2.  Dating back to ancient times, Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays.  Today, it is celebrated more than ever before for a simple reason: it is fun for young and old alike!

3.  The origins of the day go back to between 1000 and 100 B.C.  The Druids, the ancient habitants of modern day France, celebrated the new year when Baal, the Celtic god of Spring and Summer, went to rest after the harvest.  It was also when the Lord of the Dead, Samhain, came back to reign.  It used to be the time to hallow and venerate the dead.

4.  In ancient France, festivities began on the eve of November 1, when the souls of the departed presumably revisited their old homes to comfort themselves with food or drink provided by their relatives.  The Druids believed that the dead would play tricks on the living and cause panic and destruction. To appease the ghosts, the people would offer them food: “Trick or Treat!”

5.  As for costumes, people used to wear masks on Halloween because they believed that the demons would be frightened off.  Eventually, it became a children’s game of scaring the neighbors, who would offer “treats” to visitors.

6.  Halloween is not widely celebrated in France. However, Halloween festivities in Quebec began with the arrival of Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 1800s.  In ancient times, Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings.  When the Scotch and the Irish came to the North America they found pumpkins, which made a perfect Jack-O’-Lantern.  These traditions were passed on to French immigrants settling in Quebec, who were arriving in North America around the same time.

7.  Today, we normally associate Halloween with pumpkins, kids, costumes and candy.  In Quebec, children also go door to door on Halloween. In French speaking neighborhoods, however, instead of “Trick or treat” they are more likely to say “La charité s’il-vous-plaît!” (Charity, please).

8.  There’s lots to do on Halloween in Quebec. Besides trick-or-treating, Quebeckers and celebrate the holiday by joining parties and Halloween events such as…  The Great Pumpkin Ball at the Montreal Botanical Garden  the Halloween Fright Fest  Ghost Walking Tour in Montreal or Quebec City— both of which are supposedly full of haunted places!

9. Halloween Vocabulary

10. une araignée spider

11. l'automne fall, autumn

12. un balai broom

13. des bonbons candy

14. une bougie candle

15. un cimetière cemetery

16. un chat noir black cat

17. une chauve-souris bat

18. une citrouille pumpkin

19. un déguisement costume

20. un diable devil

21. un épouvantail scarecrow

22. un fantôme ghost

23. un feu follet jack-o'-lantern

24. une feuille leaf

25. hanter to haunt

26. jouer un tour (à qqun) to play a trick (on someone)

27. un lutin goblin

28. un masque mask

29. une momie mummy

30. un monstre monster

31. une sorcière witch

32. un squelette skeleton

33. le trente et un the thirty-first

34. un vampire vampire