Halloween

In October many shop windows in Britain turn orange and black, with pumpkins, witches, broomsticks and cats. What do young people do to celebrate Halloween? Read this article to find out.

What do you know about Halloween? Halloween is celebrated on 31 October. Halloween colours are orange and black. Orange is related to harvests because the end of October is the end of the harvest.Black is related to death.

In the UK Halloween traditions are very popular, especially among kids and teenagers. We looked at some of the most common.

Pumpkin lanterns

These are pumpkins with the inside removed and eyes, a mouth and a nose cut into one side. A candle is placed inside the empty pumpkin and the light creates a scary face effect. People use pumpkin lanterns to decorate their homes at Halloween.

Dressing up

People of all ages dress up on Halloween. The most popular fancy dress costumes include witches, vampires, ghosts, skeletons, zombies and monsters. You can buy a costume from a shop or you can make your own at home.

Trick or treating

Children dress up and then visit the houses in their neighbourhood asking for a ‘trick or treat’. The neighbour gives them sweets or money as a ‘treat’. If there is no treat,the children play a trick on the neighbour. Some people think that playing tricks is unkind but luckily there is nearly always a treat. This custom is imported from the USA and is more popular with young people than with adults. Young children usually go trick or treating with parents or an older brother or sister.

We hope you’ve got some ideas for celebrating Halloween.

Activity 1—Vocabulary

Activity 2—True or false

Write about it!

Do you celebrate Halloween? Why do you think Halloween is so popular? Write your ideas below.