Halloween Speech Outline
1) Topic: Halloween
I. Introduction
A. Quote: “There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly lit front porch.” –Robert Brault
B. Topic: Today, we’re going to discuss symbolism in Halloween.
C. Subtopics: Colors of Halloween, Black Cats, Jack-O-Lanterns, Witches, Trick-or-Treating
II. Body
A. Black & Orange: come from the Celtic celebration of the harvest; orange stands for the color of the changing leaves and crops, while black is the “death” of summer.
B. Black Cats: considered “bad luck”; often said to be the companions of witches.
C. Jack-O-Lanterns: Celtic folklore about a farmer named “Stingy Jack”, who tricked the devil. This resulted in him being turned away from both Heaven and Hell when he died, being left to wander in the middle with only a lantern made of a coal and turnip. Celtic people carved pumpkins with coals to scare Jack away.
D. Witches: originally comes from a Celtic goddess, who symbolized wisdom and the change of the season (good); has since been turned into a scary old hag.
E. Trick-or-Treating: stem from the belief that on “all-hallows eve”, the boundary between the real world and the spirit world is opened.
One superstition is that ghosts would disguise themselves as humans, and come to your door asking for food. If you turned them down, you could be haunted.
Another is that dressing as a ghost or goblin would fool the real ones into thinking you were one of them, so you wouldn’t be harmed.
III. Conclusion
A. Review subtopics
B. Make sure you never turn down someone asking for candy, because you never know who, or what, is knocking at your
I. Introduction
A. Quote: “There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly lit front porch.” –Robert Brault
B. Topic: Today, we’re going to discuss symbolism in Halloween.
C. Subtopics: Colors of Halloween, Black Cats, Jack-O-Lanterns, Witches, Trick-or-Treating
II. Body
A. Black & Orange: come from the Celtic celebration of the harvest; orange stands for the color of the changing leaves and crops, while black is the “death” of summer.
B. Black Cats: considered “bad luck”; often said to be the companions of witches.
C. Jack-O-Lanterns: Celtic folklore about a farmer named “Stingy Jack”, who tricked the devil. This resulted in him being turned away from both Heaven and Hell when he died, being left to wander in the middle with only a lantern made of a coal and turnip. Celtic people carved pumpkins with coals to scare Jack away.
D. Witches: originally comes from a Celtic goddess, who symbolized wisdom and the change of the season (good); has since been turned into a scary old hag.
E. Trick-or-Treating: stem from the belief that on “all-hallows eve”, the boundary between the real world and the spirit world is opened.
One superstition is that ghosts would disguise themselves as humans, and come to your door asking for food. If you turned them down, you could be haunted.
Another is that dressing as a ghost or goblin would fool the real ones into thinking you were one of them, so you wouldn’t be harmed.
III. Conclusion
A. Review subtopics
B. Make sure you never turn down someone asking for candy, because you never know who, or what, is knocking at your