Learn English
But, what is Halloween exactly?
Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. This holiday has origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an), which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".
The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Gaels believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through.
Why do children say "trick or treat"?
Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.
To finish, some recommended videos from YouTube:
Classic video from Disney with the Donald Duck ? Trick or Treat:
Link to video1 in YouTube
This is Halloween, the song from the Nightmare before Christmas movie:
Link to video2 in YouTube
The previous song with subtitles in English:
Link to video3 in YouTube
Happy Halloween!
References:
Information on the Wikipedia
Image in the post
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Learn English
Halloween is coming?
But, what is Halloween exactly?
Halloween (also spelled Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. This holiday has origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an), which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".
The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Gaels believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through.
Why do children say "trick or treat"?
Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a (mostly idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. In some parts of Ireland and Scotland children still go guising. In this custom the child performs some sort of show, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, in order to earn their treats.
To finish, some recommended videos from YouTube:
Classic video from Disney with the Donald Duck ? Trick or Treat:
Link to video1 in YouTube
This is Halloween, the song from the Nightmare before Christmas movie:
Link to video2 in YouTube
The previous song with subtitles in English:
Link to video3 in YouTube
Happy Halloween!
References:
Information on the Wikipedia
Image in the post
- Vocatube - How To Use Your English At The Train Station
If you go to train station and need to buy a ticket for the train and ask for the right platform, would you know how to do it? In this post we?ve compiled a series of videos from YouTube with which you?ll be able to learn all the English vocabulary about...
- Grammatube - Demystifying Prepositions Of Place In English
Prepositions of place are one of the trickiest aspects of the English grammar as quite often, the right preposition is different from the one that you?d use in your native language. To help you overcome these difficulties, we?ve prepared a new post on...
- Vocatube - Vocabulary About The Weather On Youtube
Today is a great day; we?re presenting a new post about the VocaTube series! :) Videos on this VocaTube are about how to describe the weather in English. You?ll be learning the meaning of sunny, cloudy or rainy. We also introduce much more vocabulary...
- Halloween - A Good Excuse To Learn English
Last year we explained what Halloween (Hallowe?en) was and some curious facts about this festivity whose popularity is growing every year. Today, we?d like to present some educational resources related to Halloween that will allow you to improve your...
- Halloween Teaching Ideas And Resources
The spooky, scary Halloween festival is just round the corner! These are some activities and ideas which came to my mind after reading The English Raven Halloween lesson materials design challenge. Are you ready to invite your students to plan...