The kids are going to get short-changed this year but all my Granddaughter has to do is trick or treat me and she will have a bag full of loot. Lonewolf, do you do Halloween and trick or treating in Wales and the rest of great Brittian? How about the rest of you around the world?
Halloween is a pagan holiday that started in Ireland. So of course the UK celebrates it. With the China flu going around, I can't image any sane parent letting their kids go door to door. I had to laugh and shake my head at a house I saw yesterday. In front of the house was all facets of Halloween crap complete with homemade graveyard. Yet about 500' down the road was a real graveyard. I used to go all out on Halloween and Christmas. Not anymore. I could care less.
Rubbish, Halloween is yet another American import to the UK. The pagan festival is called Samhain, and was celebrated as the harvest was brought in. it has nothing at all to do with Halloween. Halloween is nothing more than an excuse to give kids a licence to beg.
Many years ago I read an article that a state or county was mandating that al Pedos put a sign on their door on Halloween that read something like, "no treats here, a real monster lives here."
yeah, like that will ever happen. I dont believe in begging, especially not using children, my door remains firmly closed.
Halloween was never a thing when I was growing up, and as I don't have children who may wish to participate I find myself pretty uninterested in the whole over commercialized event. I also live well away from any one with children so I won't have strangers wondering up to my door which suits me well.
I absolutely loved taking my kids out trick-or-treating! I'd take our hurricane kerosene lamp with us to light the way. My wife made the most wonderful costumes (her mom turned her into a super seamstress; she used to make our kids clothes, to include 3-piece suits for the boys).
Tex, you've outdone yourself in that Halloween costume you're wearing! Or, have you become as angry a man as I? .
There is nothing pagan about Halloween. You are getting it mixed up with Samhain as Lonewolf said. I have a lot of good memories of Halloween. We always went trick or treating and then to a Church party that was an all-night supervised lock-in slumber party for the kids. Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of Hallows' Even or Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the a liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs and all the faithful departed.
Good morning TexDanm, The "curve ball" here at this discussion is 2 pronged. First, "pagan" does not necessarily mean badness or evil. Second, there is a connection with the pagans and the later holiday we're discussing. Pre monotheism, "pagan" societies had holidays to celebrate the harvest. The later Israelite holiday of Sukot (spell ?) did copy the basics of what the Cannanites celebrated. The pre-commercialized Halloween, the "religious" holiday does have a socio-cultural connection to the pagans like the Cananites. Jesus celebrated Sukot; John 7.
pagan [ˈpāɡən] NOUN a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions. I am a Jesuit Pagan.
When I lived in town we always had a lot of trick or treaters and I would dress up as something and hand out lots of candy. I love kids and where I lived there were a lot of them. When I moved out in the country other than friends and family there were no trick or treaters so we started having a big Halloween party with games for the kids and adults. COVID has messed that up...Maybe next year.
https://nypost.com/2020/10/23/trump-says-he-now-identifies-as-a-non-denominational-christian/ Real good ! That pagan definition does wonders. Above tells of President Trump's self-identity re all this. Had not realized Superman was a biblical figure.
sorry, dont see the relevance to Halloween. which isnt a religious festival but just an excuse to dress up and party.
Good morning Lonewolf, Not sure if you're addressing any Member's specific post or the overall developing theme of thread. To some, Halloween still is a "religious" festival. I vaguely recall some German holiday called (phoenic) "Fasching" which involved parties that I thought was a version of Halloween. The add-on "Trick or Treat" for children was a themed event. Dressing up as a ghost had a meaning. Dressing up as a witch also had a meaning. Depending on the era, witches and wizards were "religious" leaders. This Wicca religion came close to replacing Christianity in much of continental Europe. The Wiccas just lost too many battles against the Christians. At the US national level, Wicca is the second fastest growing "religion". The fastest one growing here is Astrology. Halloween's "trick or treat" means/ meant: trick: badness, not helping the community get ready for the dangerous winter treat: goodness; the treat was the benefits of the abundant harvest and storage for the winter. The current versions of this holiday in my area of the upstart colonies tries to get children NOT to go house to hous due to the dangers and some people are sleeping or sick. Older celebrants use the event to party and get drunk. I do not celebrate this event at all.
Halloween is a purely commercial holiday, it has nothing at all to do with paganism or religion, its purely an excuse for personal and monetary gain.
Good afternoon Lonewolf, Perhaps in your area but here there are Wicca Dens and they have Halloween celebrations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite...stones_and_markers#Headstone_and_marker_symbo Good afternoon Lonewolf, Glance at row 7 on link. Emblem number 37 is Wicca. This VA authorized grave stone of course doesn not establish that the Wicca members celebrate Halloween, but am presenting this to show that it really is a bigger "faith" than older folks here think. I do know some members of Wicca dens. After the US Civil Defense establishment's responder teams left the national scene (some exceptions) for the states and municipalities to fund and manage the Responder teams, the standards were reduced so that just about anyone could participate in something they were capable of doing. This "opened the ranks" and I met many people whom I'd never would have. Had met some Wiccans. They are present in the Responder teams, the military, the veterans organizations and elsewhere. As an aside, note the link's number 55, Hammer of Thor".
All Hallows Eve existed for possibly centuries before trick or treating became part of it. It is among other things a time for people to remember those that came before and when I was a kid it was a time when during the day we went to the cemetery and cleaned the family grave plot. The elders would tell stories about their parents and grandparents thereby making a connection between them and we of the younger generation. This made them people to us and not just graves with no meaning. Yes, trick or treating is now mostly a created commercial thing but that is because we as a people have forgotten our past. It is like Christmas BUT if you honor your past and remember them and past those memories on then you have given it meaning, just as with Christmas it can still have a very nice set of memories that don't involve Santa Claus. For me the Christmas night services with my parents are special memories. Instead of sitting and trying to stay awake while a preacher talked we would sit and quietly remember what Christmas was truly about and then as we wished, go to the altar to pray and receive communion. This was all done as we felt moved and not on clock or schedule. On Halloween night I won't dwell on Ghosts and goblins. I will remember my parents and grandparents and then enjoy my Granddaughter and hopefully tell her a little of them so that they will live on in her memories.
we imported Halloween and trick or treat from the USA like a lot of other things. it didnt exist when I was growing up, its a fairly modern thing in the UK, I didnt experience any of this until about 1990. its just an excuse for organised begging.
Oh yes there is, and the Irish used to carve turnips to ward of evil spirits. Now we carve pumpkins. When they immigrated to the U.S. they brought their pagan beliefs with them and now it's morphed into our little holiday from the depression era. Early "treats" were depression era pies or something like that. December 25th was brought about due to a pagan holiday as well. It was the Christians way of stepping on their date. Jesus was most likely born in the Spring. Anyway... whats say you Easter Bunny? Are you full of pagan shit?
your confusing pagan beliefs and Halloween, halloween has nothing to do with paganism it is merely a commercial festival for financial gain, at least it is in the UK.
the origins of Halloween are in a business boardroom. like I said before Halloween didnt exist in the UK before the 1990's and is a purely American import. a bit like rock and roll in the 60s.
Except for the "British Invasion" of that word-famous group from Liverpool called the Beatles. Their last concert was at Candlestick Park, San Fransisco in '68 I think it was. Halloween is an American invention, but its roots came from Ireland. It morphed to what it is now from the depression in the mid to early '30s.
