I love Halloween. I love the twisted humor behind the whole thing. I love the celebration of creepiness. I love giving candy to kids who come to my door, and seeing all the costumes they come up with.
Cor told me the other day that the girls' school had instituted a rule for Halloween. Kids could wear costumes, but they could not be of witches, vampires, or any other monsters. Apparently, some Christians at the school find such costumes, couples with the whole pagan origin of the "holiday," offensive. Cor told me we should consider ourselves lucky--the girls' school was the only school in the district allowing dressing up at all.
I've known (a small number of) people who objected to he existence of Halloween, or dressed their kids up as angels or religious figures. I know we have some conservative Christians here, including some who identify as fundamentalist. And some Jehova's Witnesses, as well. If this describes you, do you object to it for your family, but not care so much what others do, or would you seek to have your chilren's school limit or eliminate Halloween dressing up?
I don't think this is a Church and State thing. The people who object to Halloween tend to do so on religious grounds, but the people who celebrate it come from all manner of religious backgrounds. So, while I recognize that kids who don't do Halloween might feel uncomfortable seeing everyone else taking part, I don't think that allowing them to do so is imposing a religion on the ones who don't. It kind of seems a little bit the other way around . . . like doing away with Halloween because a small number of denominations object to it is imposing that set of values on everyone else. (I know this is overstating things a bit, but I'm reacting to this on an instinctual level.)
What do you think of this?
How common is this objection to Halloween?
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I object to Halloween....ever since they said I was to old to wear a monkey costume and get candy from all my neighbors.
Yes, last March was no fun at all.
Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
I strongly object to idiots telling me Halloween originated with people called the seltics (I spelled it like they say it) who worshipped their dead and thought on halloween their dead came and stole children and wouldn't even look if their kids went missing on halloween.
The holiday's cool though
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Do Jehova's whitnesses not do Halloween? Ok marks candy off list of stuff to buy this week. The only kids that live within a mile of my house are Jehovas Whitness.
Not allowing witches seems extreme, do they allow Hermione costumes?
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
I love halloween! I never really participate anymore. But I still love the feel of the holiday, its a great break in October and leads to all sorts of fun hijinks! Specially on a college campus :-D
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
I love Halloween, as well. Don't see a thing wrong with it.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
breyerchic, Jehovah's Witnesses don't do any holidays.
I love Halloween, too. A lot of the Baptist objections to Halloween originally had more to do with it being a Catholic Saint's Day being celebrated than a pagan holiday, I think.
Posted by dantesparadigm (Member # 8756) on :
I don't object to Halloween based on any kind of religious beliefs, but I don't like the whole destroy other people's property and set things on fire thing that goes along with it. OTOH it's already ground into American Tradition and it makes the kiddies happy so really, whats the harm. OH right the other stuff I was talking about. I'd also mention the gorging on candy thing but that would make me a hypocrite.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
(I don't like Hallowe'en, but not at all for those reasons!)
I had a friend who wasn't allowed to be witch or other such things (she is a New Mennonite (?) if you're interested), but I don't think she would ever consider imposing those views on others in the way you describe.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Teshi...I went to a Mennonite Brethren university for my upper division work, and they don't beleive in imposing their views on anyone else, ever.
Posted by Jacob Porter (Member # 31) on :
Halloween is a lot of fun. God bless those pagans. They really know how to have a good time.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
I despise the idea of taking halloween away from kids in school. I love the holiday. LOVE it. It is my favorite holiday. As each year continues, I see less and less trick or treaters, which makes me very sad. If my kids ever went to a school that did not allow dress up on Halloween, I would just change a couple of idea's here and there, and change the date. For example, Sept 20th is Billtmas, and we celebrate the holiday by dressing up as our character from a movie. I wonder if I could get away with that.
Arg. Just the idea of not letting kids dress up is aggravating for me.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Dan
I've seen some religious groups put on "alternative" events in an attempt to draw kids attention away from what they see as a pagan or anti-Christian celebration.
From what I've seen, the alternative things are quite lame and the kids sort of mope around wondering why they don't get to go out and get candy like all their friends.
Or...the adults make the decision to hold their alternative celebration earlier in the day so the kids, one assumes, can still go trick or treating that evening.
The whole alternative celebration idea just seems contrived to me. Like Festivus!
