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金曜日はTucker先生ブログ☆彡

今日はアメリカのハロウィーンについて！

Dear readers,

It's finally October! You know what that means: Halloween! I heard that people in America like celebrating Halloween more than people in Japan. I'm not sure if that's true, but this time I'd like to talk about what I've done for Halloween as a child and as an adult.

Halloween was originally a religious holiday, beginning a 3 day period in which people honored the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. Nowadays, it's more or less a secular holiday, focusing on candy and celebrations rather than saints. As a child in America, you look forward to Halloween as the day where you get to dress up in costumes of your favorite characters and go trick-or-treating.

As you know, trick-or-treating is when you walk around to the different houses in your neighborhood, ring the doorbell, and say "Trick or treat!" to whoever answers the door. In exchange, you will be rewarded with candy (the treat) that you carry around in a bag, jack-o-lantern pail or, in my case, a pillowcase. But be careful of the older kids who like to go around scaring people! At the end of the night you have more candy than you can possibly eat!

The weeks leading up to Halloween are also full of fun activities, like going pumpkin picking. My family would drive out to a pumpkin farm and hand-pick out our pumpkins. After that, we went home, carved jack-o'-lanterns, and baked pumpkin seeds. Scooping out the pumpkin innards was my least favorite part!

As I got older, Halloween became less about trick-or-treating and more about partying. My friends and I would host costume parties every year without fail. There would usually be spooky decorations, gross looking snacks (that are actually delicious), and of course, costumes! The best part about Halloween is that you can dress up as anything you like; it doesn't have to be fancy. And the large amounts of candy hasn't changed from when we were kids, you just buy it all from stores when they go on sale on November 1st!

Next time you see me in the lobby, please tell me more about Halloween in Japan! I'd love to hear it! Next time, I'll share some phrases I learned growing up. Look forward to it!

=日本語要約=

10月がやってきました！つまり"ハロウィーン"の季節です！今日はアメリカでハロウィーンをどんなふうに過ごすのか、子どもたちと大人、それぞれの過ごし方を紹介します。

ハロウィーンは宗教的な儀式がもとになっていますが、今ではさほどその意味合いは強くなく、お祝い事として楽しむ休日になっています。子どもたちはお気に入りのキャラクターの衣装を着て、"トリック・オア・トリート"をしに行くのを楽しみにしています。

ご存じの通り、"トリック・オア・トリート"とは近隣に出向いて、あめを受け取るのです。年齢を重ねてくると、人を驚かすのを楽しむ子どもたちも出てくるので、気を付けて！

ハロウィーンを含む週は楽しみがいっぱいです。例えば、カボチャ狩りとか。私の家族もよくカボチャ狩りにいって、"ジャックオランタン"を作っていました。私はカボチャの中身をすくうのがすごく好きでした。

おとなになると、"トリック・オア・トリート"よりもパーティーをするほうが多くなります。私もよく友達とコスプレパーティーをやりました。見た目がグロテスクな（でも味はおいしい）お菓子や飾りつけがありました。ハロウィーンの楽しみはやっぱり、好きなコスチュームを着られること。でも高いものを用意する必要はありません。だって11月1日は割引セールになるんですから。

ぜひ皆さんのハロウィーンにまつわる話を聞かせて下さいね！次回は子どもの頃に学んだフレーズをご紹介しますね。どうぞお楽しみに！