#190 Halloween in America 2021

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Transcript:

Hi, everyone!

I’m Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help YOU to speak English fluently.

In today’s episode:

I’ll be talking about one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States: Halloween. After that, you’ll practice your speaking with a new mini-story, while enjoying my new Question & Answer story.

Very well. Let’s get started! 

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the last day of October. I would say it’s very popular because everybody’s excited about it, especially children.

The word Halloween comes from an old English expression, “All Hallows’ Eve,” and it means the day before All Saints’ Day.  

Children of all ages really love Halloween because they can dress up in funny costumes and knock on their neighborhood doors shouting “Trick or Treat!”. The neighbors usually give them candies.

The meaning of the phrase “Trick or Treat” is interesting. In this context, “treat” means getting the candies, and “trick” implies the consequence of not getting the sweets. It’s like an innocent threat children make. Of course, kids get really excited when they knock on stranger’s doors in their neighborhood.

Since Halloween originated as a celebration connected with evil spirits, the most common symbols are witches flying on broomsticks, ghosts, skeletons, black cats, etc. The black color is one of the traditional Halloween colors.

Of course, pumpkins are also a Halloween symbol. I’m sure you’ve seen them in movies. People empty a pumpkin and put a candle inside to make a lamp.

 How do you make a Halloween pumpkin? 

· The first step is hollowing out the pumpkin.

· After we use a keyhole saw to cut the hole. 

· When using a candle for illumination, you can cut the hole in the pumpkin’s top.

· For electric lights, make a hole in the bottom or side, so you can hide the cord.

The Halloween pumpkin is called Jack-O’-Lantern. It’s common to see jack-o’-lanterns on doorsteps decorations before and on Halloween.

 The name comes from an Irish legend about a man named Jack. He was so ungenerous that when he died, he couldn’t enter heaven, but he couldn’t go to hell either because he had told jokes about the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk and walk with a lantern until the Day of Judgment.