Презентация к уроку в 8 классе "This is Halloween"

Halloween

Halloween has origins in the ancient Gaelic festival known as Samhain [sa:win], which means roughly "summer's end. The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year" .

It is a festival of the dead. The Celts believed that on this night, all of the ghosts and spirits left «the world of the dead» and entered «the world of the living».

It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.

Formerly, Celts believed that fire could scare evil spirits. The villagers made huge bonefires to drive the dead back to the spirit world and keep them away from the living.

For this reason, nowadays, American people put the pumpkin with a candle outside their houses .

In the 8th century , the Pope replaced the festival of Samhain with All Saints Day, then the night before October 31th was All-Hallows Eve, which was later changed into Halloween.

Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Halloween Traditions

Bobbing for apples

It is game usually played at Halloween. It was started in the British Isles. You need a large tub of water with apples in it floating on the surface. Players must try to catch one only using their mouth! During the celebration, young unmarried people try to bite into an apple floating in water; the first person to bite into the apple would be the next one to marry.

Halloween Traditions

Bobbing for apples

The current game dates back to when the Romans conquered Britain. Romans had a goddess of trees and fruit called Pomona. When they reached Britain, they also introduced this goddess into the culture of Halloween’s day.

Halloween Traditions

Trick or Treating

Children go from door to door, knocking and saying «trick or treat» in exchange for sweets or sometimes, money.

Halloween Traditions

Trick or Treating

It originates from Britain and Ireland and dates back to the Middle Ages when poor people used to go from door to door on November the 1 st receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day.

Halloween Traditions

Jack-O-Lanterns

Lanterns are made from hollowed pumpkins with carved faces. It is an old Irish tradition because Irish people used to carry turnips with candles inside them to light their way and also to scare off any ghosts.

It was changed to the well-known pumpkin by the Americans.

Halloween Traditions

Jack-O-Lanterns

The name of jack-o-lanterns comes from a Irish legend. Jack was a man who couldn’t get into the heaven because he was greedy. He couldn’t enter hell either because he tricked the devil. So he had to stay on the earth with a lantern for ever.

Halloween Traditions

Fancy dress costumes

People dress up in costumes to look like such things as witches, the devil, skeletons, mummies, vampires etc.

Halloween Traditions

Fancy dress costumes

People thought that if they left their homes on this night,

they might meet ghosts and so they dressed up so that

they would not be recognised!

Halloween Traditions

Food

Candy, candy apples, candy corn are some of the typical Halloween foods. There is a lot of creativity when making dishes.

Halloween Symbols

Witch

Spider’s web

Spider

Black cat

Devil

Jack-o-lantern / pumpkin

Bat

Skeleton

Ghost

Vampire