DIFFICULTY

EASY-MEDIUM DIFFICULTY


Halloween

Halloween is a holiday in many English speaking countries that is celebrated on the night of October 31st. Children wear costumes and they go to peoples' homes saying "Trick or treat!" to ask for candy, sweets in the United Kingdom, and then people give it to them. This practice originally involved a threat. A threat is when someone says that they will do something bad if they do not get what they want. In this case the threat was: "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you." Children today usually do not play tricks if they do not get treats. However, some children still do it: they use pranks or things to make fun of people. For example, they put toilet paper in trees, they write on windows with soap or they throw eggs at peoples' houses. People sometimes dress up as ghosts, witches, goblins and other scary things for Halloween.

The origins of Halloween are in the Pagan holiday Samhain, now replaced by the All Saints holy day. It was also called the Day of the Dead. Modern Pagans still celebrate the Day of the Dead. This is a happy holiday (even though it celebrates 'Death'). It is the day that the souls of dead people come back to Earth. Therefore, in Pagan religions it is not about scary things. It is about remembering family or friends who died.

Original source: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

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