Learn Some American Culture by Reading About Halloween

Don’t just learn English vocabulary, learn about our culture too. In the United States, Halloween (October 31) is a very popular holiday with kids and adults. For children, there are parties at school where the kids wear their costumes and it’s very common for the best costume to win a prize.

Although most of the focus on Halloween is candy. At night children don their costumes and go out in their neighborhoods and knock on people’s doors and say “Trick or treat”. This means: Either give me a treat (usually candy) or I’ll play a trick on you. Of course the adults simply hand out store bought candy to all of the kids.

Adults also throw Halloween parties where people wear all kinds of elaborate costumes. Many of the universities have outdoor festivals that consist of drinking and partying.

The origins of Halloween go back to Celtic traditions when the people celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of the cold dark winter which reminded the people of human death. This led them to believe that the dead walked the streets on October 31st. In spite of Halloween’s pagan origins, many Christians maintain that Halloween is a Christian holiday and refer to it as All Saints Day.

However, in the U.S. Halloween is not thought of as a religious festival nor as a day only Celtic descendants celebrate. Halloween is for everybody and it’s celebrated by just about everyone.

When you select a website to learn English, be sure to select a service that helps you learn about English culture.