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
quote: Cor told me the other day that the girls' school had instituted a rule for Halloween. Kids could wear costumes, but they could not be of witches, vampires, or any other monsters. Apparently, some Christians at the school find such costumes, couples with the whole pagan origin of the "holiday," offensive. Cor told me we should consider ourselves lucky--the girls' school was the only school in the district allowing dressing up at all.
Things like this bug me to no end, as I'm sure most of you can guess. I think it would be entirely appropriate for a bunch of the pro-Halloween parents to get together and dress their kids up as witches, vampires, or any other monsters. I mean, just think if, like, half the school was suspended because of that. That's smoe good civil disobedience, right there.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Oh, yeah, and Dan gets a .
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
There's a long and thriving tradition of Neewollah in my grandma's hometown-- Independence, KS. We have a picture of her on a float in the Neewollah festival parade when she was about 6 years old-- which would make it about 1933. But her family, although Baptist, still celebrated Halloween at least a little.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
I love Halloween. But at church a few weeks ago, a woman got up to give an announcement and slipped in that if we have symbols of witches or other Satanic things in our homes for Halloween, we should really examine ourselves. Jon Boy and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
Our The Cheat pumpkin is smiling at anyone who passes our front door.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:they don't beleive in imposing their views on anyone else, ever.
My friend is certainly one of the nicest people ever. Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
My grandmother is Brethren, and it really is one of the religions that makes the most sense to me, there are still things I disagree with, but it really doesn't make me uncomfortable.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I like Halloween. It's just one of those fun, silly, get out of yourself holidays -- and as long as it stays that way, I like it. When it gets mean or harmful, I don't like it.
The longer we're at our new church, the more I like it. The youth group is having a Halloween party, sponsored by the youth pastor. Not a Harvest party, or All Saints party, or any other silly euphemism to make the kids feel like they're not missing out on the tradition.
My daughter's christian based daycare is also having a little Halloween party, asking that they not wear scary costumes because some of the children scare easily. I don't have a problem with that restriction (Rainbow is going as a princess) because it's logical. Witches can be cute (Emma Watson anyone?). Vampires can be cute. If it's not likely to scare someone, a costume should be allowed, if it's allowed at all. Regardless of whether it is magical or undead. Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I used to hate the scary masks, but my sister blithely tries them all on.
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
I am kinda surprised that a school would forbid costumes because of religious implications. Is this a private school, then? (I guess a girl's school must be a private school....)
But it wouldn't surprise me if they did it to be less "scary". I don't know how old the kids in question are, but more and more I see parents worried about their kids getting "too scared" about Halloween, or worried that their kids get too much into the "gore" factor. Blood, guts, all that.
Edit: Oh! On the subject of dressing up as a religious figure: my little brother was a "prophet" one year. He was maybe 4 or 5. He just really, really wanted to be a prophet for Halloween. He wore a beard, held scriptures in his hand, and had a hat on that made him look vaguely Amish. It was pretty funny.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
I like Halloween. It's the only day of the year you can get away with knocking on people's doors, have them not recognize you, and get candy for being willing to walk around.
Oh yea and now that I don't trick-or-treat, Halloween parties themselves are fun.
Edit: This year I have a monk costume and someone else in my house has a Pope hat. If it didn't cost so much and the fact that I've always wanted a monk robe, I would have gone with the cardinal costume.
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
Having little kids means getting to trick-or-treat vicariously. I usually dress up as well.
Posted by Samarkand (Member # 8379) on :
Yeah, why I can't I get candy anymore? Maybe I'll dress up as young as possible and go trick-or-treating.
Posted by Risuena (Member # 2924) on :
I'm not at all surprised that a school would ban the celebration of Halloween. Shortly after I moved away from my elementary/middle school district, the county banned all Halloween decorations, and I assume costumes, because of the pagan origins of Halloween. Of course, this is also the school system that required all eighth grade students to watch the movie The Ten Commandments so that we "could learn about ancient Egyptian culture." And this was public school.
I think it sucks that Halloween is being banned. I also think that banning it because of it's pagan origin is a suspect reason since several Christian holidays have pagan associations.
Posted by Humean316 (Member # 8175) on :
The history of Halloween: The Celts coalesced as a society circa 800 BCE. They were located in what is now the United Kingdom, much of Western Europe and an isolated enclave in what is now Turkey. They held a major celebration near the end of our month of October, which they called called "Samhain", a festival to recognize the end of summer. The story that "Samhain" was a Celtic God of the Dead is a myth. However, it has been repeated so often by conservative Christian and secular sources that it has taken on a life of its own.
