萬圣節英語短文

　　Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films arevery happy.

　　Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.

　　History

　　Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)".The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".Snap-Apple Night (1832) by Daniel Maclise.Depicts apple bobbing and divination games at a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland.The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.

　　The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows Day.[4] Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena m?ssed?g, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

　　11月1日 -- 萬圣節 All Saints' Day

　　11月2日 -- 墨西哥的鬼節 Day of Death

　　萬圣節(All Saints' Day, All Hallow's Day或Hallowmas) 是每年11月1日的歐美大節日。

　　Halloween 是 All Hallows Eve 的縮寫，萬圣節前夜的意思，指10月31日的晚上。

　　For thousands of years people have been celebrating different holidays and festivals at the end of October. The Celts celebrated it as Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”, with “sow” rhyming with cow)。 The Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society defines the word as follows:

　　“Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess)。(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as ”Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer.“(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a ”lord of death“ as such.

　　The Celts believed that every year on the last day of October, the souls of the dead visited the earth.www.

　　When the Romans conquered the Celts in the first century A.D., they added parts of their festivals, Feralia and Pomona to the tradition. Feralia was a festival to honor the dead and Pomona was a harvest festival named after the goddess of fruit (apples) and trees.

　　Around the eigth century, the Christian church made November 1 All Saints' Day to honor all of the saints that didn't have a special day of their own. Over the years these festivals combined, the mass held on All Saints' Day was called Allhallowmas (the mass of all Hallows - saintly people)。 The night before was known as All Hallows Eve. Eventually this name became Halloween.

　　In the 1800s, as a lot of people emigrated to the U.S., the holidays and traditions of different cultures merged. Halloween was not always a happy time. October 31, or the night before took on other names. Some called it Devil's or Hell night, to others it was mischief night. Here in Vermont, the night before is called cabbage night. To some people this became a time to play tricks on others. Some of these tricks were not fun at all. Luckily, community groups and individuals took action and started to change Halloween into a family event. Dressing up in costumes and going ”trick or treating“, costume parades, community parties and Fall festivals are some of the ways that Halloween is celebrated today.

　　Other countries have different Fall festivals to honor the deceased.

　　The Festival of the Dead is one of the most important happenings in both Palermo and the rest of Sicily. The second of November is a festival day for the children of Palermo as, according to tradition,they were made to believe that their dead relatives would return the night before and leave them traditional sweets and cakes on the table (Martorana fruit, which is almond paste made into the shape of different fruit)。 They would also receive puppets of boiled sugar and toys. It's one way of keeping the memory of their dead relatives and loved ones alive.

　　一年中最”鬧鬼“的這天夜里，各種妖魔鬼怪、 海盜、 外星來客和巫婆們紛紛出動。在基督紀元以前，凱爾特人在夏未舉行儀式感激上蒼和太陽的恩惠。

　　當時的占卜者點燃并施巫術以驅趕據說在四周游蕩的妖魔怪。后來，羅馬人用果仁和蘋果來慶祝的豐收節與凱爾特人的10月31日溶合了。

　　在中世紀，人們穿上動物造型的服飾、 戴上可怕的面具是想在萬圣節前夜驅趕黑夜中的鬼怪。盡管後來基督教代替了凱爾特和羅馬的宗教活動，早期的習俗還是保留下來了。現在，孩子們帶著開玩笑的心理穿戴上各種服飾和面具參加萬圣節舞會，這些舞會四周的墻上往往懸掛著用紙糊的巫婆、 黑貓、 鬼怪和尸骨，窗前和門口則吊著齜牙裂嘴或是面目可憎的南瓜燈籠。孩子們還常常試圖咬住懸掛著的蘋果。

　　美國和加拿大的孩子們在這天穿戴上古怪的服飾去按鄰居家的門鈴，并按傳統發出”是款待我還是要我耍花招“的威脅。鄰居們不管是否被嚇著，總是準備了一些糖果、 蘋果等點心，孩子們則一一收入自己的袋內。

　　萬圣節其實不是基督教的節日。2500年前，愛爾蘭的凱爾特人(Celts)以10月31日為一年的最後一日，11月1日是新一年的開始，也象徵冬天的來臨。

　　凱爾特人相信死亡之神Samhain在10月31日的晚上會和鬼魂一起重返人間，尋找替身。因此他們燃點火炬，焚燒動物以作為死亡之神的獻禮。還會用動物的頭或皮毛做成的服飾打扮自己，發出古怪的聲音，使死亡之神認不出自己，避過災難。這就是今天萬圣節化妝舞會的由來。過了當晚，鬼魂回到陰間，一切回復平靜。

　　基督教興起，教徒沿襲萬圣節傳統，萬圣節的意義慢慢改為紀念為獻身於神而死亡的人(holies)。

　　附帶一提，11月2日是墨西哥的鬼節(Los Dias de los Muertos, Day of the Dead)。當天家家戶戶都烘烤動物造型的面包和煮雞肉等食物，并在供桌上面放置玩具，以期待早逝的孩童們回到家中玩耍。也可以陳列鮮花、 水果、 照片和彩繪的骷髏頭，接待仙逝長輩。

　　墨西哥人認為，鬼魂和人一樣需要及時行樂，所以鬼節宛若一場嘉年華會，人們帶著面具到處游走，吃骷髏形狀的糖，面包上還裝飾有鬼的形像。黃昏時刻，全家人一起到墓園清理墓地，婦女們或跪或坐整夜祈禱，男人們交談或唱歌，在子夜中燭光忽閃忽滅充滿了整個墓園，游唱歌者為已逝亡者的靈魂高歌吟唱。