1. 萬聖節英語鬼故事
1 萬聖節故事二則
一.萬聖節故事之一：HALLOWEEN
關於萬聖節有這樣一個故事。是說有一個叫傑克的愛爾蘭人，因為他對錢特別吝嗇，就不允許他進入天堂，而被打入地獄。但是在那裡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和羅卜製作「傑克的燈籠」，他們把中間挖掉、表面上打洞並在里邊點上蠟燭。為村裡慶祝督伊德神的萬聖節，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「拿燈籠的傑克」或者「傑克的燈籠」，縮寫為Jack-o'-lantern 現在拼寫為jack-o-lantern。
現在你在大多數書里讀到的萬聖節只是孩子們開心的夜晚。在小學校里，萬聖節是每年十月份開始慶祝的。
孩子們會製作萬聖節的裝飾品：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形——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。這些都代表惡運。當然黑貓代表運氣更差。有時候會出現黑貓騎在女巫掃帚後面飛向天空的造形。
在萬聖節的晚上，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鬨到鄰居家，按他們的門鈴並大聲喊道：「惡作劇還是招待！」意思是給我們吃的，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」的口袋裡。可是要是沒人回答門鈴或者是有人把我們趕開該怎麼辦呢？我們就捉弄他們，通常是拿一塊肥皂把他們的玻璃塗得亂七八糟。然後我們回家，數數誰的糖果最多。
還有一個典型的萬聖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。這並不造成真正的傷害，只是把樹和院子搞亂，一種萬聖節的惡作劇。
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 Jack's lanterns on October 31st fro m 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 fro m 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 children's 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 fro m black paper you'd 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 witch's broom.
And on Halloween night we'd dress up in Mom or Dad's 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 we'll play a trick on you!" The people inside were supposed to come to the door and comment on our costumes.
2 萬聖節故事二則
Oh! here's a ghost. Oh, there's a witch. Oh, here's 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 we'd 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. One kind of Halloween mischief.
二.萬聖節故事之二：蘋果樹&南瓜燈
萬聖節定在每年的十一月一日，稱為AllSaints'-Day。舊名叫作Hallowmas，不過萬聖節的同根詞Halloween更為響亮萬聖節，一直沿用到現在，意思是萬聖節前夜，即十月三十一日夜晚。大約公元前五世紀，愛爾蘭凱爾特人開始在每年的十月三十一日，也就是夏季結束的時候慶祝他們的萬聖節，表達對豐收的喜悅以及對太陽的膜拜。有趣的是，凱爾特人有一個類似佛教輪回轉世的萬聖節說法，他們認為在新年舊歲交接的時刻，也就是十月三十一日夜晚，鬼魂會現身陽世，尋找替身以獲得新生。萬聖節凱爾特人不採用拜祭灶王爺，請他老人家上天言好事的做法，而是用一種「以夷制夷」的嚴厲手段來對付鬼魂。為了擺脫鬼魂的糾纏，萬聖節這天晚上人們會把家裡的爐火滅掉，營造一個寒冷陰森的環境，並把自己打扮成鬼怪的模樣，大聲怪叫。即便嚇不走鬼魂，也要讓鬼魂分不清誰是活人、誰是鬼魂，從而無法找到替身。
這么恐怖的萬聖節演變到今天，竟成了一個最令人開心的萬聖節，歷史又跟我們開了一個善意的玩笑。這一天是一年之中，國外小孩子最興奮的一天。萬聖節早上孩子去上學的時候，就拿了服飾和糖果，准備參加學校組織的萬聖節聚會。孩子們自己動手布置會場，裝飾環境。桔色、黑色和白色是萬聖節傳統的裝飾主調。萬聖節中桔色的南瓜燈籠、黑色的貓、蜘蛛和女巫、白色的蜘蛛網和骷髏都是必不可少的角色。萬聖節孩子們裝扮成女巫和海盜，在朦朧的桔黃色燈光下表演萬聖節玩游戲。最流行的萬聖節游戲是「咬蘋果」。蘋果或者懸掛在空中，或者飄浮在裝滿水的盆子里，孩子們則在不許用手幫忙的條件下用嘴去咬蘋果，誰先咬到，誰就是優勝者。這個萬聖節傳統節目大概可以追溯到羅馬人用果仁和蘋果來慶祝豐收的習俗。
萬聖節令人眼花繚亂的裝飾物品中，最有創意的要數萬聖節南瓜燈。萬聖節南瓜燈英文里叫作Jack-O』-Lantern。製作時把南瓜掏空，用刀刻出眼睛嘴巴，裡面插一根蠟燭，形像要猙獰些才好。萬聖節關於南瓜燈的傳說有很多版本，以「騙魔鬼變六便士」的萬聖節說法最為流行。萬聖節其中有不少是這樣開頭的：傳說愛爾蘭有一個名叫StingyJack的男子……。其實，「astingydrunkardJack」本來應該譯作「一個吝嗇的酒鬼傑克」，卻被原譯者疏忽為「一個名叫StingyJack的男子」。後來以訛傳訛，Stingy竟成了Jack甩不掉的名字。
萬聖節另有一個「蘋果樹」版本也很著名：吝嗇的愛爾蘭酒鬼JACK騙魔鬼爬進了蘋果樹的樹洞，然後迅速在樹幹上刻了一個神聖的十字，困住了魔鬼。JACK逼著魔鬼起誓永遠不再追索、或以任何其它方式謀取他的靈魂，才把魔鬼放了出去。然而這卻擋不住死亡的來臨。JACK死後，由於酗酒、吝嗇和欺詐，他未被允許進入天堂。而由於魔鬼的誓言，JACK也不能進入地獄。「那麼我去哪裡呢？」JACK不知所措地問。「哪兒來的回哪兒去！」魔鬼惡狠狠地回答。回去的路冷風四起，黑暗無邊。魔鬼從地獄之火揀了一塊燒得通紅的火炭扔給他。為了照路又不被風吹滅，JACK將火炭放進了他手裡拿著的大頭菜中。JACK就這樣舉著他的「燈籠」尋找自己在地球上的存身之處。後來蘇格蘭人在萬聖節中模仿他，挖空大頭菜，放入蠟燭做燈籠；在萬聖節愛爾蘭人用的是土豆或大頭菜；而在萬聖節英格蘭人則用甜菜。後來他們移民到美國，發現了一個更好用的燈籠——萬聖節南瓜燈！這個萬聖節故事其實是在告訴人們，無論什麼情形，都不要和魔鬼做交易。