HALOWEEN TRADITIONS

• It's celebrated on October 31st. When the Celts lived in Ireland, Britain and France over 2,000 years ago, they had a pagan agricultural festival on this day. They believed that the dead came back, so they used to light large bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought this tradition to North America in the 19th century.
  
  
• The word "Halloween" is a shortened form of "All Hallows' Eve", meaning the evening before "All Hallows' Day" or "All Saints' Day", which is November 1st.
  
  
• In the past, poor people went around asking for food in exchange of a prayer for the dead. Nowadays, this tradition was changed. In Ireland and the United States, children dress up and go door-to-door collecting candy. This is called "trick or treat", meaning that if they don't receive candy they will make a trick or a spell.
  
  
• The carved pumpkin has become the symbol of Halloween. It's called "Jack-o-lantern", from an Irish
  legend about a man called Jack. He was a lazy farmer, who tricked the devil and refused to free him unless he agreed to never let Jack go into hell. So, Jack started to wander the Earth looking for a resting place, carrying a carved turnip with a candle inside.

VOCABULARY (LEVEL I)

Halloween	Noche de Brujas
bat	murciélago
black cat	gato negro
candy	caramelos
cobweb	telaraña
costume	disfraz
devil	diablo
ghost	fantasma
haunted house	casa embrujada
magic	magia
monster	monstruo
mummy	momia
pumpkin	calabaza
skeleton	esqueleto
spell	hechizo
spider	araña
vampire	vampiro
witch	bruja
wizard	brujo, mago

VOCABULARY (LEVEL II)

Halloween

A holiday celebrated on October 31 in which people dress in scary costumes Una fiesta que se celebra el 31 de octubre donde la gente se viste con trajes de terror

to carve

To cut with a large knife Cortar con un cuchillo

pumpkin

A large, orange vegetable associated with Halloween  Una verdura grande, naranja asociado con Halloween

Jack-o-lantern

Americans traditionally cut out scary faces in pumpkins and put a candle inside. These pumpkins with faces are called "Jack-o-lanterns." Jack-o-lanterns are made to scare away evil spirits on Halloween. Tradición Americana donde se corta caras de terror en las calabazas y se pone una vela en su interior. Este tipo de calabazas con caras se llaman "Jack-o-linternas". Están hechas para ahuyentar a los malos espíritus en Halloween.

costume

Scary clothing or disguises worn on Halloween Disfraces de terror para Halloween

"trick or treat"

On Halloween, children go from house to house and say "trick or treat." This phrase means give me candy or I will play a trick on you. Families usually give the children candy. If the children don't get candy, they sometimes play mean tricks like breaking the house's Jack-o-lantern or putting soap on its windows. En Halloween, los niños van de casa en casa y decir "trick or treat". Esta frase significa dame dulces o voy a hacer una travesura. Las familias suelen dar los dulces a los niños. Si los niños no reciben dulces, a veces juegan bromas pesadas.

a costume party

A party where everyone dresses in scary costumes Una fiesta donde todos estan disfrasados con trajes de terror

bobbing for apples

This is a traditional Halloween game. You put apples in a barrel of water and people try to take the floating apples out of the water using only their mouths. Este es un tradicional juego de Halloween. Pones las manzanas en un barril de agua y la gente trata de tomar las manzanas flotantes fuera del agua usando sólo sus bocas.

a skeleton

Abody of nothing but bones Un cuerpo con nada más que huesos

a ghost

The spirit of a dead person which appears again El espíritu de una persona muerta el cual aparece de nuevo

a ghoul

An evil spirit which takes bodies from graves and eats them Un espíritu maligno que toma cuerpos de las tumbas y se los come

a goblin

An unkind spirit which plays tricks on people Un espíritu cruel que juega bromas a la gente

a witch

A woman with magic powers (usually evil) Una mujer con poderes mágicos (generalmente malignos)

a warlock

A man with magic powers (usually evil)