萬(wàn)圣夜（Halloween）（又叫鬼節(jié)，萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夜）在每年的10月31日，是英語(yǔ)世界的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，主要流行于北美、不列顛群島、澳大利亞、加拿大和新西蘭。當(dāng)晚小孩會(huì)穿上化妝服，戴上面具，挨家挨戶(hù)收集糖果。華語(yǔ)地區(qū)常將萬(wàn)圣夜誤稱(chēng)為萬(wàn)圣節(jié)。 　　萬(wàn)圣夜英文稱(chēng)之“Halloween”，為“All Hallow Eve”的縮寫(xiě)，是指萬(wàn)圣節(jié)（All Hallow’s Day）的前夜，類(lèi)似于圣誕夜被稱(chēng)為“Christmas Eve”?！癏allow”來(lái)源于中古英語(yǔ)halwen，與holy詞源很接近，在蘇格蘭和加拿大的某些區(qū)域，萬(wàn)圣節(jié)仍然被稱(chēng)為“All Hallow Mas”，意思是在紀(jì)念所有的圣人（Hallow）那一天，要舉行的彌撒儀式（Mass）。 　　萬(wàn)圣夜通常與靈異的事物聯(lián)系起來(lái)。歐洲傳統(tǒng)上認(rèn)為萬(wàn)圣節(jié)是鬼魂世界最接近人間的時(shí)間，這傳說(shuō)與中國(guó)的盂蘭節(jié)類(lèi)似。美國(guó)明尼蘇達(dá)州的Anoka號(hào)稱(chēng)是“世界萬(wàn)圣節(jié)之都”，每年都舉行大型的巡游慶祝。 　　萬(wàn)圣節(jié)習(xí)俗 　　10月31日是西洋萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕，美國(guó)的街上四處可見(jiàn)精彩的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)表演、戲臺(tái)上演的幻覺(jué)魔術(shù)、逼真的游尸和鬼魂，及各種恐怖電影的放映。 　　到了晚上，便趕緊將蜘蛛絲架起來(lái)，再幫負(fù)責(zé)嚇人的演員上妝。鬼屋的內(nèi)容，則大多與電影主題有關(guān)，如：神鬼傳奇、星際傳奇、鬼故事…這些場(chǎng)景的布置、化妝技術(shù)和戲服，有如真的情境，一不留神，肯定令人驚聲尖叫。 　　這場(chǎng)嘉年華盛會(huì)的由來(lái)是在公元前五百年時(shí)，居住在愛(ài)爾蘭、蘇格蘭等地的人們相信，往生人的亡魂會(huì)在10月31日這一天回到生前所居住的地方，并在活人的身上找尋生靈，以獲得再生的機(jī)會(huì)。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用褚驗(yàn)閾?dān)心鬼魂來(lái)奪取自己的生命，故當(dāng)10月31日到來(lái)時(shí)，會(huì)將所有燈光熄掉，使得鬼魂無(wú)法找尋到活人，并打扮成妖魔鬼怪以將鬼魂嚇走。 　　隨著時(shí)間的流逝，萬(wàn)圣節(jié)的意義逐變得含有喜慶的意味。因此現(xiàn)在象征萬(wàn)圣節(jié)的妖怪及圖畫(huà)，都變成了可愛(ài)又古靈精怪的模樣，如番瓜妖怪、巫婆等。喜愛(ài)發(fā)揮創(chuàng)意的美國(guó)人，在這一天則極盡所能的將自己打扮得鬼模鬼樣，讓鬼節(jié)變得趣味多了。 　　在西方國(guó)家，每年的10月31日，有個(gè)“Halloween”，辭典解釋為“The eve of All Saints’Day”，中文譯作：“萬(wàn)圣節(jié)之夜”。萬(wàn)圣節(jié)是西方國(guó)家的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日。這一夜是一年中最“鬧鬼”的一夜，所以也叫“鬼節(jié)”。 　　很多民族都在萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夜有慶典聚會(huì)，這又被叫做“All Hallow E’en”、“The Eve of All Hallows”、“Hallow e’en”，或者“The eve of All Saintas’Day”。最終約定俗成演變成了“Halloween”，中文意譯成了萬(wàn)圣節(jié)之夜。 　　西方節(jié)日，在每年的11月1日，10月31日是萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕。通常叫做萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夜（萬(wàn)圣夜）。每當(dāng)萬(wàn)圣夜到來(lái)，孩子們都會(huì)迫不及待地穿上五顏六色的化妝服，戴上千奇百怪的面具，提著一盞“杰克燈”走家竄戶(hù)，向大人們索要節(jié)日的禮物。萬(wàn)圣節(jié)最廣為人知的象征也正是這兩樣——奇異的“杰克燈”和“不給糖就搗亂”的惡作劇。另外還有美國(guó)同名電影。 　　萬(wàn)圣節(jié)英語(yǔ)介紹 　　Halloween 　　Halloween is an autumn holiday that Americans celebrate every year. It means "holy evening," and it comes every October 31, the evening before All Saints’ Day. However, it is not really a church holiday, it is a holiday for children mainly. 　　Every autumn, when the vegetables are ready to eat, children pick large orange pumpkins. Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put a burning candle inside. It looks as if there were a person looking out of the pumpkin! These lights are called jack-o’-lanterns, which means "Jack of the lantern". 　　The children also put on strange masks and frightening costumes every Halloween. Some children paint their faces to look like monsters. Then they carry boxes or bags from house to house. Every time they come to a new house, they say,"Trick or treat! Money or eat!" The grown-ups put treat-money or candy in their bags. 　　Not only children, but most grown-ups also love Halloween and Halloween parties because on this day,they can disguise themselves as personages or ghost as their imaginations will lead them. This bring them the satisfaction of being young. 　　萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕 　　萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕是美國(guó)人年年都會(huì)慶祝的秋季節(jié)日。它的意思是“神圣的夜晚”，在每年的10月31日，也就是萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夜。但實(shí)際上這不是一個(gè)真正的宗教節(jié)日，而主要是孩子們的節(jié)日。 　　每年秋天蔬菜成熟可以食用的時(shí)候，孩子們就會(huì)挑出大個(gè)兒的橙色南瓜。然后在南瓜上刻上一張臉，把一根點(diǎn)燃的蠟燭放在里面?？雌饋?lái)就好像有人在向南瓜外面張望。這些燈就叫做“iack-o’-lantems”，意思也就是“杰克的燈”。 　　每年萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕孩子們還戴上奇怪的面具，穿上嚇人的服裝。有些孩子把臉?biāo)⒊晒治?。然后他們拿著盒子或袋子挨家挨?hù)串門(mén)。每來(lái)到一個(gè)新房子他們就說(shuō)：“不款待就搗亂!給錢(qián)還是吃的!”大人們就會(huì)把用來(lái)招待的錢(qián)或糖放在他們的袋子里了。 　　不僅孩子，許多成年人也喜歡萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕和萬(wàn)圣節(jié)前夕晚會(huì)。因?yàn)檫@一天他們可以根據(jù)自己的想象把自己裝扮成名流或幽靈。這會(huì)帶給他們年輕的快感。 　　Halloween is an observance celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most common in the United States, Puerto Rico, Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and with increasing popularity in Australia and New Zealand. Halloween originated in Ireland as the pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain. Irish, Scots and other immigrants brought older versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century。 　　The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe’en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows Day"[1] (also known as "All Saints’ Day"). In Ireland, the name was All Hallows Eve and this name is still used by some older people. Halloween was also sometimes called All Saints’ Eve. The holiday was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until it was appropriated by Christian missionaries and given a Christian interpretation. In Mexico November 1st and 2nd are celebrated as the "Dia de Los Muertos" Day of the Dead. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in some parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit. In Australia it is sometimes referred to as "mischief night", by locals。 　　Halloween is sometimes associated with the occult. Many European cultural traditions hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when the spiritual world can make contact with the physical world and when magic is most potent (e.g. Catalan mythology about witches)。 　　Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of? And how did this peculiar custom originate? Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship? Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual? 　　The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day")， is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en)， the Celtic New year。 　　One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living。 　　Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess。 　　Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach。 　　Some accounts tell of how the Celts would burn someone at the stake who was thought to have already been possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits. Other accounts of Celtic history debunk these stories as myth。 　　The Romans adopted the Celtic practices as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other Roman traditions that took place in October, such as their day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our modern tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween。