CESL  TODAY

Volume 62, Term 055, August-October
Center for English as a Second Language
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Carbondale, Il 62901-4518

CESL TODAY is a student-produced newspaper published by ESL students at the Center for English as a Second Language at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. We have worked hard on these articles and hope you enjoy them.

[Music][Poetry] [Learning English in Carbondale][People around the world [Alternative lifestyles][Traits of ideal spouses][contributors] [CESL Today Home]

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Halloween

I learned some things about Halloween, so I want to tell you about them. Halloween is celebrated here in the U.S.A with a variety of activities on October 30. It is traditionally observed by children who dress up in costumes and go door to door saying "Trick or Treat" so that the residents will give them candy. The original idea is this: Ancient Celtics believed that the evil spirit and the witch appeared on October 30, the day before of All Saints' Day (Hallowmas). The Celtics made Halloween to repulse the evil spirit and the witch. And the culture has spread to the West. The custom of Halloween was brought to the U.S.A in the 1840's by Irish immigrants. The purpose of wearing the costume, which is a symbol of scary things, is to drive away the evil spirits, who see the appearance and are surprised.

I interviewed some Americans and learned many things from it. First, Americans usually buy a few bags or candy treats such as small chocolate bars etc. and pass these out on the designated "trick or treat" night in their town. Unfortunately, the woman I talked to also eats quite a few of these herself. Second, many college students will decorate their dorm rooms like a Haunted Houses with pumpkins, lights and many symbols of scary things. Traditionally children of high school age and below go to those places to be scared or be brave, depending on your perspective. Many houses and dorms will have costume parties also. Finally, about two years ago, there was violence in Carbondale Halloween. Students got into trouble over the Halloween weekend on the "strip" or on north 51 that goes by KAYA and the other bars and restaurants. There were incidents of fights and an attempt to block the street for outdoor party, for example, overturned cars and broken windows etc. These incidents were made by heavy drinking crowds.

-Hiroto

Halloween

People usually cut a pumpkin, called "Jack-O-Lanterns", and make a face at Halloween. Children go door to door and say "trick or treat" which means that they will do something bad for people if people don`t give children candies. They also play the game, "bobbing for apples". Why did Halloween start? People thought dead people came back to get a new body so that they could continue to live at Halloween. So, they offered foods to keep ghosts away from them. It's interesting that children disguise and go door to door because there is no holiday like Halloween in Japan.

I asked three Americans about violence in Halloween. They said people broke windows and turned cars over three years ago. They think alcohol leads to violence since drinkers feel that they can do anything. One guy said that people wear masks and costumes, so nobody knows who they are. It easily brings violence. Another said Halloween is more negative than other holidays because symbols of Halloween are witches, skeletons and so on. So, people become more violent at Halloween. But these years, police are around the Strip, so violence has decreased, said another guy. I think wearing masks helps people do bad things and the fact that Halloween is based on scary things is also an important factor.
By Wakako

Carbondale's Halloween festival

"Halloween is just a pleasant festival," I had thought until I studied about it. I knew only that originatlly had an image of driving out the evil which tries to possess someone, but recently it was given new image by some people. I studied about Halloween history in Carbondale by the article in the Daily Egyptian: "Back to campus August 1996: Halloween still haunts SIUC, Carbondale," and had conversations with two American people. In the article, the riots continued from 1989 to 1994 until "fall break was created." "Šoverturned cars, indecent exposure, slam-dancing and crowd-driving are allevents...," I can understand how awful it was when I just read the article.

I asked two American people why that riot happened and they answered with some reasons: "Carbondale is near Chicago; Carbondale's bar fee is less expensive than Chicago's, atmosphere, stress or some other things. By creating "fall break, which got studects to have Carbondale to keep them from rioting, some of the riots have not happened lately. However this has caused a decrease in bar owcer's profits from Halloween. I understood they have so many problems, but I don't know whether it is better to select that "fall break" or not.
-Sosuke Uematsu, AE2

Mask of the Drunken

I was surprised at reading the terrible story of "Halloween in Carbondale"­Daily Egyptian 10-27-00. It was 1994 when there was the last celebration on the Strip involving Halloween in Carbondale. The young drunken groups were violent to the society. There were riots! The policeman used tear-gas to arrest them. After 1994 the policemen strongly controlled the young drunken groups in Halloween. Around 10 years ago, what happened in Carbondale? The young opened a big party and enjoyed their party with alcohol. Even though they know most students should have a good time and be responsible, what made them becomed violent? Some American said, "I don't know!" "They are young, drunken!!" "Stay at home with candies on Halloween."

