LAST autumn my parents were studying in Canada, and brought me over with them.

It was soon my birthday. Then came Halloween (万圣节前夕). Once I asked Mum why there was Halloween. She told me a lot about ghosts (鬼). I couldn’t remember it all. I just remember that many children put on interesting clothes on that day. They go from door to door and ask for sweets (糖果).

Sheng An in Canada last winter

"Sweets are like good words for the dead (死去的)," Mum told me. "The more the better. They can help the dead go to a better place."

One day before Halloween, Mum bought me witches’ (女巫的) clothes. They were black, with a hat.

Dressing up

The next day, at about 6:30 pm, I went out with my parents.

It was dark. Many people got together around a house. They were asking for sweets. Lots of children were dressed in different clothes.

I pushed in and reached out my hand. I got some.

"Wow! There’s nothing hard about this," I thought.

I was so happy when I looked at the colourful sweets. But there were so few.

Some kids had left the house and started to ask for sweets door to door.

I decided to go with them. I wanted more.

I was a little afraid at first. But the people at each house were very kind. They gave me lots of sweets.

After some time I had enough. I started to look around to see what Canadians do at Halloween.

The houses were so different! Some were made very scary (可怕的). There were life-like skeletons (骷髅) on the fences. There were graves (坟墓) in the gardens. Bat-like (象蝙蝠的) clothes flew in the wind. But some weren’t so scary.

When I went home that day, I found out my sweets could fill a whole big box!

"The sweets could last through the year!" I thought, and they did.