The Celts believed that the veil between this world and the next was thinnest at this time of year. Friends and relatives who had died would often return, with their souls inhabiting an animal - often a black cat. Black cats have remained a symbol of Halloween down to the present time.
In celebration of the recently completed harvest, Celts would give offerings of food to the Gods. They often went from door to door to collect food to donate to their deities. Also, young Celts would ask the townspeople for kindling and wood, and take it to top of the hill for the Samhain bonfire. These are two of the possible origins of present day "trick or treating."
Samhain was a fire festival. Sacred bonfires were lit on the tops of hills in honor of the Gods. The townspeople would take an ember from the bonfire to their home and re-light the fire in their family hearth. The ember would usually be carried in a holder - often a turnip or gourd. They felt nervous about walking home in the dark; they were afraid of evil spirits. So they dressed up in costumes and carved scary faces in their ember holders. They hoped that the spirits would be frightened and not bother them. Children continue to dress up today in various costumes. Pumpkins are now the objects of choice to carve faces into.
Origins of Christian holy days: All Saints' Day was created by Pope Boniface IV in the 7th century CE. There were so many saints by this time that there were not enough days in the year to accommodate them. So, All Saints' Day was to recognize the saints who were without their own day, and to celebrate saints that the Church had failed to recognize. It originally was held on May 13, but was moved by Pope Gregory in 835 CE to November 1. This may have been done in order to distract Christians from celebrating Samhain.
Halloween was originally called All Hallows' Eve which means the evening before All Saints' Day. "Hallow" is an Old English word for "saint". This was shortened to Hallowe'en and finally to Halloween. Satanists have adopted Hallowe'en as one of their three main seasonal days of celebration. The others are Walpurgus Nacht on MAY-1 and the Satanist's birthday.
All Souls' Day was created for NOV-2 to honor faithful Christians who had died but were not saints. The three days from OCT-31 to NOV-2 was given the name Hallow Tide.
My take: to ban Halloween because of its pagan origin is hypocritical at best. If this is the real reason that Halloween is bad, then Christmas should be banned as well.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
I could care less about silly American holidays, but I strongly approve of banning them for religious reasons.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I'm an Orthodox Jew, and we don't do Halloween. My kid goes to a Jewish school, so none of his friends are doing it either. In fact, in his crowd, someone who did celebrate it would definitely be the odd one out, and a puzzlement to his peers. So, no peer pressure on the kid to participate and no pressure on the parents from the kid. This is typical of the Orthodox Jewish experience.
That said, I have no objections to anyone else celebrating the holiday, and if you come to my door, I'll have a treat for you. Just don't throw eggs at my house, or engage in any other obnoxious behavior. That's not a celebration -- that's being a hooligan.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Beltane and Samhain... the two ancient days when the spirit world would come closest to the mortal world. May Day and Halloween... what the Christians would change to Easter (Easter was the name of a spring and fertility goddess) and All Hallows Eve, night before All Saints Day.
What I think is so cool is how the Romans in an effort to unite the Empire with Christianity adopted many of the holy days (holidays) of their former religions. The duties of the Gods would be taken up by the Angels as another example. So we actually don't have to look very far to try and find what the ancient culture was like... it's still alive and kicking, just under different names. That's one of the reasons I like the Roman Catholic Church...it is the last living remnant of the Roman government and culture.
Some of the new American Christian sects don't celebrate Halloween because they say it's the "devil's day". Whatever. They are so ignorant of what they claim to believe. It is a beautiful day, full of history and culture. All they see are people dressing up as scary spooks and think it's all about worshiping the Devil (the Devil was actually a Greek injection into the early Christian Church, originally used as a metephor for the trials we all go through but over time people mistook it as there being a literal Devil, but I degress). But it's the same thing as gargoyls on churches... the idea was to scare away the evil spirits... same with dressing up.
Beltane is the day when the more positive spiritual forces have sway (spring, rebirth, return of light) and Samhain is for the more negative side (darkness, winter, death). Yin and Yang for the ancient Celts.
Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
When I was in high school, ours was the first class ever to have a Halloween party. The holiday was pretty much unknown 10 years ago, and it's ubiquitous today.
There are some radical voices it is an attempt to desacrify All Saints' Day.
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samarkand: Yeah, why I can't I get candy anymore? Maybe I'll dress up as young as possible and go trick-or-treating.
