Halloween - british council magazine

Do you celebrate Halloween?

What’s the best fancy dress you’ve ever seen?

Match the traditions in the correct group.

Groups:

(a) Modern traditions

,

(b) Past traditions

,

(c) Traditions that are both past and modern

• wearing fancy dress

• scaring ghosts and spirits away

• going trick or treating

• celebrating with friends and family

• going a-souling

• carving pumpkins

Which country was the last to start Halloween celebrations?

• the United States

• England

• Ireland

• Scotland

For the ancient Celts, winter was …

• a time for celebrations

• a time when life became harder

• when they went to church

• when they saw ghosts

Why did the Irish start carving faces into pumpkins instead of turnips and potatoes?

• There weren’t any turnips and potatoes in the United States.

• They brought the pumpkins with them from Ireland.

• Pumpkins were less difficult to carve.

• Pumpkins were a punishment for doing bad things.

American Halloween today is …

• less scary than in the past.

• scarier than in the past.

• less popular than when the first people came to America.

• similar to the way the Native Americans celebrated the end of the harvest.

Which tradition was the earliest?

• going a-souling

• giving soul cakes to the poor

• leaving food outside houses

• trick or treating

Which sentence about Halloween is true?

• Halloween is still changing today.

• Halloween has not changed much.

• Halloween will probably not change much in the future.

• Halloween will be replaced by the Day of the Dead.