On October 31st, Americans celebrate Halloween. Halloween means ”holy” (hallow), ”evening.” This is the evening before the Christian holy day of All Saints Day. On All Saints Day, Christians remember the Saints. But Halloween is older than Christianity.
Before Christianity, people in Europe believed that on October 31st, ghosts of dead people came back. To scare the ghost, people dressed like devils and were very noisy.
They also made big fires to scare the ghosts away. Later, people did not believe in ghosts, but they celebrated the day of Halloween for fun.
Immigrants came from Europe to America and brought with them the custom of Halloween.
Halloween has some strange symbols. One symbol is a Jack-o'-lantern. The Jack-o'-lantern is to scare the ghosts. People cut a hole in the top of a pumpkin, throw away all the of in the inside and cut a face in the pumpkin. Then they put a candle inside to make the face light up.
Today in the United States, Halloween is very popular with children. They wear masks and special costumes. They want to look like skeletons and ghosts.
Then they go from house to house and say: "Trick or treat!" People give them candies, cookies or fruit. When people give nothing, the children sometimes play tricks on them.
You can be Bright!