What made Carbondale young people become violent at Halloween? Some Americans pointed that a number of young people who couldn't get good grades and didn't belong in school live in Carbondale with alcohol. It's inevitable for them to get angry. Maybe they resolve their anger through drinking alcohol like the other cities of young people. Every weekend they enjoy alcohol, making trial problems individually. Alcoho makes them be free, be happy. Futhermore they got mask of the drunken who are violent, uncontrolled, unacceptable to society. They reveal their hidden animal instinct which has been controlled to be good by socialization. They enjoy some bad activity for fun itself together in Halloween. The group with the drunken masks, after hiding their faced behind mask are very dangerous to society. Alcohol brings up a drunken mask in deep heart in Halloween. Drunken people are more likely to cause violence as a group. They are rebellious, defiant against society. So we try to find out the way for young people to solve their problem. We have to be more interested in young people.
-SOONY

Carbondale Halloween

I read some websites about Halloween violence and Carbondale Halloween. According to websites, there are a lot of violent things that happened. For instance, people broke some windows, trees, and cars. Moreover, some people fought with the police. The people also threw beer at the people downtown. I think that happened because the police always were not serious at Halloween.

I talked with American students about the violence in Halloween. They told me that all the violence came from people who live out of town, for example, Saint Louis, Marion, Edwardsville, Champaign, even Chicago. In their opinion, the people did the violent behavior because they drank too much. However, I think the main reason is the history of Carbondale Halloween and the crowd.
-By Mohammed Ali

Interesting Halloween

According to the article below, Halloween, which can be called Halloween E'en in Ireland, means the night before the "All Saints", observed on November 1. In an old English the word "Halloween" meant "sanctify". Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Halloween Day to honor all Saints in heaven. Participants made sacrifices, offered up prayers for the dead. During Halloween, children dress in special clothes to try to look frightening, for example, as ghosts or witches. People cut the pumpkins to make it look like faces and put a light inside. Children go to door to door and say "trick or treat". Then people will give them some candies.

Some Americans told me that they wore costumes on that day. If people want to give the children candies, they will put the light in front of their door. There are some "haunted houses", which are open on that day. People can walk in them, and some strange things will come out. Our hall will hold a Pumpkin Carving Party. We can enjoy apple cider, cookies, and see a Halloween Movie while carving pumpkins. The person who is good at carving will win a special prize. Our hall will hold a pumpkin chucking contest some days later. We can come throw pumpkins for distance. Ten years ago, if someone wanted to go downtown by car, his or her car will be broken by stone or set on fire. People broke windows and fought in the street. So bars are shut down since then.
-By Selina

Reference: History of Halloween. Retrieved from: http://www.halloween.com.

Another CESL project on Carbondale Halloween:
Carbondale Halloween (054)

Contributors

GE 055 Students

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Gilbert Ahishakiye is from Burundi.

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Han Na Lee is from Korea.

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Akihiro Tanigawa is from Japan.

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Han-Tsung Tsai is from Taiwan.

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Enju Tsedevdorj is from Mongolia.

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Sara Castillo is from Colombia.

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AE1 055 Students

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Klaudia Halasz is from Hungary.

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David Kim is from Korea.

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Jeong Ki Lee is from Korea.

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Diki Uhm is from Korea

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N.B. Al-Washlee is from Yemen.

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Erdem Kantemur is from Turkey.

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AE2 055 Students

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Sosuke Uematsu is from Japan.

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Soony Seo is from Korea.

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Man Jung Tsai is from Taiwan

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Hiroto Kawamura is from Japan.

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Widad Ahmed is from Sudan.

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Saori Taguchi is from Japan.

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Chiemi Fukunaga is from Japan.

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Selina Huang is from China.

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Wakako Kinoshita is from Japan.

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Hoi Lin Chen Lopez is from Mexico.

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Mohammed BaMuqabel is from Yemen.

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Omar Al-Saleem is from Saudi Arabia.

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EAP1 055 Students

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Eric Jang is from Korea.

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Soojin Jang is from Korea.

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Thassanee (Kung) Rungruang is from Thailand.

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J.D. Chang is from Korea.

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Seung Woo (Choi) Choi is from Korea.

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Yoomin Choi is from Korea.

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Miho Hamamoto is from Japan.

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Kaori Kawasaki is from Japan.

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Jung Hyo Kim is from Japan.

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Pilun (Yuii) Lawanont is from Thailand.

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Minho Park  (homepage) is from Korea.

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Sukumo Tanihara is from Japan.

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Simona Oprea is from Romania.

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HyungHoo Kim is from Korea.

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055 EAP2 Students

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Ammro Al-Kuraishi is from Saudi Arabia.

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Daisuke Yabuki is from Japan.

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Miki Matsumoto is from Japan.

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Yeosim Yoon is from Korea.

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Abdul-Aziz Mohammed is from Kuwait.

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Jeong Ah (Moon) Moon is from Korea.

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Yong Woo Ryu is from Korea.

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Tai Tanaka is from Japan.

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Awni Najim is from Qatar.

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Tyson is from Indonesia.

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Marc Imbayan is from Malaysia.

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CESL thanks all contributors...you are part of CESL history! If you no longer want your name listed, please contact Mr. Leverett

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