A Very British Halloween — The Halloween Files 2 (B1–B2)

THE HALLOWEEN FILES · LESSON 2 OF 4

A Very British Halloween

Two Nights in One Picture

PAIRS

In pairs, describe everything you can see. Then answer the questions together and guess what's going on.

1. What are the children holding? What do you think it's made of?

2. Why might the children be at the door?

3. What is happening inside the house?

4. Two things in this picture happen on different nights. Which two?

5. What would you like to ask the people in this picture?

Two Nights, Five Days Apart

PAIRS

In pairs, choose: A or B? Student A reads Text A (31 October). Student B reads Text B (5 November). Don't show your partner your text.

31 Oct

1 Nov

2 Nov

3 Nov

4 Nov

5 Nov

Halloween · Text A

Bonfire Night · Text B

WHILE YOU READ, FIND

• three things people do or make

• one fact that surprised you

• one question you'd like to ask your partner

Text A: Turnips, Jokes and Wet Faces

ON YOUR OWN

TEXT A · 31 OCTOBER

Lanterns with teeth

Long before pumpkins arrived, children in Scotland and Ireland made Halloween lanterns from turnips (in Scotland, "neeps"). They scooped out the inside, carved a scary face and put a candle in it. In Somerset, in south-west England, children still carry lanterns made from a giant root vegetable, the mangelwurzel, on "Punkie Night", the last

Thursday in October.

Sing for your supper

In Scotland, children went guising: they put on a disguise and visited their neighbours. By the 1890s, guisers with turnip lanterns were collecting cakes, fruit and money. Nothing was free: guisers earned their treat with a song, a joke or a funny poem, and many Scottish children still do.

TEXT A · 31 OCTOBER · CONTINUED

Wet faces and burning nuts

At Halloween parties, people bob for apples. Apples float in a tub of water, and players try to catch one with their teeth, hands behind their backs. Scots call it "dooking". In another old game, a couple put two nuts on the fire. If the nuts burned quietly, the marriage would be happy. If they spat and hissed, trouble was coming. Robert Burns wrote about these games in 1785, in his poem "Halloween".

Back from America

Scottish and Irish guising travelled to North America and grew into "trick or treat". Many people say American TV and films, such as E.T. (1982), helped bring it back to England in the 1980s. Today pumpkins are everywhere, but not everyone joins in: in a 2024 YouGov poll, only 28% of Britons said they would celebrate Halloween.

Text B: Gunpowder, Treason and Fire

ON YOUR OWN

TEXT B · 5 NOVEMBER

A plot under Parliament

In 1605, a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, planned to kill King James I. Catholics had hoped the new king would treat them better, but he didn't. The plotters moved 36 barrels of gunpowder into a cellar under the House of Lords. They planned to blow it up when the king opened Parliament on 5 November.

Caught with the matches

Then an anonymous letter warned Lord Monteagle, a Catholic, to stay away. The cellars were searched, and early on 5 November the searchers found a soldier called Guy Fawkes. He wore boots and spurs and carried fuses and matches. Fawkes and seven other plotters were executed in January 1606.

TEXT B · 5 NOVEMBER · CONTINUED

A night of fire

That same year, people lit bonfires to celebrate the king's escape, and a new law made 5 November a day of thanksgiving. For a long time the night had a strong anti-Catholic side, and crowds often burned an effigy of the Pope. By 1790, children were collecting money for a model of Guy Fawkes instead. Today the religious anger has mostly gone, and the night is all about bonfires and fireworks.

Penny for the guy

Children used to stuff old clothes to make a "guy", push it around in a pram and ask, "Penny for the guy?" The money bought fireworks, and the guy went on the bonfire. The custom has almost gone, but the word stayed: "guy", meaning a man, comes from Guy Fawkes. And before every State Opening of Parliament, the King's bodyguards still search the cellars.

Tell Your Partner

PAIRS

Tell your partner about your night: no reading aloud. Then answer the questions together. You'll need both texts.

1. On both nights, children go door to door. What do they ask for, and what do they give back?

2. Which night uses fire in more ways? How?

3. Find one custom that has almost disappeared and one that is still going strong.

4. Which night has the darker history? Why do you think so?

5. Now look at the picture again. Which night is it, inside and outside?

Fire, Fireworks and Knocking on Doors

GROUPS

In your group, discuss as many questions as you can. Be ready to share one surprising answer with the class.

Ipsos poll, October 2024: 37% of British adults prefer Bonfire Night and 26% prefer Halloween. But among 18–34-year-olds, 44% prefer Halloween.

