My English BlogBox: Customs and Traditions

How do the British celebrate traditional and religious holidays?

Halloween

“Halloween (31 October) and its associations with witches and ghosts derives from the Celtic Old Year `s Night – the night of all witches, when spirits were said to walk the earth. Witches and supernatural beings are still remembered all over Britain, when bands of children roam the streets in ghoulish costumes, carrying Halloween lanterns – pumpkins hollowed out with a ghostly face cut into one side, which glows when a candle is placed inside.

In recent years the custom of “trick or treating” has gained in popularity. Although we commonly associate this practice with America, the custom originated in England as “Mischief Night” when children declared one “lawless night” of unpunished pranks (usually May Day eve or Halloween).

Halloween parties (usually for children) include games such as apple bobbing, where apples are either floated in water or hung by a string. The object of the game is for the players to put their hands behind their back and try to seize an apple with their teeth alone”.

(The United Kingdom – 100 Questions Answered, Foreign & Commonwealth Office)

TIM BURTON `S

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

. Vídeos: Rafaela Sá, nº 20, 7ºA.

TIM BURTON `S

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Once upon a time there was a Pumpkin Patch King named Jack Skellington who ruled the holiday Halloween. Every October 31st he was the King and loved it but one year he decided he was bored of doing the same thing all the time. He wanted excitement, so he escaped from Halloween and visited other holidays. Jack decided that he wanted to become the new Christmas Santa so he kidnapped the real Santa and took over. Thus creating a Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack convinced all his friends that they should work together to bring Christmas to the children. However, as the towns` people helped they added their own idea of what a Nightmare Before Christmas would be and it turned out to be a very scary experience for all the kids. Everything ended well and the real Santa Clause was able to put things right. Jack was very sorry for messing things up and in the end found true love with Sally.

. Do you want to find out all the details about this magnificent film? Have a look at this: http://minadream.com/timburton/Nightmare.htm.

. Who is Tim Burton? Let `s find out! http://www.timburtoncollective.com/bio.html

Opening

(Narrator)

‘Twas a long time ago,

Longer now than it seems

in a place that perhaps

you've seen in your dreams

For the story that you are about to be told

began with the holiday worlds of old

Now, you've probably wondered

where holidays come from.

If you haven't I'd say

it's time you begun.

For the holidays are the result of much fuss

and hard work from the worlds that create them us

Well you see now, quite simply

that's all that they do,

making one unique holiday

especially for you

But once, a calamity ever so great

occurred when two holidays met by mistake"

Closing

“And finally, everything worked out just fine.

Christmas was saved, though there wasn't much time.

But after that night, things were never the same -

- each holiday now knew the other ones' name.

And though that one Christmas things got out of hand,

I'm still rather fond of that skeleton man.

So many years later I thought I'd drop in,

and there was old Jack still looking quite thin,

with four or five skeleton children at hand

playing strange little tunes in their xylophone band.

And I asked old Jack, "Do you remember the night

when the sky was so dark and the moon shone so bright?

When a million small children pretending to sleep

nearly didn't have Christmas at all, so to speak?”

And would you, if you could, turn that mighty clock back

to that long, fateful night, now think carefully, Jack.

Would you do the whole thing all over again,

knowing what you know now, knowing what you knew then?"

And he smiled, like the old Pumpkin King that I knew,

then turned and asked softly of me, "Wouldn't you?"

Lyrics for all the songs from the NMBC original soundtrack

http://www.timburtoncollective.com/nmbclyrics.html#02

JACK O `LANTERNS

“People have been making jack o' lanterns at Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years.

Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavoury figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O' Lantern."

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o' lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack o' lanterns”.

(Ana Sampaio, nº 1, 7ºB:
http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=716&display_order=4&mini_id=1076; Imagem: Ana Laranjeira, nº2, 7ºA).

. Nota (s): está lançado o 2º desafio (ainda se lembram do 1º? Por onde andam os logótipos?) …

. Quem se atreve a fazer um pequeno resumo da história? Se preferires podes escrever uma pequena frase sobre o filme (que sentimentos te despertou? que adjectivos utilizarias para os caracterizar? …).

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