Process: Han YM (5.2 / 5)

 

1. Goal of the writing: to give information about Halloween

2. Reader: General public, especially parents and children enjoying Halloween

3. Main idea of the writing: History of Halloween

4. Organizing main idea

Introduction

Halloween; annual holiday on October 31

Decoration, pumpkins

Costumes, sweets

History of Halloween

Originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain

Name: All- Hallows-Eve

Costume, food, game and activity

Costume: witches, demons, Vampires -to disguise oneself in order to ward off harmful spirits

Food: pumpkin pie, apple candy

Game: apple bobbing

Activity: telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films, going to the haunted places, trick or treat

Religious perspectives

Christian attitude: diverse-as a fun event/ concerned

Conclusion

 

5. First Draft

Introduction

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow and children are ready to carve a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.  On one hand, many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy, but other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  On the other hand, children are happy to choose their costumes and eat sweets.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

History

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain.  The name is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Eve (hallows means saint, and eve means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.  Symbols associated with Halloween are pumpkins making of jack-o-lanterns.  

Another festival was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains to the tradition of “bobbing ’’for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

Costume, food, games and activity

             Halloween has become a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, and other demonic creatures.  The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.  Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons, which were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

Trick-or- treating and guising

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, “trick or treat?’’ the word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television, and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Conclusion

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  Since celebration in the US and Canada has hah significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night and eat normally forbidden sweets.

 

6. Revise

Introduction

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow and children are ready to carve pumpkins into a jack-o-lantern. Many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churched where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy, but other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  Children are happy to choose their costumes and eat sweets.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

History

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain.  The name is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Eve (hallows means saint, and eve means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.  Symbols associated with Halloween are pumpkins making of jack-o-lanterns. 

Another festival was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains to the tradition of “bobbing ’’for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

Costume, food, games and activity

             Halloween has become a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, and other demonic creatures.  The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.  Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face, which was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits, and place it on their doorstep after dark. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons, which were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.  Pumpkin pies are also common on Halloween.

Trick-or- treating and guising

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, “trick or treat?’’.  The word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.  Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television, and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Conclusion

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  Since celebration in the US and Canada has had significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night, and to eat normally forbidden sweets.

 

In the revision, I corrected spellings, and deleted subtitles and some redundant sentences.  Also I changed order of sentences and added some sentence to clear my writing.

 

7. Editing- final draft

 

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow.  Children are happy to choose their costumes, and ready to enjoy the holiday.  On one hand, many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churched where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy.  On the other hand, other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain than to the festival of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.  The name of Samhain is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, witches, and other demonic creatures.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Even (hallow means saint, and even means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day of Roman Catholic church.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.

             The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween, and the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America, they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they could find plenty of pumpkins.  Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips.  Ever since pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations.  Many families celebrating Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face, which was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits, and place it on their doorstep after dark.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.  Pumpkin pies are also common on Halloween.

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats with the question, “trick or treat?’’.  The word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.  Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Halloween is a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Halloween has begun to lose its religious meanings and becomes more secular children’s holiday.  Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  However, since celebration in the US and Canada has had significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night, and to eat normally forbidden sweets.  As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, people look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to endure the winter season.

 

 

References

1.      Wikipedia

2.      Washington post