By XUE Huijing

At 7 p.m. on October 24th, Mr. Brett Gearing, the overseas teacher of the School of Foreign Languages, held a lecture with the topic Halloween in US Culture in Lize C108. Associate Professor Frank Li, Mr. Neville Swartz and Mr. Andrew Engler attended the lecture as well.

This lecture was composed of four parts. First of all, Mr. Brett Gearing introduced the history of Halloween in US, including Samhain, All Hallow’s Day, Jack O’ lantern, Treat or Trick and the decoration of shopping malls and houses during Halloween. Second, Mr. Brett Gearing stated the belief of spiritualism in American culture. For instance, some people used Ouija board and séance to communicate with spirits and even try to take photos of spirits. Third, Mr. Brett Gearing covered some monsters related to Halloween, such as vampire, werewolf, witch and zombie. At last came the Question and Answer session. Mr. Brett Gearing answered questions from the teachers and the students, which deepened their knowledge about Halloween.