On November 2, Halloween holiday was celebrated with the organization of Department of Foreign languages of the Faculty of Philology and the students of group 916.

Lecturer of the Department of Foreign languages Lamia Heydarova widely spoke about history and traditions of this holiday. She noted: “The traditions of Halloween come from harvest holiday of Celts, specially “Samhain” ceremony of Gaels. “Samhain” ceremony was about arrival of the winter, which is the symbol of death and was always celebrated in last days of autumn. Afterwards, the church set “Day of Saints” in these days for Christianizing the holiday. Today’s Halloween costumes are influenced by Christian beliefs. In some sources, the door opens between that world and this world, so souls of dead persons can intrude on the houses. Therefore dreadful pumpkin and make up aim frightening them. The holiday has several symbols. Different pictures are drawn in some countries: spider"s web, witch, black cat, skeleton and etc. The main symbol of the holiday is Jack-o’-lantern. It is made of carved pumpkin with eyes, nose and mouth and the candle is placed within it, representing the soul stuck in doomsday. The kids gather cookies in a dress of jinnee and witch walking from door-to-door. Ireland migrants, who migrated to United States of America in XIX century brought Halloween to this country. This holiday commenced to be celebrated all over the world with the influence of American culture. The holiday is among amusing holidays in our country, too”. She also notified that the purpose of the event was to acquaint English learners with the national values of the culture and establishment history of Halloween holiday and create circumstances for students to demonstrate their language knowledge.

The participant of Fullbright English Teacher Assistant Jack Morris delivered presentation in the event about Halloween traditions in several countries of the world.

Afterwards, head of the Department of Foreign languages Professor Nigar Isgandarova shared her impressions on the event.

The students watched the short film about establishment history of Halloween holiday, sang the English song about the holiday and recited poems. Questions and jokes about the topic were welcomed by attendees.

 

Translation: Linguistic Center