Because you don't bill yourself as Far Samarkand...Duuhh.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samarkand: Yeah, why I can't I get candy anymore? Maybe I'll dress up as young as possible and go trick-or-treating.
Do like some people in my neighborhood and take your <2-year-old out trick-or-treating. It seems pretty obvious they aren't going out for the kid who just stares at the bowl of candy with a blank expression. And if the bag of goodies is actually bigger than the kid, you can bet mom and dad are gonna be the ones eating it.
My town is strange. The "powers that be" have decreed (for the past several years, apparently) that "Trick or Treating" will be done on the Tuesday before Oct. 31st. That means we did our T-or-T two days ago. The weather was miserable - wet and windy - but some kids went out anyway. Unfortunately, so did at least 4 sets of parents like I describe above. It's one thing to use your kid to get some free goodies. It's quite another thing to risk pneumonia for your kid so you can get some free goodies. Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
When I worked for the entertainment company there was a large evangelical church that held a large and expensive alternative party on the Saturday around halloween.
Of course they insisted on having Laser Tag every year. What could be more Christian than zapping your friends with high energy photons? Oh, just about everything.
Costumes were encouraged as long as they were biblical. The year I attended the party it was amazing the number of lions that showed up, straight from Daniel's lion's den, who had "Lion King" embossed on them. (Lion King IV--Simba & Daniel?)
The saddest costume was the 7 year old stuck in a box too big for him. The box was decorated like a TV and on the TV was a scene from a Christian Video--that his parents were selling at a booth nearby. THe kid just looked so pathetic it hurt.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Karl, I've heard of places that have Halloween on the weekend before, but the Tuesday before..? That makes no sense. Are they purposely trying to kill it? I think you should lead the fight to change this.
BTW, have you got any pictures of your house this year?
I've always loved Halloween. It kills me now that my sister is one of those who doesn't like Halloween and won't let my neice and nephew participate.
When I was a kid, I used to always win the costume contests at school. One year, I went as a moss monster / swamp thing by attaching lots of Spanish moss to a outfit and spray painting it various shades of green. It was hot that year and the costume didn't help. On top of that I was sick, but that didn't stop me. I marched in the parade, won the prize and then practically collapsed.
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
Actually I object to Halloween for a non-religious reason. In the part of France I live in, the legend says that a long time ago, Saint Martin had lost his donkey, and it was really windy, so the children had to carve beets to put a candle in and search for the donkey. So it's th'e tradition that the children carve beets, give them shapes and put a bulb in it, and go together, with adults of course, including one disguised as Saint Martin, across the village to search the donkey. When they find it they gather in a hot room and everyone is given chocolates. But since the medias started to make such a fuss around Halloween, the tradition began to die, because it was on the same day... And I find it really sad.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
No photos this year. I've been uncharacteristically busy with non-Halloween things this year and decorating didn't happen. A side-effect of having trick-or-treat so early is that now it feels like Halloween is over.
But I've done some brainstorming about decorating for next year. I'm going to start making things in August!
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
quote:and decorating didn't happen.
For shame. I made a Bates Motel sign this year (my last name). It's much bigger and better than the cheesy one I got from the store. I was thinking about putting dark red paint on my hand, slapping it on the front of the sign and dragging it down. My wife thinks that's a bit much. What do you guys think?
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
It all depends on the theme. If you're going for camp, leave it off. If you're going for grisly, slap it on. Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
quote:So it's th'e tradition that the children carve beets, give them shapes and put a bulb in it, and go together, with adults of course, including one disguised as Saint Martin, across the village to search the donkey. When they find it they . . .
Was I the only one expecting a much more gruesome conclusion to that sentence?
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I just wanted to know why the room has to be hot. Wouldn't the chocolate melt?
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I adore Halloween. It's one of my favorite holidays; right up there with St. Patrick's Day. Which, incidentally, also involves dressing up.
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
quote:Originally posted by zgator: I just wanted to know why the room has to be hot. Wouldn't the chocolate melt?
Because it's cold outside, so you feel really good to enter in a heaten place.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
Ahhh, see I live in Florida. Concepts like "cold outside" don't occur to me.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
First off I have to say I love Halloween. I have no religious objections to it and if you want to wear "Satanic" costumes like devils or vampires or witches, you go right ahead. In fact my Christian non-denominational church is doing a free community event called "Trunk or Treat". We are all bringing our cars to the local elementary school, parking them backwards and filling the trunks with candy. Anyone can come (not just church members) and trick-or-treat car to car. Since we are a church, it is a safe way for kids to get lots of candy without having to walk so much. We have hired a really good local band to come play and we will have face painting and costume contests and free food. We are not pushing the gospel on anyone during this event either. It is just for fun and fellowship. We are calling it a Halloween event and we are not turning anyone away regardless of their costume (unless there is extreme nudity. I think my pastor's example was going as Adam and Eve.) It is going to be a BLAST!
