The Story of Halloween
Halloween is one of the favorite holidays for both children and adults in North America. On the night of October 31, families decorate their homes with carved pumpkins called jack-o-lanterns. Children dress up like ghosts, monsters, witches and even storybook princesses and famous heroes. They go from house to house in their neighborhood knocking on doors and shouting, “Trick or treat!” to receive candy and sweets.
Halloween is actually a very old holiday that has changed a lot since it was first celebrated. A long time ago people in Europe celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of the new year on October 31. They believed that on this day the spirits of the people who died that year could walk the Earth again. People would dress up in costumes and parade around their village making lots of noise. They wanted to scare away the evil ghosts and spirits.
Later, Christians in England and Ireland took the holiday as their own. They changed it to honor their saints. November 1 became “All Saints Day,” or “All Hallows Day.” The night before, October 31, was All Hallows Eve. The name was shortened to Halloween.
Even though it was a Christian holiday, people kept many of the old traditions. People in different parts of Europe celebrated it in different ways. In some places they wore frightening costumes. In other countries they went door-to-door collecting special cakes called “soul cakes.” In Ireland, people played tricks on each other. Later these traditions were mixed together when people from all parts of Europe moved to America.
One of the most popular traditions is making jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins. The first jack-o-lanterns were actually cut from turnips. The tradition began with the story of Jack, an evil man who once tricked the devil. After he died, Jack could not get into heaven because of his evil ways, but he could not get into hell either because of the trick he played on the devil. Because he would have to walk in the darkness forever, the devil gave him a lantern made from a carved turnip to light his way.
The Irish made “Jack’s lanterns” out of turnips every Halloween. When they came to America, they discovered that pumpkins were much easier to carve. Today people like to carve scary faces in their jack-o-lanterns and place then in front of their homes on this very special night. On Halloween, you wouldn’t be caught dead without a jack-o-lantern in front of your home.
【中译文】
在北美，万圣节是一个十分受到大人和小孩们所喜爱的重要节庆之一。在每年10月31日，家家户户会用一种叫做”jack-o-lanterns”的雕刻南瓜装饰自己的家。孩子们会把自己打扮成鬼、怪兽、巫婆，甚至是童话故事里面的公主或是有名的大英雄。他们会一起挨家挨户的敲著邻居的大门并大叫：Trick or treat! 希望能藉此获得一些糖果或点心。
(剩下的贴不上来了, 因为系统显示"有不适合发表的内容" 而我不知道它指的是什麼? 因为我不认为有什麼不适合的, "百度知道" 真是太莫名其妙了~)
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