萬圣節

吳軍郵

One story about Jack, an Irishman, who was not allowed into Heaven because he was stingy with his money. So he was sent to hell. But down there he played tricks on the Devil (Satan), so he was kicked out of Hell and made to walk the earth forever carrying a lantern.

Well, Irish children made Jacks lanterns on October 31st from a large potato or turnip, hollowed out with the sides having holes and lit by little candles inside. And Irish children would carry them as they went from house to house begging for food for the village Halloween festival that honored the Druid god Muck Olla. The Irish name for these lanterns was“Jack with the lantern” or“Jack of the lantern,”abbreviated as“Jack-o-lantern” and now spelled“jack-o-lantern.”

The traditional Halloween you can read about in most books was just childrens fun night. Halloween celebrations would start in October in every elementary school.

Children would make Halloween decorations, all kinds of orange-paper jack-o-lanterns. And from black paper youd cut“scary” designs — an evil witch with a pointed hat riding through the sky on a broomstick, maybe with black bats flying across the moon, and that meant bad luck. And of course black cats for more bad luck. Sometimes a black cat would ride away into the sky on the back of the witchs broom.

And on Halloween night wed dress up in Mom or Dads old shoes and clothes, put on a mask, and be ready to go outside. The little kids (children younger than we were) had to go with their mothers, but we older ones went together to neighbors houses, ringing their doorbell and yelling,“Trick or treat!” meaning,“Give us a treat (something to eat) or well play a trick on you!” The people inside were supposed to come to the door and comment on our costumes. Oh!heres a ghost. Oh, theres a witch. Oh, heres an old lady.

Sometimes they would play along with us and pretend to be scared by some ghost or witch. But they would always have some candy and maybe an apple to put in our“trick or treat bags.” But what if no one come to the door, or if someone chased us away. Then wed play a trick on them, usually taking a piece of soap and make marks on their windows. And afterwards we would go home and count who got the most candy.

One popular teen-agers Halloween trick was to unroll a roll of toilet paper and throw it high into a tree again and again until the tree was all wrapped in the white paper. The paper would often stay in the tree for weeks until a heavy snow or rain washed it off. No real harm done, but it made a big mess of both the tree and the yard under it， its a kind of Halloween mischief.

關于萬圣節有這樣一個故事。是說有一個叫杰克的愛爾蘭人，因為他對錢特別吝嗇，就不允許他進入天堂，而被打入地獄。但是在那里他老是捉弄魔鬼撒旦，所以被踢出地獄，罰他提著燈籠永遠在人世里行走。

在十月三十一日愛爾蘭的孩子們用土豆或蘿卜制作“杰克的燈籠”，他們把中間挖掉、表面上打洞并在里邊點上蠟燭。為村里慶祝督伊德神的萬圣節，孩子們提著這種燈籠挨家挨戶乞討食物。這種燈籠的愛爾蘭名字是“拿燈籠的杰克”或者“杰克的燈籠”，縮寫為Jack?鄄o?鄄lantern 現在拼寫為jack?鄄o?鄄lantern。

現在你在大多數書里讀到的萬圣節只是孩子們開心的夜晚。在小學校里，萬圣節是每年十月份開始慶祝的。

孩子們會制作萬圣節的裝飾品：各種各樣桔黃色的南瓜燈。你可以用黑色的紙做一個可怕的造型——一個騎在掃帚把上戴著尖尖帽子的女巫飛過天空，或者是黑蝙蝠飛過月亮。這些都代表厄運。當然黑貓代表運氣更差。有時候會出現黑貓騎在女巫掃帚后面飛向天空的造型。

在萬圣節的晚上，我們都穿著爸爸媽媽的舊衣服和舊鞋子，戴上面具，打算外出。比我們小的孩子必須和他們的母親一塊出去，我們大一點的就一起哄到鄰居家，按他們的門鈴并大聲喊道：“惡作劇還是招待！”意思是給我們好吃的，要不我們就捉弄你。里邊的人們應該出來評價我們的化裝。“噢！這是鬼，那是女巫，這是個老太婆。”

有時候他們會跟我們一起玩，假裝被鬼或者女巫嚇著了。但是他們通常會帶一些糖果或者蘋果放進我們的“惡作劇還是招待”的口袋里。可是要是沒人回答門鈴或者是有人把我們趕開該怎么辦呢？我們就捉弄他們，通常是拿一塊肥皂把他們的玻璃涂得亂七八糟。然后我們回家，數數誰的糖果最多。

還有一個流行的萬圣節花招是把一卷手紙拉開，不停地往樹上扔，直到樹全被白紙裹起來。除非下大雪或大雨把紙沖掉，紙會一直呆在樹上幾個星期。這并不造成真正的傷害，只是把樹和院子搞亂，它是萬圣節的一種惡作劇。