Halloween - Anglais.re

 Halloween
Halloween was always my favorite holiday. It probably has something to do
with the thespian in me...dressing up in costume, pretending to be
someone else, living out a fantasy...I quickly learned that Halloween in the
States is much different from Halloween in Reunion.
To start with, pretty much ALL Americans get into the Halloween spirit, and it
starts in the beginning of October. Halloween goes hand in hand with the
fall. In Michigan, we would always go to cider mills and eat fresh donuts
and drink warm apple cider in the forest. In Texas, we'd have pumpkin
carving contests on the patio at the local bar. Haunted houses were on
every corner. EVERYONE decorated their homes in spider webs, tombs,
and other spooky things. And then, the weekend of Halloween, we'd always
have an amazing costume party. Scary movies would scream in the
background. Everyone dressed up—kids, adults, dogs, cats, and we'd drink
way too much vodka punch out of a smoking cauldron.
The American version of Halloween may be incredibly commercialized, but
it's fun that way! You can dress up as anything you want---Spiderman, a
princess, President Obama...it doesn't HAVE to be scary. In France and
especially in Reunion, it seems that many people are afraid of Halloween.
Here, they have kept the real origins of Halloween and so it's is equated to
horror, the dead, the scary.
I learned this when I threw my first Halloween party in La Possession, our
group costumes included 3 devils, one witch, and the rest of the guys wore
ugly masks that came off the moment they opened their first beers. We
couldn't find any pumpkins to carve, so someone tried the same thing with
a watermelon and a coconut. We didn't have any creatively themed
desserts, but I did spend a little too much time making spooky appetizers.
There were no kids to take trick-or-treating...but I did have a little trick
up MY sleeve....
I was planning on secretly setting up my friend Julie, (who was part of my
original host family when I first arrived in Reunion,) with Richard's friend
Christian. Julie came to the party in a pink wig and cat-eye contact lenses,
and still it was still love at first sight! The two of them hit it off and
interestingly enough, they just got married a few months ago.
So I guess it goes to show you...you never know what you might encounter
on Halloween night!
www.anglais.re Vocabulary:
To dress up - se déguiser
The States - les Etats Unis
The fall - l’automne
Cider mill - cidrerie
Pumpkin - citrouille
To carve - sculpter
Spider web - toile d’araignée
Spooky - qui donne la chair de poule
To scream - crier
Cauldron - chaudron
To throw a party - organiser une fête
Devil - diable
Witch - sorcière
To come off - enlever
Watermelon - pastèque
Trick-or-treat - bonbons ou un sort
A trick up my sleeve - un tour dans mon sac
To set up - jouer les entremetteurs
Wig - perruque
To encounter - rencontre
www.anglais.re