A few ideas!
Fun and simple poetry
Acrostics
H AUNTED HOUSES HERE AND THERE
A UTUMN FUN EVERYWHERE
L OOKING AT MONSTERS CREEPING TO SCARE
L ANTERNS LIGHTING UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS
O WLS GROWLING IN THE NIGHT
W ITCHES SPOOK IN THE DARK , DARK LIGHT
E VERY PUMPKIN SWEET AND ROUND
E NJOYS TO SIT ON THE GROUND
N IGHTMARE, NIGHTFALL ! IT’S Halloween!
All Hallows Eve = Halloween
Halloween is a Celtic festival celebrated annually on October 31st in many countries around the world and has become popular in Italy, too. The festival was called Samhain and one of the earliest mentions is in 9th century Irish literature.
What does Samhain mean? It was a celebration to mark the end of the harvest months and the beginning of the colder months. It was ‘also’ a time when Pagans remembered loved ones who had died during the past year. People would dress up as ghosts or scary creatures, tell stories and light bonfires.
What do Historians believe? That in the 9th century, the Celtic festival was associated with All Saints’ Day, a Christian holiday and therefore the name changed to ‘All -Hallows Eve’ and eventually Hallowe’en. In Italy, we celebrate ‘All Saints’ Day’ and ‘All Souls’ Day at the beginning of November.
What about jack-o-lantern and trick -or-treating? Many believe that it came from an Irish Christian folktale in which it symbolised a person who could not enter heaven nor hell.
Trick-or-treating could have come from the Scottish Samhain tradition of ‘guising’- disguising in costumes. The idea was to scare off bad spirits with costumes.
Children go ‘Trick or treating’ from house to house ringing doorbells and asking for a ‘treat’, a sweet and playing tricks or telling jokes or rhymes.
Traditional games include ‘Apple bobbing’ where an apple is placed in a bucket of water. Children take the apple out of the water without using their hands. What do they use? Their mouths!
