Today is Halloween, which most American children celebrate each year. If you aren’t sure about Halloween and how it is celebrated in the U.S., listen to ESL Podcast 73, where I talk about how kids celebrate Halloween. Halloween isn’t an official holiday, but it is very popular.
If you want to scare someone, you can use the expression “Boo!” today (it’s pronounced like “do”). Or, you can just show them my picture.
~Jeff
In Brazilian Private English Schools, where people learn English as a second language, in which most of the students are children, they celebrate Halloween. Is a way of highlighting features of USA culture.
Everyday I scare my boss, from now, I will say “Boo” to my boss.
In Italy we were also influenced by your culture, so it has been some time that we were celebrating Halloween (it’s not official holiday but pretty popular among new generations).
The only part of Halloween we “inhereted” is making halloween-style parties or going out to some holloween-style resturants. No kids asking for sweets.
The term Halloween is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of All Hallows’ Day, which is now known as All Saints’ Day.
Happy Halloween!
In Russia we have All Saints’ Day in the summer, it is a one week later a Whitsunday (or Pentecost). This day all Orthodox Churches (not only Russian Church) remember all Saints that were born in the Church.
There are a lot of old Saints – Martyres, venerable monks, saint kings and so on.
I don’t know how Saints Day can be transformed to Halloween, the Witches’ day, anyone could explain? In some English oriented schools kids began to celebrate Halloween in our country too, but I am not very happy about it.
I’m Brazilian and I study in a Translator and Interpreter course. We celebrated the Halloween going to the mall and talking about our English course. It was funny and everybody on the streets loved it!
As Igor says for Russia here in Spain we haven’t ever before have Halloween feasts. But it was true that on first of Noverber it was a custom that many people goes to visit their
dead relatives to cementery. They carry some flowers, clean the tombs and so on. Usually it has been a sad day, or a day to remeber the lost friends or relatives, and so on for many many years.
Nowadays everything is changind and young or not so young people like to do such a thing as in your anglo culture in the way of bad imitation. For me it is very extrange how Saints Day can be transformed to Halloween and agree completly with Igor opinion and I am not happy too with such a chage.
The explain…..it is easy….Money. There are lots of places that celebrate the Halloween feast with fancy dresses, dances, etc. etc., and you have to pay for the entrance and the drinks. Another feast to be drunked or “ir the marcha”.
We have a proverb that says: Benditos mis imitadores pues copiaran mis defectos no mis virtudes. And as Hallowen has some virtues in anglo cultures, here has only defects, busines, busines and money, and of course tradition lost.
What a pitty.
Sorry for the jar of cold watter.
It’s a good thing the scary “Halloween” night, with its devils and witches, perishes at the dawn of All Saints’ Day.
I am glad to hear that some people around the world have the same opinion as I have. Thanks to Emiliano and Gremancio! Nowdays we are living in a very hard world, it pretends to be very soft and comfortable, but it lies as the devil lies everytime, from the temptation of Lord in the wilderness. So we have too many rights and too many freedoms except of freedom of sins. In our country we have may be the worst TV in the world. It was impossible to have clips of a bad film (with blood and sex) just right after the program for the little children, so I said “that’s it”! It was about 10 years before. But after that time our TV becomes even worse, and it is all because of money. To earn more money on advertising TV shows more blood and more sex. The things that were impossible 10 years before now becomes very common on our TV.
We have no TV in our home for about 10 years and we have a lot of time for reading books, listening to the music, for very simple things – to go out with children or to communicate with children or wife and so forth.