BUT (big but here) I have HUGE objections to kids wearing those costumes to school. I teach at an at-risk middle school and you just don't know how many problems that creates. Kids wearing masks can cause all kinds of trouble and we can't identify them. They bring that nasty glittery hair spray stuff and spray it all over everything. Putting restrictions on the costumes doesn't work because the kids purposely break them and it causes the teachers to lose valuable class time to fix the problem. I know you are thinking that we can just let up and have one day of fun, but we just can't. Thanks to our stupid No-Child-Left-Behind legislature, we are force-feeding our kids as much instruction as humanly possible (or impossible as the case may be) and we don't have time for this kind of stuff at school. A very wise school administrator once said that if you create a circus atmosphere at school, you’ll have to deal with clowns. There are Halloween carnivals at most elementary schools in the area and the kids are encouraged to wear costumes there. Otherwise Halloween is better as an after school event.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
Halloween was lots more fun when my kids were little. I don't see it as an adult thing. BUT, tomorrow night my Boy Scouts and I are going camping in the graveyard of an old western ghost town. The town has been mined over. But the graveyard, which has reverted to BLM control and back to pinion forest, is fantantic. There are still lots of monuments etc. This year Halloween is going to be fun again.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
Icky, I find that terribly depressing. Our daycare is having a parade and the kids will walk down to the retirement home. I'm so excited they do something special.
*blushes at wanting to take Sophie trick or treating* I want to show her off more than grab the goods, though.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
Oh, and Halloween is fine at daycare. My 2 year old is wearing her costume for the Halloween party tomorrow and they will take it off afterwards (not because they don't approve, but because they don't want them messed up before Halloween).
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
We don't do Halloween. No pumpkins, no trick or treating, none of that. We don't generally have many kids ringing our doorbell that night either, because we live in a mostly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. We can mostly ignore that it's even happening.
When I was little, I used to trick or treat. Then came the rumors about razor blades in apples, and then having to have my parents check everything before I could eat it... the magic just sort of went out of it at that point.
Posted by Destineer (Member # 821) on :
I had neighbors last year that didn't do Halloween. These were my crazy Angry Yelling Neighbors. The mother was constantly praying on the telephone... when she wasn't lambasting her husband or (paradoxically) telling her teenage son that he was "not half the man your father is!"
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
When we were kids, we were taught to *only* Trick-or-Treat at houses that had their porch light on--and ideally--were decorated for Halloween. There were plenty of houses that were simply dark, and we took that as a sign that they didn't care to participate.
Today I teach my kids the same thing. And from the appearance of it, there are still a fair number of people who don't participate.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I love Halloween as well. My daughter is going to preschool today dressed up as a butterfly. My son wants to be a "kitty-cat."
My company fully supports Halloween and Monday is going to be pretty much a no-work day as everyone in the building goes around checking out everyone else's costumes. We'll have a Halloween party in the afternoon, complete with a costume contest finals. The winners receive hundreds of dollars in prizes. It's a huge deal here. If you don't dress up on Halloween you might as well not show up that day.
I see Halloween as a purely fun holiday and I certainly don't attach any religious significance to it. It's just fun.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I'd always loved Halloween until my father died on October 18, back in 1987. That Halloween was really hard on my mom.
But I'm totally cool with others celebrating it, so long as it doesn't become a formal holiday (i.e., off federal time). That would be inconsistent with the church/state separation, IMHO.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I see Halloween as the equivalent of Talk Like a Pirate day, only bigger and older. Same significance.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I'm cool with that. Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
MandyM, I love what your church is doing! I am going to suggest it to our church for next year. I think they'd totally be into it.
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
MandyM, when I taught middle school we had rules like no masks on in class, no costumes that prevented sitting down in a desk, etc. It seemed to work okay.
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
Karl, I'm with Christy. I took the girls out trick or treating from the moment I had them. It was fun for them, even though they didn't quite get what was going on. It was different, and all the people and colors and candy made it fun. I also liked putting them in cute costumes and showing them off. If I was after candy, I could simply have shut my door and kept the candy I buy to pass out, because it's so much better than what most of the other houses in the neighborhood give out.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
quote:Originally posted by Christy: *blushes at wanting to take Sophie trick or treating* I want to show her off more than grab the goods, though.
