There are many traditions, holidays and festivals all over the world. But not every country has the same traditions. The most celebrated holidays are Christmas, New Year´s Day, Easter and also St. Valentine´s Day. This holidays are the most famous and favourite holidays in the most countries of the world. Every country has its own holidays and traditions for that holidays. For example Slovak republic has All saints holidays and Anniversary of Slovak national Uprising, Mother´s Day etc. There are also some typically `American` holidays: Halloween, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents´ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran´s Day and the most famous holidays are Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day. Mostly all holidays are connected with history of countries.

The world famous festival is Halloween. But this name is common for America and Great Britain. Halloween means the eve of All Saints´ Day of All Hallows Day and takes place on 31st October. Like some other American celebrations, its origins lie in both pre-Christian and Christian customs. Although it is a much more important festival in United States than in Britain, it is celebrated by many people in the United Kingdom. It is particulary connected with witches and ghosts. At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches. Sometimes the witches have black cats with. Their traditions are that people may play difficult games for fun, such as one of the most popular is called pin- the-tail-on-the-donkey: One child is blindfolded and spun slowly so that he or she will become dizzy. Then the child must find a paper donkey hanging on the wall and try to pin a tail onto the back. The other game is trying to eat an apple from a bucket of water without using their hands. How is it possible? By sinking his or her face into the water and biting the apple!

In recent years children dressed in white sheets knock on doors at Halloween and ask if you would like a `trick` or `treat`. Pirates and princesses, ghosts and popular heroes of the day all hold bags open to catch the candy or other goodies that the neighbours drop in. As they give each child a treat the neighbours exclaim over the costumes and try to guess who is under the masks. Sometimes the children sing songs and recite to neighbours for thanks for the candies. However, if you do not, the play a `trick` on you, such as making a lot of noise of spilling flour on your front doorstep.

But more and more adults celebrate Halloween. They dress up like historical or political figures and go to fancy-dress balls or parties. Teenagers enjoy costume dances at their schools and the more outrageous the costume the better! This is an American tradition. In Slovak it is not celebrating like in America. In Slovak it is used to go to fancy-dress balls, but people do not use to wear masks. It is more usual for little children in nurseries or in elementary schools. They have competitions about whose mask is the best one. But not only wearing the masks is the only same thing between American traditions and Slovak traditions. I think that everybody knows it. The tradition is pumpkins. People cut horrible faces in pumpkins and also into other vegetables and put a candle inside, which shines through the eyes and the mouths and maybe also through the nose. The traditional colours of Halloween are black like ghost and night and orange like the pumpkins are. A legend grew up about a man named Jack who was so stingy that he was not allowed into heaven when he died, because he was a miser. He could not enter hell either because he had played jokes on the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. The Irish people carved scary faces out of turnips, beets or potatoes representing "Jack of the Lantern," or Jack-o'lantern. When the Irish brought their customs to the United States, they carved faces on pumpkins because in the autumn they were more plentiful than turnips. Today jack-o'-lanterns in the windows of a house on Halloween night let costumed children know that there are goodies waiting if they knock and say "Trick or Treat!"
Halloween party is complete without at least one scary story. Usually one person talks in a low voice while everyone else crowds together on the floor or around a fire. The following is a retelling of a tale told in Britain and in North Carolina and Virginia. The title is:
"What Do You Come For?"
There was an old woman who lived all by herself, and she was very lonely. Sitting in the kitchen one night, she said, "Oh, I wish I had some company."
No sooner had she spoken than down the chimney tumbled two feet from which the flesh had rotted. The old woman's eyes bulged with terror. Then two legs dropped to the hearth and attached themselves to the feet. Then a body tumbled down, then two arms, and a man's head. As the old woman watched, the parts came together into a great, tall man. The man danced around and around the room.

Faster and faster he went. Then he stopped, and he looked into her eyes.
"What do you come for?“ she asked in a small voice that shivered and shook.
"What do I come for?" he said. "I come for YOU!"
The narrator shouts and jumps at the person near him!

Here are some traditional Halloween recipes in America:

Caramel Apples
Take the paper wrapping off about 100 caramels and put them in a saucepan. Put the saucepan over a pan of boiling water. Boil the water until the caramels melt. Put a wooden stick into the top of each apple, dip the apple into the caramel. Let them cool on wax paper and enjoy!
Popcorn Balls
Combine 1/2 cup of corn syrup, a teaspoon of vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan. Heat to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, or until a small spoonful of the mixture forms a hard ball when dropped into water. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Put warm popped corn in a large greased bowl. Slowly pour the syrup over the popcorn, tossing with a greased fork until mixed thoroughly. Be careful, it's hot! When it's cool enough to handle, butter your hands and shape popped corn into 3-inch balls. Place on waxed paper until cool and no longer sticky, then wrap in waxed paper.
And the last recipe is also very very typical for Slovak people. We can see it on the pavements in the streets. The waste from it is everywhere. Dried Pumpkin Seeds
After carving your pumpkin, separate the pulp from the seeds. Rinse the seeds and spread them out to dry. The next day, add enough melted butter or margarine to coat each seed. Spread the seeds onto a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until they are slightly brown.
And now I just want to tell you Good appetite.

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