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Halloween1）
All Saints’ Day，which falls on 1st November，is regarded in the West as a festival．It was formerly a religious day and has been observed since the 4th century．31 st October，the night before All Saints’ Day called Halloween，was originally New Year’ s Eve celebrated by the Celts．The Celtic authoritative2） druids3） believed that demons and spirits of the dead roam the earth on their New Year' s Day．In order to protect themselves from any potential tricks and harms done to them，they wore frightful masks and disguised themselves so that the spirits would think the druids belonged to their own evil company．And tasty eatables were offered to curry favour with them and bonfires w ere lit to drive them away．Later on，those practices were gradually changed into a custom of commemorating on 31 st October the return of dead souls to their homeland．People on that day also commemorated all the dead saints either well－known or not well－known．Because dead soul s are observed on All Saints’ Day，some people tend to call it Ghost Day．This day has been now developed into a non－religious ordinary festival．Wearing exotic4） masks，putting on gorgeous and weird clothes and holding candlelit pumpkin lanterns5） carved into grotesque6） heads，people gather cheerfully on streets in the evening to sing and dance to their hearts’ content．Spectacular fancy dress balls are held in some places．This festival appeals especially to the lovely kids．They dress up in costumes and go from door to door to extend good wishes for asking for confectionaries7） or some small gifts．Halloween is really a joyful festival in the West．
