How Old Newspapers Recorded American Halloween
In the app: the whole story at your level, listening, the quiz and the word cards.
The same story at six levels
How the first sentence reads at every level, from A1 to C2.
- A1
The Library of Congress studied Halloween.
- A2
The Library of Congress looked at Halloween in the United States.
- B1
The Library of Congress has looked at how people in the United States have celebrated Halloween over time.
- B2
Using the Chronicling America historic newspaper database, the Library of Congress has examined how people in the United States have celebrated Halloween over time.
- C1
Halloween traditions in the United States combine modern practices with customs that are hundreds of years old.
- C2
Today's Halloween, with its neighborhood candy rounds and carved pumpkins on front steps, brings together modern American habits and traditions that are hundreds of years old.
Key words
Words from the B1 text, with their meaning.
- harvest
- the time of year when crops are cut and collected from the fields
- spirit
- the part of a person that some people believe continues to live after death, like a ghost
- belief
- a strong feeling that something is true or real
- custom
- a traditional way of behaving or doing something in a group or society
- trick
- something done to surprise someone or make them look silly as a joke
- parade
- a public celebration where many people walk together down a street
Rewritten with AI from facts reported by Library of Congress: Headlines and Heroes (newspapers). Read the original for the full report.