Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the new year. Celts believed that on this night, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of 400 years, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain, one of which being Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead.
In 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs and was later expanded to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and observed on November 1. By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. Thus, a new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow.
Comprehension
1) What is the origin of Halloween?
2) What was the original purpose of lighting bonfires and wearing costumes on the holiday?
3) How did the celebration of Halloween change over time in America?
Vocabulary
Match the words to the definition:
1) Ward off
2) blurred
3) martyrs
4) blend (with)
5) supplant
6) thus
a) someone who dies for their religion
b) to overtake, to take the place of
c) to keep something away
d) to mix with
e) unclear, not able to be seen clearly
f) therefore, as a result
Grammar Highlights
You can use “would” with the same meaning as “used to” for past routines, as long as you have a time associated with it:
“The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes.”
Use a comma after expressions before the subject of a sentence:
“Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived”
*This article was adapted from another article to make it more suitable for English learners. You can read the original article here.