The Nightmare before Christmas

Halloween's day
Halloween (All Saints’ Day Eve) is a nighttime holiday in the USA, the night in the year when children’s world turns to pure fantasy. Children (from 3 to about 11 years old) start preparing their clothes and Halloween decorations week ahead. Although parents are much involved in the preparation, on Halloween they must pretend to be frightened by the masked faces that suddenly appear. There will be little witches in long black dresses with tall pointed hats and magic brooms. There is occasional adult Halloween Dance, but Halloween in the USA has become essentially a young people’s holiday.
Halloween’s origins date back to hundreds of years before Christ to the Druid festival of Samhaim, Lord of the Dead and Prince of Darkness. According to Celtic belief, Samhaim Heaven on October 31. the Sun God, who shared the holiday, received thanks for the years’s harvest.
The jack-o’-lantern, a lantern made from a hollowed pumpkin with a carved face, is the most typical of Halloween symbols. It has its origin in Ireland where it was made from a large hollowed potato or turnip. ‘Trick or treat’ likewise had its origin in Ireland, where children used to go from house to house begging food for the village Halloween festivities.
In the USA ‘trick pr treat’ and Halloween are synonyms for children. They dress up in fancy dresses and go around the neighborhood ringing doorbells. As the door opens they shout, ‘trick or treat’, and they usually get candies, cookies, and fruit. When they don’t get these things, they may play a trick on the owners of the house. These tricks are not more serious than soaped windows or some misplaced garden tools.



Halloween Poems





Five Little Pumpkin Sitting On A Gate

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said,
"Oh my, it's getting late.
"The second one said,
"But we don't care.
"The third one said,
"I see witches in the air.
"The fourth one said,
"Let's run, and run, and run.
"The fifth one said,
"Get ready for some fun.
"Then whoosh went the wind,
and out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!








Haunted House

by Jack Prelutsky

There's a house upon the hilltop
We will not go inside
For that is where the witches live,
Where ghosts and goblins hide.
Tonight they have their party,
All the lights are burning bright,
But oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight.
The demons there are whirling
And the spirits swirl about.
They sing their songs to Halloween.
"Come join the fun," they shout.
But we do not want to go there
So we run with all our might
And oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight.