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1、Yvonnes Language Lab #15 W9 m/ p7 S6 n9 D很快就万圣节了。在这里提供一点背景知识。 + 8 p0 C G4 xHalloween -万圣节 V+ * 8 q; Te, XHalloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a 4 O8 y& p4 d8 t* o- L# fcelebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as 1some 2 I4 x5 n/ b3 L+ G) 5 claim,
2、 a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of ) Isome 0 zancient pagan ritual?) DThe word itself, Halloween, actually has its origins in the Catholic %Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. & o1z;2 7November 71, All Hollows Day (or All Saints Day), is a Cat
3、holic day of # I6 k4 H* 1 q5 I& I: Bobservance . b0 y* # g2 gin honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, 9 P& 6 d; H, n9 g w u6 D4 V! Tsummer 2 dofficially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain $ _% N5 X* s/ x e, J: s% X(sow-en), + h( _! & l1 I$ the Celtic New ye
4、ar. 0 z; X q1 E: r2 oOne story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those # _) % N7 U# : who W# K* O9 L9 w k$ b. dM whad died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of * f: r# + Wq% g! Yliving 4 J5 J# S& K0 R3 J: R5 ybodies to possess for the next year. It was beli
5、eved to be their only ; Z9 a9 ; o# Lhope wfor the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were ) 4 y1 W; u0 q( T tsuspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle / Kwith + the living. /Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed.(给鬼上身） So (on -sthe
6、night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their 6 u: S6 Q. I0 homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in / Q, x+ |7 b9 k+ $ jall manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around theneighborhood, Jbeing as destructive as possible in order to frighte
7、n away spirits: llooking 2 Qfor bodies to possess. 0 O. v P. ( % p, 9 M- iProbably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires 9 V4 J$ 5 q* I1 6 owas T) c1 q# a; u: gnot to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes ) & Z3 I4 ! q5 v/ ucould relight their fires
8、 from a common source, the Druidic fire that _was , ekept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach. * R5 W: d7 z- E- K% O. W; l3 A1 Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who ; Y. J9 U- p9 1 G, R% 5 x$ . dwas fthought to have already been possessed, as sort of a less
9、on to the Xspirits. M7 3 3 n( |Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth. ( & U* q& g* / : m3 bThe Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first ; E7 w: o . . P! . P. Zcentury AD, they abandoned any practice of sacrificing of humans in favor 4bof burning effi
10、gies. 1 q8 o* p9 C7 c Ehe thrust of the practices also changed over time to become more 0 m! v+ - T2 l2 - N! yritualized. As belief in spirit possession waned, the practice of $ r7 : r$ O& 9 0 f: gdressing 1 up like hobgoblins, ghosts, and witches took on a more ceremonial role. % C. q3 3 F# I# g% 5
11、 |8 zThe custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840s by Irish immigrants fleeing their countrys potato famine. At that time, the * * m ?8 Y4 C3 W2 _: Mfavorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and ; t- H8 s/ U3 r* K! z( Aunhinging fence gates. % |8 N% q& Z; l- o E/ U
12、: 0 p9 kThe custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with 0 X8 E$ e6 . p& a4 U) R# the 4 h3 K8 S- u8 l V, Q2 FIrish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. $ h8 # L; m i9 t4 Z% C5 On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to x
13、 L S/ t% _ w+ w+ % w! gvillage begging for soul cakes, made out of square pieces of bread 4 C8 x3 Y5 M- m* kwith * |6 O! G0 , j! currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more ; qprayers - F- 4 P/ _% v0 k. I- w# o& they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the O
14、2 g7 jg$ g; * 7 Mdonors. At 9 tthe time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time % W/ Y1 Y) C; Lafter ( death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a souls passage 5 m2 b: 4 N* H& W+ J9 Tito heaven. ) ?) L( z* c# a % ?) v0 e1 eThe Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes
15、 from Irish folklore. As the tale : W* F1 ! w8 o. P Ois 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 + k l* V. i: Y% ?the trees trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal jwith 6 x1 g,
16、d/ : & N# A2 v; kthe devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to - J, x/ Q2 t, ?* A/ wlet 8 _* e. p; 0 e. _him down the tree. 9 U7 z9 O c4 q$ u3 + CAccording to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to + t; c* F& F6 F7 j( e3 B& Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell : i6
