我优求知网万圣节英文简介
万圣节前夕，在每年的10月31日，是西方的传统节日。许多亚洲地区的人将万圣节前夕误称为万圣节。下面是给大家提供的万圣节的英文简介，欢迎大家阅读参考!
【万圣节英文简介】
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.
【万圣节简介】
万圣夜英文称之“Halloween”，为“All Hallow Eve”的缩写，是指万圣节(All Hallow's Day)的前夜，类似于圣诞夜被称为“Christmas Eve”。“Hallow”来源于中古英语halwen，与holy词源很接近，在苏格兰和加拿大的某些区域，万圣节仍然被称为“All Hallow Mas”，意思是在纪念所有的圣人(Hallow)那一天，要举行的弥撒仪式(Mass)。
万圣夜通常与灵异的事物联系起来。欧洲传统上认为万圣节是鬼魂世界最接近人间的时间，这传说与中国的盂兰节类似。美国明尼苏达州的Anoka号称是“世界万圣节之都”，每年都举行大型的巡游庆祝。
【万圣节的起源】
两千多年前，欧洲的天主教会把11月1日定为“天下圣徒之日” (ALL HALLOWS DAY) 。“HALLOW” 即圣徒之意。传说自公元前五百年，居住在爱尔兰、苏格兰等地的.凯尔特人 (CELTS) 把这节日往前移了一天，即10月31日。
他们认为该日是夏天正式结束的日子，也就是新年伊始，严酷的冬季开始的一天。那时人们相信，故人的亡魂会在这一天回到故居地在活人身上找寻生灵，借此再生，而且这是人在死后能获得再生的唯一希望。
而活着的人则惧怕死魂来夺生，于是人们就在这一天熄掉炉火、烛光，让死魂无法找寻活人，又把自己打扮成妖魔鬼怪把死人之魂灵吓走。之后，他们又会把火种烛光重新燃起，开始新的一年的生活。传说那时凯尔特人部落还有在10月 31日把活人杀死用以祭奠死人的习俗。
到了公元1世纪，占领了凯尔特部落领地的罗马人也渐渐接受了万圣节习俗，但从此废止了烧活人祭死人的野蛮做法。罗马人庆祝丰收的节日与凯尔特人仪式结合，戴着可怕的面具，打扮成动物或鬼怪，则是为了赶走在他们四周游荡的妖魔。这也就是今天全球大部分人以古灵精怪的打扮，来庆祝万圣节的由来。
时间流逝，万圣节的意义逐渐起了变化，变得积极快乐起来，喜庆的意味成了主流。死魂找替身返世的说法也渐渐被摒弃和忘却。到了今天，象征万圣节的形象、***画如巫婆、黑猫等，大都有友善可爱和滑稽的脸。
罗马皇帝君士坦丁信主后，立基督教为国教，当时的基督教实际已演变成天主教。 君士坦丁下令全国人民都要皈依基督教，结果没有悔改的异教徒加入了教会，把各样 异教作风带进来，包括死节，他们要维持这节日为生活的一部分。
由于教会无法消除民众的异教风俗，只有把部分风俗圣化，特别是十月三一日的死 节。在第八世纪，罗马教皇定十一月一日为万圣日(All Saints’ Day)，来记念教会史 上一切殉道的圣徒。这样，十月卅一日便是万圣日的前夕。天主教会容许民众在十月 卅一日守节，因为十一月一日是圣日。
后来All Saint’s Day 变成All Hallows Day， 而hallows是“神圣”的意思，十月卅一日便是万圣夜(All Hallows Evening)。Evening后来缩减为eve和een，前者是“前夕”的意思，后者是evening的 缩写，意即“夜晚”，便成为今天的Halloween，代表死节是万圣日的前夕。华人索性把十月三一日称为万圣节，其实该译作“万灵节”。
万圣节英文简介
Halloween, or Hallowe'en, a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today.
万圣节前夜(每年10月31日)，在其形成过程中逐渐融合了凯尔特习俗、天主教仪式和欧洲民间传统，最终形成了我们今天所见的这样一个节日。
Ancient
远古时期
Shades: Throughout ancient history, Shades meant the spirit of a dead person, residing in the underworld.
幽灵：远古时期，人们认为幽灵是生活在地下世界的死者的灵魂。
Carving gourds into elaborately decorated lanterns dates back thousands of years to Africa.
