The History of Halloween

Worksheet
Read the text and answer the questions below.

We associate Halloween with witches, haunted houses, pumpkins, trick-or-treating and black cats
but do you know what the origins of Halloween are?
We are not really sure about the true origins of Halloween. We think it started thousands of years
ago, when the Celts celebrated the end of the summer and the beginning of winter. The Celts
believed that the souls of the dead visited Earth on the last day of October. This festival was known
as Samhain.
In the 8th century, the Catholic Church made 1st November a church holiday to honour all the
Saints. It was usual to pray for the dead on this day and was originally known as All Hallows’ Day.
The name Halloween comes from All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Hallows’ Day. Today, we
know it as All Saints’ Day.
In the 19th century, Irish and Scottish immigrants went to the USA and took their Halloween
customs with them. These developed gradually into the Halloween customs we know today.
Nowadays, Halloween is extremely popular in the USA and the world’s largest Halloween parade
takes place in New York.

1. Unscramble these words from the text

a) NIAHMAS d) SMOTSUC
b) STLEC e) EDAR AP
c) STNIAS

©Kate Fryer, Macmillan Iberia, Teacher’s Corner. PHOTOCOPIABLE

This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.
The History of Halloween
Worksheet
2. After reading the text, answer the following questions:
a) Who first celebrated Halloween?

b) When did the Church introduce All Saints’ Day?

c) What was the Celtic name for the festival celebrated around Halloween?

d) What did the Celts believe happened at the end of October?

e) What happened in the 19th century?

3. Adverbs of time tell you when something happened. They express a point in time. Re-
read the text and highlight some of the adverbs of time you see.

4. Why do you think most of the text is written in the past simple?

5. Put these sentences into the present tense:

a) Immigrants went to the USA.
b) The Celts celebrated the end of summer.
c) It was usual to pray for the dead.
d) It was known as Samhain.
e) The Celts believed that the souls of the dead visited Earth on the last day of October.

©Kate Fryer, Macmillan Iberia, Teacher’s Corner. PHOTOCOPIABLE

This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.