HALLOWEEN 2014

Halloween has its origin in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic people, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter.It was the time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and crops were stored for winter. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle. The festival the Celts celebrated was called Samhain (pronounced Sah-ween). It was the biggest and most important holiday of the Celtic year. They believed that at Samhain, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year travelled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables. They also lit bonfires in honour of the dead, to help them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living.Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when Christian missionaries changed the religious practices of the Celtic people.

TRADITIONS ON HALLOWEEN JACK-O-LANTERN

These are hollowed out pumpkins with a face cut into one side. According to an Irish legend, jack-o-lanterns were named after a man named Jack, who could not enter Heaven (because he was not a good man)nor Hell (because he had played jokes on the devil). So, instead, he had to walk the Earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. HOW TO MAKE A JACK-O´-LANTERN You´ll need: - 1 short, sharp knife - 1 dessert spoon - 1 teaspoon - 1 candle or tea-light - Plenty of newspaper to protect work surface - A Large bowl for pumpkin seeds and flesh. STEP 1: Cut a circular hole around the stalk.Tilt the point of the knife into the centre of the pumpkin. This will stop the lid from falling in. STEP 2: Scoop out the seeds and any loose flesh using the dessertspoon and the knife if needed. STEP 3: Sketch the face onto your pumpkin. Use a biro so any mistakes can be scrubbed off with a scouring pad or fingernail. STEP 4: Carefully cut out the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Take small cuts and use a puncturing motion rather than a slicing one. STEP 5: Gently scarpe away the flesh on the inside of the face until it is only 1 cm thick. STEP 6: Using the knife, mark a circle the sixe of your candle or tea-light in the centre of the base. STEP 7: Carefully hollow out the marked area with the teaspoon. STEP 8: Place your candle in the hollow, light it and replace the lid of your jack-o´-lantern.

THE CHALLENGE: SHOW YOUR MATES YOUR CREATIVE GENIUS! On October 31st, bring your Jack-O´-Lantern to school. We´ll take photographs of all of them and we´ll put your photo in the gallery. You´ll be able to vote for the winner! (please include your name and class group).

TRICK OR TREAT? Trick-or-treating is a tradition for children on Halloween in many countries. Children in costumes go from house to house in order to ask for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the question "Trick or treat?". The "trick" is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given to them. In North America, trick-or-treating has been a customary Halloween tradition since the late 1940s. The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of "souling", where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes.Children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895. The activity is prevalent in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Puerto Rico, and northwestern and central Mexico. In the latter, this practice is called calaverita.

APPLE BOBBING Bobbing for apples has been a popular Halloween party game for hundreds of years. Why do we bob for apples at Halloween parties? Some would simply say, "Because, it's fun!" Usually, the game is played using a tub of water with apples floating in it. The players take turns trying to get an apple by biting into it. Players are not allowed to use their hands, only their mouths, to catch the apple. But where did this popular Halloween party game originate? The Roman festival for remembering the dead was also in October. During this time, the Romans remembered thier goddess,Pomona. She was the goddess of the trees and fruits, and when the Romans went to Britain, they began to hold these two festivals on the same day as Samhain. Apple games are probably linked to this. According to one custom,the first person to get an apple would be the first to marry. The apple has to be be cut in half to view the seeds. The seeds in an apple form a pentagram, which was a symbol for fertility in Celtic culture. Another custom requires the apple to be pared; and after the strip of peel is waved in a circle above the head, it is tossed over the left shoulder. The peel will land on the floor forming the first letter of the first name of the person's true love. Yet another custom states that the girl that bites the apple should place it under her pillow to dream of her true love.Would you like to try?.