November 1st is All Saints' Day, a famous and historic Christian feast day. Another name for All Saints' Day is All Hallows' Day, as "hallow" is an old is an old word for saint. The evening before ,the evening of 31at, is All Hallows's Eve, or Hallowe'en. The custom of dressing up as witches or ghosts on that evening dates back to much older times, before Christianity.

What's Halloween?

People used to dress up on Halloween because in the old days winter was a scary time.They didn't always have enough food and many people were afraid of the dark.They all believed that ghosts came back to earth on October 31st.So they were really scared of meeting a ghost if they went out.

To solve this problem people wore masks when they left their homes,
so that the ghosts didn't think they were one of them.

People also placed bowls of food outside their homes to please the ghosts and in the hope that they wouldn't go into their homes.


What do people do on Halloween?

Well, we hollow out a pumpkin.

Then we cut a face into one side of it.

Then it's ready and we can put a candle into it and wait
until it gets dark.

These lanterns are called "Jack-o-lanterns"-but why?

An Irish legend says that these lanterns were named after a man called "Jack". He couldn't enter heaven because he was a miser. However, because he had played jokes on the devil he wasn't allowed into hell either!

So he had to walk around the earth with his lantern until "Judgement Day"

The children also go around the houses getting up to mischief, or as it is known "Trick or Treat".

They dress up as witches or ghosts and knock on doors and demand a treat (money or food).

© by: Nicola Jayne Dökel (geb. Dixon)
http://www.kico4u.de