Halloween around the World
Welcome to the latest Halloween themed podcast.
In this podcast I am going to explain 4 unusual traditions that take place
In 4 different countries.
Your job is to guess the country where this tradition exists.
There are 4 options
Japan – an important country in Asia, famous for sushi, manga and martial arts like karate and judo.
China – the biggest country in Asia, famous for the Great Wall, pandas and having invented many things.
Scotland – home to the Loch Ness monster and the country where the drink whisky comes from.
Guatemala , a beautiful warm country in Central America, full of volcanoes and ancient Mayan culture.
Are you ready?
In which country do people have special Halloween parties – on trains? In this country part goers dress up as zombies, monsters and ghosts but they don’t go to someone’s house, or to a nightclub. They go together on a train and have their party together – but they always clean the train after the party.
Where is it?
In which country do people celebrate Halloween by flying kites? It is a country with traditions going back 3000 years. To honour the dead, the local people make giant brightly coloured kites, and fly them in the cemeteries. It is an impressive and beautiful site.
But where is it?
In which country do people celebrate Halloween by putting nuts in the fire?
In this country there is a romantic tradition which couples perform. On the night of Halloween a couple puts a hazelnut into the fire to see how it burns. If the nut burns slowly and doesn’t explode it means their relationship will last a long time. If the nut explodes the relationship will be fiery and not last long.
But where is it?
In which country do people celebrate Halloween by leaving out food for hungry ghosts?
This country has a special festival for ghosts, but it doesn’t happen on October 31st, it happens in August or September. They believe that many ghosts are unhappy and walk around the world, lost. So they provide them with food and paper lanterns to help the find their way. It’s very kind, but where does it happen?
Now you have listened to the four traditions – do you remember the countries?
Japan, China, Scotland and Guatemala.
Which country do you think has each festival? The train, the kites, the nuts in the fire and the food for the ghosts?
The correct answer is that the Halloween party on the train is in Japan.
The kite festival is in Guatemala.
The tradition of putting the nuts n the fire is in Scotland.
And in China they leave food out for the hungry ghosts.
Well done if you got everything right, and if you didn’t that’s good too, because you learned something new today.