相信大家都在期待萬聖節的到來了，在萬聖節到來之前先了解一下萬聖節吧!下面是小編給大家準備的資料，一起來看看吧!
As European immigrants came to America, they brought their varied Halloween customs with them. Because of the rigid Protestant belief systems that characterized early New England, celebration of Halloween in colonial times was extremely limited there.
It was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge.
The first celebrations included "play parties," public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance, and sing.
Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.
Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that, on Halloween, they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings, or mirrors.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft.
At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.
By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time.
By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated.
Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration.
In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6.9 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.
【萬聖節故事：畫中人】他出生在一個英國鄉下巴斯的古堡裡，在他出生後，家境已然破敗，父親死於三年前，陣前一次錯誤的指揮，母親死在了生他的床上。什麼都沒有留給他，除了滿牆的書籍，駝背的老管家還有就是這個破敗到陰森的古堡。他恐懼著外面的世界，從未走出那古堡，臉色蒼白，神情陰鬱，總是坐在高背椅上看著看不完的書。
在他十七歲的那個夜晚，電閃雷鳴，一個年輕的`旅人敲響了古堡的門。旅人在躲雨時看到了他的臉，驚呼他有著一張不屬於人間的面孔，並主動為他做了一幅畫，作為讓他避雨的謝禮。
又是十年過去，老管家死了，沒有讀過的書也所剩無幾，他終於下定決心要到外面去看看。帶著他舊時代的笨拙的禮儀與服飾，還有那張依然年輕的面孔。
時間過的很快，一百年過去了，兩百年過去了，他發現自己和別人的不同。劃開的傷口會迅速長好，從來沒有疾病困擾著他，哪怕正面被大炮的炮彈所轟中，一夜之間，滑出腹腔的腸子會重新回去，彈出眼眶的眼球也會重新長好。簡而言之，他是不死的。
他不知這永生是上蒼的恩賜還是魔鬼的無盡懲罰，只能略帶疲倦的想著：“我們死命的攀附著幾片木頭，為的是尚能再多看一眼這個世界從這頭到那頭的流血演出，而不至於身陷其中。”
他經歷了很多女人，他總是毫無感情的對著他們念著勃朗寧夫人的十四行詩，唸到：
“要不然，世俗的誹謗離間不了我們，
Men could not part us with their worldly jars，
任風波飛揚，也不能動搖那堅貞;
Nor the seas change us， nor the tempests bend;
我們的手要伸過山嶺，互相接觸;
Our hands would touch for all the mountain-bars
有那麼一天，天空滾到我倆中間，
And， heaven being rolled between us at the end，
我倆向星辰起誓，還要更加握緊。 “
女人們卻總是在意他充滿魔力的年輕容顏。
有一天，經過一家畫廊，他驚訝的認出裡面很多畫像居然是他曾經那個城堡裡的，詢問之後才知道，古堡早已損毀，被探寶的人們搜刮一空，幾經輾轉，這些畫又回到了他的手上。
夜裡，他點上蠟燭，給自己倒了一杯波爾多。看著那些畫，回想著蒼白如紙的開始。
突然，他看到了那副旅行者給他畫的畫像，發現上面是個蒼老如同骷髏的面孔，一瞬間他明白了。上帝的一個小失誤造就了這個故事，他永遠年輕，而畫像中的自己代替自己老去……
第二天，收拾房間的大嬸發現了一灘在地上的灰燼，還有一副自畫像。畫像上的人有著蒼白而年輕的臉和憂鬱的神情，栩栩如新。
