Halloween time!

IT´S HALLOWEEN TIME! 

In Halloween, the 31st of October, children dress in funny or ghostly costumes and knock on neighborhood doors shouting "Trick or Treat!”. All of them carry bags to catch the sweets that the neighbours give them. 

Since the 800's November 1st is a religious holiday known as All Saints' Day. The Mass that was said on this day was called “All hallow mass”. The evening before became known as All Hallow e'en, or Halloween. Like some other American celebrations, its origins lie in both pre-Christian and Christian traditions. 

Today school dances and neighborhood parties called "block parties" are popular among young and old. More and more adults celebrate Halloween. They dress up as historical or political figures and go to parties. In larger cities, children with costumes and their parents go to shopping malls early in the evening. Some shops give parties with games for the children. Children play “apple bobbing”, a game in which players have to catch an apple with their teeth from a basin full of water. They also eat caramel corn (popcorn with a coat of caramel or sugar). Teenagers enjoy costume dances at their schools and they play tricks and jokes. But going to parties and tricks are not the only things that people do: some collect money to buy food and medicine for children around the world. 

• SYMBOLS OF HALLOWEEN 

Halloween is a celebration connected with evil spirits. Witches flying on broomsticks with black cats, ghosts and skeletons are now symbols of Halloween. In the weeks before October 31, Americans decorate windows of houses and schools with silhouettes of witches and black cats. Pumpkins are also a symbol of Halloween. 

The orange of the pumpkins is the traditional Halloween colour. Carving pumpkins into “jack-o'-lantern” is a Halloween Irish tradition: The Irish people carved scary faces on turnips or potatoes representing jack-o'-lantern. When the Irish brought their traditions to the United States, they carved faces on pumpkins because in the autumn there were a lot of them. 

 Today jack-o'-lanterns in the windows of a house on Halloween night let children with costumes know that there are sweets waiting when they say "Trick or Treat!"