将葫芦精雕细刻、做成灯笼的习俗可追溯到几千年前的非洲。
800-450 B.C.
公元前800-450年
The ancient Celts believed that wearing masks would ward off evil spirits.
古凯尔特人相信戴上面具可以避开邪灵。
Pre-1st Century
1世纪前
Samhain: The Festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the Gaelic harvest season.
死神节：盖尔人(苏格兰和爱尔兰的凯尔特人)庆祝丰收季节结束的节日。
1st Century
1世纪
Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Sambain; because animals and plants were dying, it allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living.
盖尔人相信，在死神节，现世与冥界的边界会逐渐消失。动物和植物纷纷死去，而死者将穿过把他们同生者隔开的幕布重回世间。
Bonfires played a major role in the Festival of Samhain. Celebrants wore costumes, mostly skins and animal heads, and danced around bonfires.
篝火对于死神节来说是必不可少的。参加庆典的人们穿上动物的皮毛和头颅做成的服装，围着篝火舞蹈。
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered much of Celtic territory. Two Roman festivals were combined with the Celtic celebration of Samhain: Feralia, a day in late October when Romans commemorated the passing of the dead, and a day to honor Pomona, Roman goddess of fruit and trees.
公元43年，罗马人占领了凯尔特人的大部分领土，并将两个罗马节日与死神节的传统结合起来：一个是纪念死者的Feralia节(十月末的一天)，另一个是纪念罗马的果树女神Pomona的节日。
Werewolf: The original werewolf of classical mythology, Ly***n, a king of Arcadia who, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses, was turned into a ravenous wolf by Zeus. Possibly the source of the term lycanthropy.
狼人：古罗马诗人奥维德在他的《变形记》中描绘了古典神话中狼人的原型——阿卡迪亚王吕卡翁，由于触怒天神宙斯而被变成了一匹狼。也许“变狼妄想狂”一词就是来源于这个故事。
3rd Century
3世纪
In the Roman Catholic church, a commemoration of "All Martyrs" was celebrated between mid April and early May.
在每年四月中旬到五月初这段时间，罗马天主教会庆祝一个名为“众殉道者节”的纪念性节日。
7th Century
7世纪
The festival of All Siants dates to May 13 in 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IVconsecrated the Pantheon at Rome.
公元609或610年，教皇卜尼法斯四世为罗马万神殿祝圣，并将5月13日定为“众圣人节”。
This date was an ancient pagan observation, the end of the Feast of the Lemures, in which the evil and restless spirits of all the dead were appeased.
这一节期原本是古老的异教节日——勒姆瑞斯(夜游魂)节的末尾，在这一节日期间人们试***安抚那些邪恶且永不安宁的亡魂。
8th Century
8世纪
Pope Gregory III designated November 1st All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs.
教皇格列高利三世将每年11月1日定为“众圣人节”，以此纪念圣人和殉道者。
Many believe the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday.
人们相信，教皇此举是为了用一个教会认可的节日来替代凯尔特的亡者之节日。
Saint Boniface declared that belief in the existence of witches was un-Christian.
圣卜尼法斯(680-754，本笃会修士，美因茨大主教)宣布，相信女巫的存在是不合基督教教义的。
10th Century
10世纪
The Catholic church made November 2nd All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead.
天主教会将每年11月2日定为“万灵节”，以纪念死者。
The three Catholic celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.
至此，天主教的三大节日——众圣人节前夜，众圣人节，万灵节，被统称为“Hallowmas”(即“万圣节”之意)。
Middle Ages
中世纪
Carved turnips in Ireland and Scotland are used as candle lanterns in windows to ward off harmful spirits.
在爱尔兰和苏格兰，人们将芜菁(形似萝卜)雕刻成灯笼放在窗台上，以此抵挡邪灵。
Soul cakes, often simply referred to as souls, were given out to soulers (mainly consisting of children and the poor) who would go from door to door on Hallowmas singing and saying prayers for the dead. Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from Purgatory.
另一项传统习俗涉及“灵魂饼”：在万圣节期间，小孩和穷人会挨家挨户地唱歌并为死者祈祷，人们则给他们一种被称作“灵魂饼”的点心作为报酬。据说每吃掉一个“灵魂饼”，就会有一个灵魂被从炼狱中拯救出来。