Halloween Secondary Worksheets
Halloween Secondary Worksheets
Halloween Secondary Worksheets
Welcome to the email teacher’s notes for Halloween 2006. ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were
Here you will find activities and worksheets to scare your combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of
students for a day. These are worksheets and activities for Samhain.
all different levels of secondary education. They are The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the
designed to provide vocabulary and cultural knowledge Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the
related to Halloween. dead. The second was a day to honour Pomona, the
Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona
Each worksheet is marked with the level, time, language is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into
used and class management. There are also notes on how Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for
to use the worksheets and in some cases extra activities to apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
accompany the worksheets. Also included are cultural
information about Halloween so that you and your By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into
students are well informed. Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV
designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honour
Happy Halloweening. saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the
pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the
dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The
Background information celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas
(from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints'
Ancient Origins Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honour the dead. It
now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires,
celebrated their new year on November 1. This day parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels,
marked the end of summer and the harvest and the and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All
beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.
often associated with human death. Celts believed that on
the night before the New Year, the boundary between the History of the Jack O'Lantern
worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the
night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to
was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a
In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts pumpkin. The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds
thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack
it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on
predictions about the future. For a people entirely everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil
dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an
were an important source of comfort and direction during apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree,
the long, dark winter. Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of
the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his
bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take
animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically Devil down.
consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the
each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he
re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and
earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter
protect them during the coming winter. heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The
Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to
territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and
hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was Halloween was a time for making mischief - many parts
no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of England still recognise Halloween as Mischief Night -
of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in when children would knock on doors demanding a treat
a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favourite foods which (Trick or Treat) and people would disguise themselves as
he always carried around with him whenever he could witches and ghosts, in order to obtain food and money
steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the from nervous householders.
earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went
with his "Jack O'Lantern".
On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips,
rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light
in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away.
These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a
couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America.
The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins
were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used
pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.
Fire
Dressing up -
Trick or Treat
Activities
Answers
Witching Worksheets
T R I C K O R T R E A T V T
A S D F C N I K P M U P A S
Witching Worksheet 1
G H J P A G A N K L T Y M L
Z C G V U S B N M Q E W P I
Level: 3rd of ESO – 2nd Batxillerat D Y C H L W C N E T Z O I V
Time: 20 mins Z O E A D S I A L C O V R E
Group: pairs, whole class, individual S D L F R E E T R U M K E D
Language: Halloween language, Celts, A S T F O N T E C Y B M C Q
Gaelic, celebrate, emigrate A J S L N U N A M H I O O S
B R O O M S T I C K E N S R
To begin with, ask the students what they know about
T N O T E L E K S W Y S T S
Halloween, including the celebrations. Get them to make
I N I G H O S T R P E T U B
a list of all the different celebrations that people do on
Halloween. Then compare their answers with the H A U N T E D H O U S E M E
6
G
N 7
S
P I D E R M
Level: 4th of ESO – 2nd Batxillerat
H 1
5
1
0
K E 8
C
P
Time: 50 mins
O
O
W
W
I I W A I
Group: individual, pairs, whole class
9 K E L E T O N 1 C T O 1 E R
Language: Halloween language, narrative
S 1
O
2
B
structures
T C L R E
What is
Where
Dracula When do this?
does
sucks your we START
Halloween
blood, celebrate
come
miss a go Halloween?
from?
What is a
jack o
lantern
made
from?
What
animal
comes out
at night
and flies?
What is
What
this? What What do
animal is
monster is we say on
FINISH associated
made by Halloween,
with
man? trick or…?
Halloween?
Witching Worksheet 4
1 2
3 4 5
6 7
15 10 8
9 11 12
14
13
ACROSS DOWN
3. Worn on Halloween night. 1. Wolves howl at this.
7. Creates a web to catch flies. 2. These are carved for Halloween.
8. A black one is said to bring bad 4. Turns into a wolf when the moon is
luck. full
9. Made of all the bones in your body. 5. Dracula is one of these.
11. Month in which Halloween takes 6. You might wear a sheet to look like
place. one of these.
13. A house where ghosts live is said 10. Flies on a broomstick on
to be this. Halloween
12. Witches fly on these on
Halloween
14. Potions are created in this.
15. Hoots at night.
Witching Worksheet 5
Help Dracula put the word boxes in the right order and write the words in the
table below.
sc de rve ster
Answers:
Witching Worksheet 6a
GHOST STORIES
Write a ghost story and scare your friends
Witching Worksheet 6b
GHOST STORIES
The White Lady
Haapsalu is an old medieval town northern Estonia. In the winter it is very cold and dark with only
about 4 hours of daylight in the day. It often snows and there is a permanent white blanket across the
whole town. In the middle of the town there is a dark and moody castle. For many years it has been
derelict and people refuse to go near it because they think it is haunted; and they maybe right.
Four hundred years ago the castle was home to many monks who lived and worked in the castle.
These monks were very pious people and also very powerful in the region. They were respected by
everyone and believed everything they said. They very rarely went out of the castle grounds as they
had to dedicate their lives to God.
One of these monks, Peter, had lived in the castle for many years and was loved by many. Peter,
however, was lonely and desired the pleasures and love of the outside world. One day he managed to
escape the castle dressed in normal clothes and began walking the streets unnoticed. He loved this
new freedom and smiled and said hello to everyone he met. While walking he met a prostitute,
Agatha, and asked her if she would walk with him. She accepted and they began to walk. Agatha was
a beautiful young woman who was dressed in a long white dress. Peter liked her and persuaded her to
go back to the castle with him where they would be more comfortable, and again she accepted.
Once back in the castle grounds they were seen by another monk who quickly told the bishop. Peter
and Agatha were caught and were sent to the bishop. The bishop told Peter that he had been very
bad and was told to pray to God and ask for forgiveness. However the bishop told Agatha that
entering the castle grounds was a very serious crime and for her punishment ordered her to be put into
the wall of the tower.
Agatha was horrified and protested but the bishop repeated that she would be put into the tower.
Agatha had understood however that the tower was a jail but Agatha was put into a very small room
next to the tower wall and the monks built a wall over the door so that she would never be able get out
and no-one would get in. Agatha screamed, scratching at the walls in desperation not knowing if it was
day or night but the monks would not let her out. She lived for four more days before dieing of
starvation. Agatha’s soul couldn’t escape when she died; it remained in the wall and so she decided to
haunt the monks until they left the castle. She wailed and cried as loud as she could day and night all
around the castle. The monks were terrified and they all left the castle a year later.
The white lady can still be heard in the castle walls to this day four hundred years later. You can hear
her crying over the injustice of her death. But if you go near the tower wall she might think you are a
monk – so be careful.
MUMMY GHOST BAT
MEMORY
SKULL PUMPKIN WITCH