Halloween

Gimnazjum
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Halloween is a special holiday for English and American children. They celebrate it on October 31st. It is on the day before All Saints' Day.

The origins of Halloween are very ancient.
One of the symbols of this festival are large orange pumpkin lanterns called Jack o' Lanterns.
The lanterns are made from pumpkins carved in the appearance of a scary face.
They have got a candle inside and they are hung on trees or put by windows, so you can see them in the dark.
Children make the lanterns to frighten witches and ghosts.
In the evening children put on scary costumes and masks and they go out. In the street you can see ghosts, witches, skeletons, pirates, wizards and other different costumes.
They go from house to house, they knock on the door and when people open, children say:
Trick or treat! Smell my feet!
Give me something good to eat!
People usually give them money, sweets, candies, apples and nuts. But sometimes children get nothing, so they play a trick!
In the past, on Halloween night, many of the people would imitate the fairies and go from house to house begging for treats. Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical jokes being played on the owner of the house.

Today this tradition is carried on by children almost all over the world.They go round the houses and ask: "Trick or treat?".

Typical Halloween tricks are :
· squeeze tomatoes on cars
· throw dirt in the garden
· put a pin on the doorbell
· write on doors with markers.


Jack, it seems, was a bad man. He kept all his money to himself. He wouldn't help people for all of his life.
When Jack died, he wasn't allowed into Heaven because he was such a miser: a person who wouldn't share his money.
It seems that Jack also had played tricks on the Devil, who wouldn't let him into hell, either.
Jack was stuck. He had to walk the earth, holding a lantern, until Judgment Day.
This is the story that has been handed down to us by the Irish people who came to America in the 1800s. They carved their turnips into the face of "Jack-of-the-lantern" to remind themselves what happened to people who were misers. And in the fall, pumpkins are much easier to find than turnips.
So that's why Americans today carve their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.
I'm the ghost of Halloween
I'm blue, red and green
Stand up and come with me
Let's have a terrible Halloween!


Ghosts, ghosts everywhere.
On the table and under the chair.
Look on the floor and under the door.
Red ghosts here, green ghosts there.


Spiders, spiders everywhere.
A spider on the cat and in your hat.
Green and red, spiders on the bed.
Oooh! A spider is on my head!