149. Halloween (Listen and Read)

The holiday called Halloween is celebrated on October 31st of each year.

Halloween is not an official holiday.

Everyone goes to work or to school on Halloween, just as on any other day.

But Halloween is still one of the holidays that children like the most.

Why do children like Halloween so much?

There are two reasons: costumes and candy.

On the evening of October 31st,

children dress up in strange and unusual costumes.

They wear costumes that may look like a witch,

a monster, or many other weird things.

Putting on these scary costumes is a lot of fun for children.

After the children put on their costumes, they walk from house to house during the evening.

The children carry large bags with them.

At each house, they stop and knock at the door.

When an adult opens the door, the children shout "trick or treat".

The adult who opens the door pretends to be frightened,

and then puts pieces of candy into each child's open bag.

At the end of the evening, the children have visited many houses and have collected much candy.

During the next several days, they can feast upon the sweet candies that they have received.

Another Halloween tradition is very unusual.

In each house, a family gets a very large, round orange vegetable called a pumpkin.

They cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin,

and empty out the flesh and seeds of the vegetable.

Then, they cut holes in the side of the pumpkin,

so that it appears to have eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

When the carving is finished, the pumpkin looks almost like a person's face!

When the pumpkin has been carved to look like a face,

people place a light inside the pumpkin,

so that the vegetable seems to glow in the dark.

This strange-looking face is called a "Jack O' Lantern".

On Halloween evening, one can see many of these Jack O' Lanterns,

some of which are very beautifully carved.

Halloween is truly a fun and interesting holiday, especially for children!