British Traditional Festivals英国传统节日.doc

外国语学院 商务英语1101 袁小丽 2011012406 British Traditional Festivals . Halloween 1.1 History of Halloween Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows Evening also known as Halloween or All Hallows Eve. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, and costume parties, visiting haunted houses and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, Trick or treat? The trick part of trick or treat is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters. The history of Halloween has evolved. The activity is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and due to increased American cultural influence in recent years, imported through exposure to US television and other media, trick-or-treating has started to occur among children in many parts of Europe, and in the Saudi Aramco camps of Dhahran, Akaria compounds and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia. The most significant growth and resistance is in the United Kingdom, where the police have threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children to carry out the trick element. In continental Europe, where the commerce-driven importation of Halloween is seen with more skepticism, numerous destructive or illegal tricks and police warnings have further raised suspicion about this game and H