Happy Halloween!

Halloween is about kids in cute costumes and candy, right? I live in the neighborhood of empty nesters. Our street is not a popular destination for trick-or-treating. Still, you cannot miss Halloween, for it is a community event.

The cityscape changes as carved pumpkins, skeletons, ghosts, scarecrows and other decorations representing dark forces pop up in front of residences. House owners approach Halloween decoration with Hollywood-style creativity. If you happen to drive through the right neighborhood in the evening, you may see special light effects accompanied by sounds of thunder, howling wind, or chilling laughter. Stores designate special areas for the Halloween paraphernalia. Sales start a good few weeks before the holiday. You can find anything for any budget – from wigs, masks and weird costumes to super-sized inflatable figurines for the front yard.

Municipalities, libraries, churches, athletic and civic centers organize special programs on or before the last day of October. The senior class at Nimitz High School sponsored a carnival. Public and school libraries throughout Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex had mystery readings. Some cities invited families to see spooky movies in public parks.

Halloween is not just for kids. Grownups like to get in touch with the inner child and play a bit. It is not uncommon to see adults wear a costume to a restaurant. People at work should be ready for pranks, like a handshake from a co-worker wearing an “electrifying” buzzer ring. Once, I had a dentist appointment on October the 31^st. The doctor and his staff wore very funny
clothes. That was the best painkiller!

From: The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language

empty nester: http://www.bartleby.com/61/91/E0119100.html
destination: http://www.bartleby.com/61/58/D0165800.html
cityscape: http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/C0375200.html
paraphernalia: http://www.bartleby.com/61/39/P0063900.html
inflatable: http://www.bartleby.com/61/11/I0131100.html
prank: http://www.bartleby.com/61/26/P0502600.html

I invite the participants of this international pilot to read about the origins of Halloween and cotemporary traditions on the Encarta site: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572079/Halloween.html

What can you tell about your personal experience with Halloween or a related holiday? Tell your story in a comment to this post.

7 Comments »

Hi everybody am A.J and am here to tell you about Halloween . This is my first Halloween ever, all what I know about Halloween is that you go out and get candy. And I arrived to the united states from Iraq. And we didn’t have Halloween in Iraq. for more information go to google and search Halloween.com

Comment by A3 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
I am a bicutural man. In America we celebrate Halloween. In Mexico we have el Dia de los Muertos, (Day of the Dead), which is tow day after the American holiday. American Halloween is a big commercialized party. In Mexico things are difference. It is time to remember the dead and to visited their graves, families decorate gravestones.

Comment by L4 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
Mexico is widely used in the story of the dead to which all the people go to the cemetery to leave flowers for their loved people that were some great people for them. Also when the kids ask candy’s children salts to give some people candy’s give the other a “sweet potato.” that the sweet potato is something very traditional in Mexico that the sweet potato is occasional with the dead. At the time, is also designed which is the most favorite day of the holy death that Halloween, the dead, and the holy death is something related to this very day is 10/31/2008. I’m going to tell the story of 10/31/2008, which was designed in this day of all the dead Halloween leave their tombs to be able to go out to meet her things that did not meet when they were alive. This day is very especial for all the kids that come to ask candy in the streets with their costumes fans.

9google translation was used

Comment by e3 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
today is Halloween and in EL SALVADOR We also celebrate Halloween almost the same as in America, the only differencence is the weather because in EL SALVADOR is in about the 27’s degrees Celsius the whole year even in Christmas,so we just have one kind of cloth for the whole year, so when I came to America I was frozen and I had to buy two kinds of clothes,because in America when Halloween here is so cool, there is almost 40 degrees Fahrenheit that is quite chilly temperatures.
another tradition in America is kids and their parents go to their neighbors and they say “trick or treat” they say that because they want to get candy from their Neighbors, at the end of the day those kids and even parents have a whole bunch of candies, that was what happen last year to my Brother and me, well we don’t get that much of candies, but we were happy because, in EL SALVADOR we are so poor and we don’t have that that much of Money even to buy candies for those kids.

Comment by V3 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
Halloween vocabulary
Jack-o’-lantern : pumpkin with a face cut into it, usually with a light inside made at Halloween.
Trick or treat:
Costume : is a scary dress or funny characters
mask :
candy
scary night
Halloween :
spooky
ghost
boo

Comment by jh3 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
In my country people do not celebrate Halloween day, instead we celebrate El Dia de los Muertos (The Day Of Dead People) that is celebrated in November 2nd. We go to the cementary to visit some parent that we have lost. We go and redecorate the rip put some beautiful flowers on it. We also have especial food like fried fish with eggs or some kind of bread that is called Pan de Muerto (bread of a dead).

Comment by j3 | October 31, 2008 | Reply
I do not know much about halloween but my personal experience in halloween.Halloween is in the evening of october 31 people make many activiy they dresses costumes trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties,. some people reading scary stories and watch horror movie.many people decorate his house with scary things. Halloween is a traditionally holiday in my country people celebrate the day of the dead people.in the night people go to asking for trick-or-treating house to house and dresses different types of costumes.

Comment by al2 | October 31, 2008 | Reply