Halloween Traditions

Halloween Traditions B1

Halloween is the holiday when children (and some older people too) dress up in scary or funny costumes and go from house to house calling "Trick or treat!" The old tradition was that if someone didn't give you a treat, you were allowed to play a trick on them.

You can see all sorts of costumes on Halloween. A few of the most popular ones are witches, wizards, mummies, demons, or werewolves. Some people believe you should always dress up as something that scares you, like a monster or the Devil, but others prefer to wear silly costumes.

People also like to decorate their houses to look scary, with carved pumpkins, fake bats and cobwebs, or even a realistic coffin with a vampire that rises up from it!

Halloween used to be an ancient pagan holiday and harvest festival, marking the end of summer and the coming of winter. People would celebrate the harvest and make bonfires to honor the dead, so that ghosts wouldn't come back and haunt them. But nowadays the main purpose of Halloween is to go trick-or-treating and get lots of sweets to eat.

Preguntas de comprensión lectora

Primero, lee el texto. Después determina si las afirmaciones son verdaderas o falsas.

1. Halloween is only celebrated by children. En el texto: Halloween is the holiday when children (and some older people too) dress up in scary or funny costumes and go from house to house calling "Trick or treat!"
   
   • True
   • False
2. You have to wear a scary costume on Halloween.En el texto: Some people believe you should always dress up as something that scares you, like a monster or the Devil, but others prefer to wear silly costumes.
   
   • True
   • False
3. Even the houses are scary on Halloween.En el texto: People also like to decorate their houses to look scary, with carved pumpkins, fake bats and cobwebs, or even a realistic coffin with a vampire that rises up from it!
   
   • True
   • False
4. In ancient times, Halloween was a festival that celebrated collecting food for the winter.En el texto: Halloween used to be an ancient pagan holiday and harvest festival, marking the end of summer and the coming of winter.
   
   • True
   • False
5. The best part of Halloween is the sweets.En el texto: But nowadays the main purpose of Halloween is to go trick-or-treating and get lots of sweets to eat.
   
   • True
   • False