1. Why might younger Britons prefer Halloween?

2. Are there nights with bonfires or fireworks where you live? What are they for?

3. Do children anywhere you know go door to door for sweets or money? What do they do?

4. Bonfire Night remembers a failed attack over 400 years ago. Should festivals keep their history?

5. Fireworks: fun for everyone, or too loud for pets, babies and neighbours?

Which Custom Should Travel?

GROUPS

In your group, rank these customs from 1 (we'd love to bring it to our town) to 6 (leave it in Britain). Agree on your order, then defend your top and bottom to the class.

USEFUL PHRASES

• For us, number one has to be … because …

• I'd put … above … because …

• I see your point, but …

• That one wouldn't work where I live because …

• Can we agree on …?

1

carving a turnip lantern

2

guising: a joke or a song for every treat

3

bobbing for apples

4

two nuts on the fire to predict a marriage

5

a huge bonfire with fireworks

6

"penny for the guy"

On the Doorstep

PAIRS

In pairs, choose a card each and practise the scene. Then swap roles and do it again.

Card A: The guisers

It's 31 October in Scotland. You're in disguise. Knock on the door and say who or what you are. To get a treat, you must perform: a joke, a riddle or a short song from your country. If the householder isn't happy, try again!

Card B: The householder

There's a candle in your window, so guisers know they're welcome. You have a bowl of apples, nuts and sweets. Ask the guisers what they are and where they've been. No performance, no treat. Be a tough judge: if the first joke is bad, ask for another.

Earn Your Treat!

PAIRS

Perform your doorstep scene for the class. Everyone else votes: did they earn their treat?

Joke and riddle bank (or, better, bring one from your own country)

• Why didn't the skeleton go to the party? He had no body to go with.

• Which room does a ghost not need? The living room.

• What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? A clock.

• What gets wetter the more it dries? A towel.

• What goes up but never comes down? Your age.

Word harvest

turnip

a hard, round root vegetable, white or yellow inside

lantern

carve

guising

a light inside a case, which you can carry

to cut a shape or a face into something

in Scotland, visiting houses in disguise and performing for a treat

disguise

bob for apples

gunpowder

cellar

clothes or a mask that hide who you are

a game: catch a floating apple using only your teeth

a powder that explodes; used in guns and fireworks

a room under a building, often for storing things

bonfire

effigy

fireworks

a big fire built outside

a model of a person, often made to be burned

small explosives that make bright colours and bangs in the sky

PAIRS

In pairs, look back at the picture from the start of the lesson. Use five of these words to describe what's happening on each night.

Homework: Your Words, Your World

HOMEWORK

At home (about 20 minutes), make today's words your own. Bring your sentences and pictures to the next lesson.

1. Choose 6 words from today's word harvest.

2. Write one true sentence with each word about your own country, town or life. Example: "My grandmother still carves faces into watermelons in summer."

3. Draw or find a picture for two of your words.

4. Make one of your six sentences a lie. Next lesson, the class will try to spot it.

Bring: your six sentences and two pictures (on paper or on your screen).

Your Night, Next Time

One sentence each: you can spend one night in Britain, 31 October or 5 November. Which do you choose, and why?

NEXT TIME

Halloween, USA. How did a Scottish doorstep joke turn into one of the biggest parties on Earth?

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

TWO NIGHTS IN ONE PICTURE

• The children hold carved turnip lanterns (Text A). They are guisers, at the door to perform for a treat.

• Inside: a Halloween party, with apple bobbing ("dooking") and scones on strings.

• The two different nights: the Halloween party and guisers (31 October) and the bonfire and fireworks on the hill (5 November, Bonfire Night).

TELL YOUR PARTNER

1 Halloween: guisers ask for a treat (cakes, fruit, money, now sweets) and give a song, joke or poem. Bonfire Night: children used to ask for a "penny for the guy" and gave nothing back but the guy itself, which went on the bonfire.

2 Bonfire Night: bonfires, fireworks and the burning of an effigy (once the Pope, later a guy). Halloween uses fire for candles in lanterns and nuts on the fire.

3 Almost disappeared: penny for the guy (also burning an effigy of the Pope; turnip lanterns are now often pumpkins). Still going: guising with a performance in Scotland, Punkie Night in Somerset, apple bobbing, bonfires and fireworks, the search of the cellars.

4 Open, but most will say Bonfire Night: a plan to kill the king, executions, and a long anti-Catholic history.

5 Inside and at the door: Halloween. On the hill: Bonfire Night.