many Irish and Scottish migrants arrived

in the USA. They introduced Halloween in the USA. It began by copying what was done in Ireland and Scotland.

Halloween was a time for prophecy – predicting the

future, fortune-telling

Cabbages and hazelnuts were used in fortune -telling

Look in the mirror to see your true LOVE

Apple ‘bobbing’ or ‘ducking’

Irish barmbrack – a fruit cake with charms hidden inside

In the USA, some traditions changed

• Instead of making lanterns - called

‘Jack-o-Lanterns’ - from TURNIPS,

they found something bigger, better and more colourful

PUMPKINS!

These Jack-o-Lanterns are works of art

Mischief night

In Ireland and Scotland people played games – especially with blindfolds -and even played tricks like stealing someone’s gate:

In the USA, this became TRICK OR TREAT!

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat, Smell my feetGive me somethinggood to eat.

You can dress up your whole house

Or yor house can be Trick-or- Treated, for instance with sticky tape

Many people still make their own costumes – but there are many costumes for sale

Costumes are not just

traditional monstersCostumes can be from MOVIES or COMICS, from HISTORY or from EVERYDAY LIFE

Hitler masks

A toilet!

Some costumes are ‘in bad taste’, ‘inappropriate’

‘Anna Rexia’ – anorexia is a serious eating disorder for people obsessed with ‘slimming’ (becoming thin – ‘like skeletons’)

Halloween is big business –second only to Christmas in the USA • This year – 2012 - people in the USA will spend

$8,000,000,000 ($8 billion) for Halloween – that’s €6,132,000.000 (more than €6 billion)

• $1.4 billion of this is for adult costumes ($1.1 billion for children’s costumes – and $370 million for pets’ costumes)

• Britain spends much less on Halloween, but it is increasing rapidly - from £12 million in the year 2001 (£12,000,000) to £280 million in 2010 (£280,000,000 – that is €344 million)

The U$ Halloween has come back to Europe

From Mickey Mouse to The Simpsons

Have you been in Carrefour in the last week?

Or switched on your TV?

Halloween and more Halloween

Some people complain

In Ireland, Halloween is the busiest night of the year For the emergency services – police, fire, and ambulance.English police produce this poster so people can avoid Trick or Treat visits.

So if you go Trick or Treating

visit people who you know won’t get upset

The End

Happy Haunting!