walloween reading

1. Halloween celebrations in the United Kingdom include parties
where guests often arrive in a costume. Other people gather together
to watch horror films, either at home or at a cinema.Some children go
trick-or-treating. This means that they dress up and go to other
peoples' houses, knocking on the door for treat of sweets or a snack.
Those who do not give out a treat may be tricked with a joke
instead.However, teenagers don’t usually go “trick or treating”. They
prefer to play tricks on people, like spraying foam on people’s doors and
decorating trees with toilet paper. But no matter how old they are,
the most popular Halloween game is apple-bobbing which people try to
catch apples by only using their teeth.
In the U.S.A. Halloween is the second-biggest celebration in
America after Christmas. Every year Americans spend more than $2.5
billion on sweets, cards and decorations. They decorate nearly %66 of
the houses. Many people make Jack-o’Lanterns, pumpkins with candles,
for Halloween. They go to special farms to buy pumpkins to make them.
In America farmers sell 80% of their pumpkins only for Halloween.
People also plan Halloween parties and think about their costumes.They
send Halloween cards to friends and family.
However, Halloween has its origins in pagan festivals in
England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It is actually a Celtic festival
called Samhain (Sah-ween). It is a night when ghosts, demons and
witches roam the earth and people try to make peace with them by
offering nuts and berries. Celts would wear costumes like witches and
ghosts, to frighten the real witches and spirits.
Despite having apple-bobbing game, Celts have two different
traditions as well. First one is hazel nuts. They believe hazel nuts have
special powers which become more powerful on Halloween. Most of the
time they use them for marriage divinations. Sometimes they give
names to these hazel nuts and throw them to the sacred bonfire on
Samhain.
Nut-cracking is similar to throwing hazel nuts to a bonfire.
This time they give names of two possible lovers to these nuts and
place them on a fire. One that cracks first is the one that you will
marry.
Lastly, dressing in a scary costume, making jack-o-lanterns and
collecting candies has different meanings for Celts. For example,
dressing up is not for fun in this festival. Since they believe spirits
come back to this earth, they dress up just like them to fool these
spirits.
1. Talk about the words written in bold. Try to guess their meanings
from the text.
a. Trick-or-treat
b. Apple bobbing
c. Jack-o-lantern
d. Pumpkin
e. Pagan
f. Samhain
WHAT IS HALLOWEEN?
The Questions

2. g. Celtic/Celts
2. Read the text and write true (T) or false (F).
A. Teenagers like going treat-or-treating.
B. Halloween comes from a Celtic festival.
C. Celts dress up in costumes to throw a bonfire festival.
D. For Americans, Halloween is not a big holiday.
E. Pagans have different traditions than us as well.
F. Today people celebrate Halloween because they think the
spirits come back to this earth.
3. Do you think there is a difference between the British and the
American Halloween?
4. Does this Pagan festival similar to our festivals or bairams?
5. Why do you think they celebrate Samhain?
6. Do you think they have any more festivals like Samhain? What can
they be?
1. How is Halloween celebrated in your country?
2. How do you feel about Halloween celebrations? Do you think of it
as an alien importation from another culture or do you enjoy it?
3. What symbols, animals or beings are associated with Halloween?
4. What costumes do people wear for Halloween?
5. Apart from "trick or treat", do you know of any other Halloween
activities?
6. Where do you think the tradition started - in Europe, North
America or somewhere else?
7. Between what ages do you think "trick or treat" is an appropriate
activity?
Teacher Questions

3. 8. Favourite horror or Halloween-themed song?
9. Favourite horror monster or villain?
10. Are you superstitious?
11. Which urban legend scares you the most?
12. Do you prefer gore or thrillers?
13. Do you get scared easily?
14. You’re home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do
you do?
15. If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
16. If you could only wear one halloween costume for the rest of your
life, what would you be?
17. Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go trick or treating?
18. You’re in a horror movie. Are you the final girl, the first to die, the
comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer?
19. Whilst watching scary movies, are you the person who yells at the
characters, the person with their eyes covered the whole time, or
the person who falls asleep?
20. Favorite scary book?