History of Halloween

www.anglophonie.fr
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The History of Halloween
(YouTube, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtkXnLqPMw&feature=email
Well, it’s Halloween again. And tonight, our neighborhoods will be full of all kinds of little ghosts and goblins
and creatures of the night.
But have you ever wondered where those ideas came from? Like so many of our celebrations, the traditions of
Halloween are deeply rooted in our pasts.
This all got started with the ancient Irish. They celebrated the end of their pastoral year on October 31. They
call this festival Samhain and they believe that on this night, spirits came from the underworld and roamed the
earth.
When Christianity began to influence Irish tradition around the sixth century, October 31 was made into a
harvest festival, celebrate Saint Martin.
Now the day after this was called All Saints’ Day or All hallow’s day, so the night before was Hallow’s eve or
‘Halloween’. A combination of ancient Celtic or Irish lore and a harvest festival.
I suppose the real symbol of Halloween these days is the Jack-o-lantern. Its history is also Irish.
You see, there was this guy named Jack and he had a terrible reputation for playing practical jokes on people.
When he died, he went to the underworld and he dared to play a trick on the devil.
The devil got so mad, he kicked him out and made him wander over the earth at night with only the light of a
lantern to search for his lost soul.
Some say old Jack only had a pumpkin to carry his light in, hence the name Jack-o-lantern.
Now we also have Jack to thank for the tradition of trick-or-treat because he was such a trickster.
Have a safe and happy Halloween! I’m Allen Smith.
(For more on this topic and other information, you can always check out my website www.Pallensmith.com and
make sure you watch NBC’s The Today’s show. I’ll be on the 17th of October having some fun with pumpkins!)
Vocabulary
1. neighborhood (US) / neighbourhood (UK)
2. all kinds of little ghosts and goblins
3. to wonder
4. celebrations
5. deeply rooted
6. to get started
7. underworld
8. roamed the earth
9. sixth century
10. to make into
11. harvest festival
12. now
13. All Saints’ Day
voisinage, quartier
toutes sortes de petits fantômes et lutins
se demander
fêtes
profondément enracinées
commencer
les enfers
erraient sur terre
sixième siècle
transformer
fête de la moisson
(ici) puis
la Toussaint
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14. The night before
15. eve
16. lore
17. Jack-o-lantern
18. you see
19. guy
20. practical jokes
21. dared to play a trick
22. the devil
23. got so mad
24. to kick someone out
25. to make him wander over the earth
26. lost soul
27. pumpkin
28. hence
29. trick-o-treat
30. such a trickster
31. check out
32. have a safe and happy Halloween!
la veille
la veille (syn.)
tradition
une ‘citrouille-lanterne ’
voyez vous
type, mec
farce
a osé faire une farce, jouer un tour
le diable
se mit tellement en colère
virer, mettre quelqu’un à la porte
l’a fait errer sur la terre
âme perdue
citrouille
d’où
‘une farce ou un bonbon’
vraiment un filou
regarder
passez un bon Halloween en toute sécurité !