An old scary tradition

"Une ancienne tradition effrayante"
French B1 writing exercise

Yoann recalls celebrating the old Celtic tradition of Samhain with his Gran.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "Brittany", "Celtic", "the festival of Samhain", "to take place", "gardening boots", "to harvest (vegetables)", "ten or so", "a beetroot", "to hollow out (vegetables)", "a sharp knife", "a terrifying face", "a candle", "inside", "nightfall", "a windowsill (outside)", "a hedge", "an evil spirit", "to approach [someone]", "my favorite time of".

Written by qualified French expert Céline Pickard PGCE, BA
Last updated: 2023-01-04

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

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How the test works
You’ll practise: L'Imparfait (Indicatif), Préposition, Adjectif

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I used to spend All Saints' half-term break at my grandmother's house in Brittany. Over there, we used to celebrate the Celtic festival of Samhain. This old tradition would take place on the first of November. Mémé and I would put our gardening boots on and together, we would go to harvest ten or so beetroots. First, we would hollow out the beetroots. Then, with a sharp knife, we would give them terrifying faces. And to finish, I would always put a candle inside. Before nightfall, Mémé would leave our hideous creations on the windowsills, under the hedges and all around the house. That way, the evil spirits couldn't approach us. It was really my favorite time of the holiday [US:vacation] !

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