Halloween fun!

 It's time to celebrate!

     Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays. Some historians believe that this holiday started in Britain in the ancient times by the Celts. The Celts celebrated the end of the harvest and the start of winter on this day. They were afraid of the winter, of the short, cold days and of the long nights… So, they celebrated on October 31 to have good luck throughout the year.

     The Celts also believed that on this night the spirits of the dead came out of their tombs. They made big fires to frighten the ghosts and they wore scary costumes for the same reason.

     Today, Halloween is celebrated in more countries than ever! It’s an exciting day for children! On Halloween, children wear costumes and go trick-or-treating. They knock on doors and say "Trick or treat?" The person who opens the door gives them candy. Children dress up as witches, ghosts, skeletons or monsters!

They also have lots of parties on this night. A popular party game is “bobbing for apples”. The game is played by filling a large bowl with water and putting apples in the water. Apples float at the surface of the bowl. Players then try to catch an apple with their teeth without using their arms.

On Halloween almost every home in Britain and the USA has a Jack-o'-Lantern. This is a carved pumpkin which has the shape of a scary face. A light is put in the pumpkin to create the lantern. Then, the Jack-o'-Lantern is placed in front of a window or in the garden of the house.

Orange and black are popular Halloween colours. Orange is the colour of pumpkins and black is the colour of darkness.

 "Happy Halloween!"

• Read two lovely short poems that children sing when they go trick-or-treating.
• Do this quiz to find out how much you know about Halloween! You can check the answers here.

Teacher: I. Giannopoulou