As your teachers have already told you, Halloween traditions go far back in the centuries, to old Ireland, when the Celts officially ended their Summer, and the New Year began.
The word itself, "Halloween", actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve, refering to All Saints Day, celebrated on November 1.
The stories evolving around Halloween say that on October 31 the disembodied spirits of all those who had died that previous year would come back, searching for living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife...
Naturally, living people did not want to be possessed!! ...
So on that particular night of October, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in dark rags and all sorts of horrible clothes, they would use dirt to paint their faces and then they would go around the neighborhood making a lot of noise, to frighten off the evil spirits.
Bearing these traditions in mind - as they are so relevant in the Anglo-American cultural calendar - your English teachers have designed and prepared a series of both class and school activities for you.
These activities range from painting and drawing classes to film screenings and, eventually, a Halloween Party on the Eve of Friday October 31!!
