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Part 1 The Origin of Halloween 萬圣節的由來
Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?
Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries. From the Roman's Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.
Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was "he" who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
The thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more ritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of dressing up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role.
關于萬圣節由來的，傳說最多的版本認為，那是源于基督誕生前的古西歐國家，主要包括愛爾蘭、蘇格蘭和威爾士。這幾處的古西歐人叫德魯伊特人。德魯伊特的新年在十一月一日，新年前夜，德魯伊特人讓年輕人集隊，戴著各種怪異面具，拎著刻好的蘿卜燈，他們游走于村落間。
這里要說明一下，南瓜燈是后期習俗，因為古西歐最早沒有南瓜。這在當時實則為一種秋收的慶典；也有說是“鬼節”，傳說當年死去的人，靈魂會在萬圣節的前夜造訪人世，據說人們應該讓造訪的鬼魂看到圓滿的收成并對鬼魂呈現出豐盛的款待。所有篝火及燈火，一來為了嚇走鬼魂，同時也為鬼魂照亮路線，引導其回歸。
在中世紀的中歐，曾有過基督教摧毀異教徒的歷史?？墒切履暌骨暗募漓霊c典從未真正消除，不過以巫術的形式出現。這也就是為什么我們現在的萬圣節里，還留有巫婆的掃帚、黑貓、咒語等痕跡。下面再說說Halloween一詞的產生：很多民族都在萬圣節前夜有慶典聚會，這又被叫做“All Hallow E'en”、“The Eve of All Hallows”、“Hallow e'en”，或者“The eve of All Saintas' Day”。最終約定俗成演變成了“Halloween”，中文意譯成了萬圣節之夜。
Part 2 Halloween Customs 萬圣節習俗
The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day's apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain's black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day.
The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. A: The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.
The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.
The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
孩子們今天著裝挨家要糖的習俗，也就是我們所說的Trick or Treat，據說起源于愛爾蘭。古西歐時候的愛爾蘭異教徒們，相信在萬圣節前夜
鬼魂會群集于居家附近，并接受設宴款待。因而，在“宴會”結束后，村民們就自己扮成鬼魂精靈，游走村外，引導鬼魂離開，避邪免災。于此同時，村民們也都注意在屋前院后的擺布些水果及其他食品，喂足鬼魂而不至于讓它們傷害人類和動物或者掠奪其他收成。后來這習俗一直延續下來，就成了孩子們開的玩笑。
至于南瓜燈，Jack-o-lantern，也有一個傳說，吝嗇的愛爾蘭酒鬼JACK騙魔鬼爬進了蘋果樹的樹洞，然后迅速在樹干上刻了一個神圣的十字，困住了魔鬼。JACK逼著魔鬼起誓永遠不再追索、或以任何其它方式謀取他的靈魂，才把魔鬼放了出來。然而這卻擋不住死亡的來臨。JACK死后，由于酗酒、吝嗇和欺詐，他未被允許進入天堂。而由于魔鬼的誓言，JACK也不能進入地獄?！澳敲次胰ツ睦锬兀俊盝ACK不知所措地問。“哪兒來的回哪兒去！”魔鬼惡狠狠地回答。回去的路冷風四起，黑暗無邊。魔鬼從地獄之火揀了一塊燒得通紅的火炭扔給他。為了照路又不被風吹滅，JACK將火炭放進了他手里拿著的大頭菜中。JACK就這樣舉著他的“燈籠”尋找自己在地球上的存身之處。后來蘇格蘭人模仿他，挖空大頭菜，放入蠟燭做燈籠；愛爾蘭人用大頭菜也用土豆；英格蘭人則用甜菜。后來他們移民到美國，發現了一個更好用的燈籠──南瓜燈！這個故事其實是在告戒人們，無論什么情形，都不要和魔鬼做交易。
Part 3 A Halloween Party 萬圣節派對
Dialogue Script 1 對話原文 1
Holly: What a great haunted house idea---the Haunted Woods! Jack did a great job.
Alicia: Yes, I love it! And we have to take a golf cart!
Holly: Kinda spooky, huh? I hope nothing big jumps out at us.
Alicia: I wouldn't count on that. Brian said to expect the unexpected!
Holly: Well, it's definitely dark and creepy in here.
Alicia: Yeah, it's giving me the creeps. I keep seeing things moving out there behind the trees.
Brian: I heard that a prison escapee roams these woods!
Holly: Knock it off, Brian! You're just trying to get us screaming!
Brian: This isn't scary. But I bet you girls will scream if something jumps out!
Alicia: Brian! Something just moved up there in front of us!
Brian: Don't worry, Alicia, I'll protect you.
Holly: Keep your eyes on where you're going!
Brian: Ahh! A werewolf!