*blushes for applying ulterior motives across the board like that. I should know better. Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
But do you take your little kids out in <40 degree drizzling rain? That's the only real criticism I have. Showing off your kids is fine by me. I'd probably do the same, truthfully.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
We're only going to be taking Emma to relatives' houses. She gets overstimulated easily and can be shy around strangers, but loves car rides and relatives. She'll have fun quacking for all her grandparents and such (she's going to be a duck), and they won't give her candy she can't eat. Last year we did the Trunk or Treat at church (we might or might not this year depending on how tired Ems is) to show her off, and she didn't notice the candy (but then, she was only 7 months old at the time.)
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
From 10 months to about 11 years I never actually trick or treated. My mom would dress me up, and drive me to several relatives and family friend's houses, we'd have an order, and pretty much stick with it, once or twice I went around a neighborhood of one of those friends. But this was because my house is on a very windy country road, with 3 neighbors close, who we stopped at on the way, and no other kids anywhere near my age. It was more friends than family of course because neither of my parents grew up in the town we live in (but mom has lived here since she was 18). My costumes were never scary, usually some form of a girl, with a pretty dress, but occasionally I was a cat or once Miss Piggy(in a tutu) with my Airedale dressed up as Fonzy Bear.
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
No, Karl, I agree with you there. Posted by BaoQingTian (Member # 8775) on :
I don't think that the small minority who object to Halloween being celebrated at school have the right for it to be banned any more than those who object to Christmas being celebrated at school should have their way. (In celebrating Christmas I refer to the activities I usually see such as trees and snowflake making, not a Christianity led worship). Although there are differences between the two situations, they both were originally religious holidays that are currently celebrated by large numbers of unbelievers.
They have both changed immensely from original methods of observation. Both have acquired their own traditions in our culture. I believe that decorated pine trees, candy canes, gift giving, and fudge making have less to do with celebrating the birth of Christ than dressing up as a ghost going house to house for candy relates with Samhain. Yes, with both you can go back and associate our traditions to symbols to religion, , but is that what people are really thinking about when they celebrate by putting up a Christmas tree or carving a jack-o-lantern?
I submit that the actual symbolism of these holidays is unknown on the majority of the people who celebrate them, and that most celebrate merely for the sake of tradition. To me an aethist trying to ban a Christmas tree in a school is as silly as a fundamental Christian banning halloween costumes. Well now that I've managed to offend the prissy church-goers and the goat-sacrificing devil worshipers, I'd better shutup.
I for one would certainly hate to live in a culture without traditions. The certainly break up the monotony of the year. I mean imagine if all our holidays were as inoffensive as Labor Day.....
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
quote: I think it would be entirely appropriate for a bunch of the pro-Halloween parents to get together and dress their kids up as witches, vampires, or any other monsters. I mean, just think if, like, half the school was suspended because of that. That's smoe good civil disobedience, right there.
I would so do that. Heck, I'd organise it.
I love Halloween, although having a food sensitive kid makes it a bit trickier. My church is doing our second Trunk or Treat, so we'll do that, plus the few neighbors we know.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
quote:To me an aethist trying to ban a Christmas tree in a school is as silly as a fundamental Christian banning halloween costumes. Well now that I've managed to offend the prissy church-goers and the goat-sacrificing devil worshipers, I'd better shutup.
I am a non-prissy church-goer so I am not offended. And I completely agree with you. I think that every time people sue schools about the pledge since it has the word God in it. But that is another arguement.
Posted by solero (Member # 8668) on :
Its basicly saying we cant have fun. well if we cant have fun then were would we be?
I strongly object to them saying we cant dress up. I love halloween. I love seeing people come to my door because I love interacting with other people because I moved To NY a year ago and Most of you should know what its like Being the "NEWBIE" of the place, im saying some people dont let you in to "THEIR GROUPS". I personaly love seeing all the little kids express themself by dressing up and being creative.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I mean, just think if, like, half the school was suspended because of that. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I usually dress up as well.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
For shame. I made a Bates Motel sign this year (my last name). It's much bigger and better than the cheesy one I got from the store. I was thinking about putting dark red paint on my hand, slapping it on the front of the sign and dragging it down. My wife thinks that's a bit much. What do you guys think?
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)