萬圣節來歷英文介紹

Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving Jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. In Sweden the All Saints' official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

萬圣節來歷中文介紹

萬圣節,是國際性節日慶祝10月31日。萬圣節的活動包括糖果、鬼怪旅游,篝火,化裝舞會,參觀鬧鬼的景點,雕刻火焰般雙眼的-lanterns,閱讀和看恐怖片的可怕的故事。愛爾蘭移民帶版本的傳統到北美在十九世紀。其它西方國家接受了二十世紀后期的節日。萬圣節是西方世界的幾個國家,最常見的是在美國、加拿大、愛爾蘭、波多黎各、日本、新西蘭、英國,偶爾在澳大利亞的部分。在瑞典度假的所有圣徒的官員在11月的第一個星期六。

萬圣節源自凱爾特人的薩溫節。在古凱爾特人的信仰里，新的一年于11月1日開始，或稱薩溫節(Samhain)。正如比較短的白天象征新一年的開始，日落亦象征新一天的開始;所以每年收割的節日于10月31日晚上開始。不列顛群島的德魯伊教徒會燃點農作物作為祭品，而當他們圍著火堆跳舞時，太陽季節便會完結而薩溫 節隨即開始。凱爾特人相信死亡之神Samhain在10月31日的晚上會和鬼魂一起重返人間，尋找替身。因此他們點燃火炬，焚燒動物以作為死亡之神的獻禮。還會用動物的頭或皮毛做成的服飾打扮自己，發出古怪的聲音，使死亡之神認不出自己，避過災難。這就是今天萬圣節化妝舞會的由來。