Learn Spooky French for Halloween
My three year-old and I took a walk through the neighborhood this evening, playing a game of “I Spy Something Spooky.” The pumpkins, witches, and “scary stuff” are starting to pop up everywhere. Although I love Halloween, my preschooler gets frightened pretty easily. We’re slowly getting used to the decor so that the big night of trick-or-treating doesn’t completely freak out my little pirate. Big Brother Darth Vader, on the other hand, is fearless. Especially with his trusty lightsaber.
I grew up with this very American holiday, but it’s still new and exciting to the kids. And it’s also new and exciting in France. Every year I’m amazed by how l’Halloween it’s catching on as a new French celebration.
haunted house - maison hantée
bat- chauve-souris
ghost- fantôme
owl- hibou
pumpkin- citrouille
black cat- chat noir
skeleton- squelette
mummy- momie
scarecrow- épouvantail
witch- sorcière
spider - araignée
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Image Credit: My Kindergartener 
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Comments
Hello!
Speaking of Halloween… it was always big in Canada and Québec… although I never myself found the courage to get on the streets because of the cold! Where I grew up (near James Bay), on October 31, it was winter (snow, wind, etc.)… so no thanks!
There’s a small place one hour north of Montréal called Saint-Anne-des-Plaines where they attract lots of visitors and tourists during the whole month of October… The entire village is decorated Halloween style and I have to say it is great! I went and I really enjoyed the experience (ne serait-ce que pour le travail que tout cela implique!)…
Although Québec was dominated by Catholic Church for many years (under the dark reign of Duplessis), celebrating Halloween was never an issue! It was indeed a pagan celebration that was very popular across the province… and apparently bless by the clergy! 
I’m surprised that, in France (a Republic), religion has so much power… maybe I lost something along the way here…
Voilà ma réflexion du jour!
[...] 4. The best classroom bulletin boards are seasonal. Think fall. Think Halloween. If you need some ideas, check out these recent posts with Halloween vocab in Spanish and French. [...]
Actually, Diane, celebrating Halloween started to get big in France about 10 years ago, and was kind of popular for 2 or 3 years. Nothing like in the U.S. of course, but you would see some groups of kids in the streets ringing at door bells for some candies. Many people didn’t have candies to give, but oh well…
Kids would only dress in scary costumes, like witches, devil etc. No other kind of costume would be seen (no fairies, no princess, no pirats…). So we had only taken the “dark” side of Halloween.
I’m writing in the past tense, because celebrating Halloween isn’t popular anymore, partly due to the counter-attack of the Catholic church saying that the real celebration was on the 1st of November (la fête des morts, or Toussaint), and that Halloween was a total marketing coup in France. And it’s true, it’s not at all in our habit to celebrate Halloween and it really sounded like some people wanted to make a lot of money with it (like costumes manufacturers!).
So it’s pretty much all forgotten about now!
By the way, in French we say Halloween and not l’Halloween.