Speaker 1: Boom. Did I scare you? I hope not. Halloween is
literally around the corner, and depending on where you live,
that may or may not have any particular meaning for you.
But in the usay, well, let's go trick or treating.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine seventeen. How
Halloween is really celebrated in the USA. Thanks for tuning in,
and hey, happy Halloween. If you're listening to this on
October thirty first, or even a day or two later,
I hope you're feeling the spooky season vibes. Two weeks ago,
we kicked off our Halloween series with some scary vocabulary,
and today we're keeping the Halloween spirit alive with something
a little different, a look at how Halloween is really
celebrated here in the USA. Maybe you've seen Halloween in
movies or heard about things like trick or treating, but
what's it actually like? How do people celebrate, what do
adults do? What happens at schools, and of course, what
are some fun phrases you can use to talk about it. Well,
let's take a look. So first things first, where did
Halloween even come from? Well, Halloween actually goes back more
than two thousand years. It started as a Celtic holiday,
which was a time when people believed the boundary between
the living and the dead became well blurred creepy. Right
when Christianity spread through Europe, that holiday got blended with
All Saints' Day and over time it evolved into Halloween
All hollows Eve. Immigrants brought Halloween traditions to America and
here it turned into a fun, lighthearted community holiday with candy,
costumes and jack o lanterns. So nowadays, what actually happens
on Halloween in the USA? Let's start with the kids.
On Halloween night, kids get dressed up in costumes and
go trick or treating. That means they walk around their neighborhood,
usually with their parents, and knock on doors. When the
door opens, they shout trick or treat, and then the
people inside give them candy. It's kind of a social contract.
No one ever actually plays a trick. Everyone just wants
the treat and yeah, costumes are a huge part of it.
You'll see everything from cute animals to classic monsters like
vampires and witches, to pop culture items like Spider Man
or Barbie. Some kids wear scary costumes, but fathers just
want to be silly or fun. Now, if you're a
student in an American school, you're going to get a
full dose of Halloween starting about mid October. Elementary schools
usually have Halloween parades where kids walk around in costume,
sometimes through the whole school or even outside for the
parents to see. And of course there are Halloween class parties, music, games, candy,
and of course Halloween decorations. It's one of the most
fun days of the school year. Teachers sometimes dress up too.
Good times for sure. Now what about the grown ups, Well,
Halloween is not just for kids. Adults get into it
too in a big way. You'll see costume parties, bar crawls,
haunted houses, and yeah, a lot of people decorate their
houses with fake cobwebs, skeletons, spiders, and big inflatable pumpkins.
One of my neighbors in New York had a yard
full of zombies, monsters, and even scary music in lights.
That was so it's oh cool. There are Halloween themed
pet parades where people dress up their dogs and cats.
In fact, one of the biggest Halloween dog parades happens
in New York City in Thompson Square Park. You'll see
everything from hot dog costumes to vampire chiuhahuas. It's amazing.
And of course, there are scary movies. October is prime
time for watching horror films, classic ones like Halloween The
Shining and newer ones like Get Out. Not everyone likes
being scared, like me, but for a lot of people
it's a tradition. Now, let's talk about a few common
Halloween phrases and expressions. You might hear trick or treat
that's what kids say to get candy, and boo that's
a playful way to scare someone. Even signs and Halloween
decorations say boo. And maybe you know someone who's a
scaredy cat. A scaredy cat. A lot of children's words
end in why, like doggie for dog, kitty for cat,
and tummy for stomach. Well, scaredy cat is a fun,
friendly way to call someone who's easily scared. You'll also
hear the phrase the Witching hour that's a dramatic way
to refer to midnight when spooky things might happen. And lastly,
to dress up, which in this context means to wear
a costume, like your friend might ask you are you
dressing up this year when it's not Halloween. The phrase
dress up means to wear something on the formal side,
like suit and tie, like I used to dress up
for work all the time. So, now that you know
what Halloween is really like in the USA, here's your challenge.
Try talking about Halloween in your own country. Do people
celebrate it to kids wear costumes or is it more
of a marketing thing. You can say phrases like we
don't really celebrate Halloween, but some people blah blah blah
kids in my country love dressing up for Halloween, or
it's not popular here. And hey, if you want to
practice this kind of English with me and a group
of other awesome learners, come check out my podcast Learners
study group. We meet once a week and practice the
language from these podcasts lessons together. It's a great way
to build confidence and improve your speaking. Just check the
link where you're listening to this podcast right now, or
visit Myhappy English Dot com and choose podcast episode nine
seventeen for more info. Thanks for listening, and remember learning
another language is not easy and a little spooky, but
it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
your journey.
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy english dot com. Show your support for Happy
English by leading us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.