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Halloween Traditions and Jack-o-Lanterns

The traditions of Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain celebrated by the Irish on October 31st. They believed that on this night, spirits would emerge from the underworld and roam the earth. When Christianity spread in the 6th century, the harvest festival of All Saints' Day was established on this date, with the night before becoming known as All Hallows' Eve or Halloween. The jack-o-lantern symbol also has Irish origins, stemming from a man named Jack who was condemned to wander at night with only a pumpkin lantern to light his way after dying, giving rise to the Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins.

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492 views2 pages

Halloween Traditions and Jack-o-Lanterns

The traditions of Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain celebrated by the Irish on October 31st. They believed that on this night, spirits would emerge from the underworld and roam the earth. When Christianity spread in the 6th century, the harvest festival of All Saints' Day was established on this date, with the night before becoming known as All Hallows' Eve or Halloween. The jack-o-lantern symbol also has Irish origins, stemming from a man named Jack who was condemned to wander at night with only a pumpkin lantern to light his way after dying, giving rise to the Halloween tradition of carving pumpkins.

Uploaded by

Laura Gonzalez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Halloween Explain Cloze Activity
  • Answer Key

HALLOWEEN EXPLAIN CLOZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EtkXnlqPMw

Watch the video and then fill in the gaps of the text below. Use the words in the box

around dared real rooted came Some


so on called hence for called
celebrating kicked so only this

Like 1_______ many of our celebrations, the traditions of Halloween are deeply
2___________ in our past. This all got started with the ancient Irish. They celebrated the

end of their pastoral year on October 31st. They 3_______this festival Samhain and they
believed that on this night, spirits 4 ___________ from de underworld and roamed the earth.

When Christianity began to influence Irish tradition, 5 ___________ the 6th century, October
31st was made into a harvest festival 6 ___________ All Saints Days or All Hallows Day,
7_____ the night before was Hallows eve or Hallows-een, a combination of ancient Celtic

or Irish lore 8__________________ harvest festival.

I suppose the 9______ symbol of Halloween these days is the Jack-o-Lantern. Its history is
also Irish.

You see, there was 10_______ guy named Jack, and he had a terrible reputation for playing
practical jokes 11_____ people, and when he died he went to the underworld and he
12______ to play a trick on the Devil. The Devil got so mad he 13________ him out and

made him wander over the earth at night with 14______ the light of a lantern to search for
his soul. 15________ say old Jack only had a pumpkin to carry as light and 16_________ the
name of Jack-O-Lantern.

Now, we also have Jack to thank 17_______ the tradition of trick or treat because he was a
trickster.

Discuss with your partner and decide if the following sentences are true (T) or false (F)

1. The traditions of Halloween started with the ancient Romans.


2. The festival Samhain was celebrated on 31th October.
3. During the night of 31th October, the ancient Irish believed that the spirits roamed
freely over the earth.
4. The Christianity respected and preserved this tradition.
5. The main symbol of Halloween is Jack-o-lantern.
6. Jack-o-lantern was condemned to wander over the earth because he was a liar and
a drunkard.
7. The devil give Jack a turnip to carry as light

Could you explain, in your own words, why is Jack-o-lantern the symbol of Halloween?
ANSWER KEY
1. So
2. Rooted
3. Called
4. Came
5. Around
6. Called
7. So
8. Celebrating
9. Real
10. This
11. On
12. Dared
13. Kicked
14. Only
15. Some
16. Hence
17. For

1) F 2) T 3) T 4) F 5) T 6) F 7) F

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