Halloween the Holiday of fun is it a dying holiday???

[lovuian]

I'm in the South and starting to notice that my neighbors are pressuring some of us not to celebrate Halloween. I get the look of you Heathen and Infidel!!! if this keeps up I do see the end of this holiday!!!

I have celebrated Halloween and its one of my favorite holidays.

It seems the Christian Right are not celebrating it...

All I know is the call of free candy is great and the kids told me I was the best house last year. And I had them come in droves so Trick or Treat is happenin at my house...

I bet there will be lots of Harry Potters and Hermines!!!

I don't mind that you don't celebrate the Holiday just don't interfere with mine!!!

[begin_within]

1. Some religions won't allow their members to celebrate it, because it is

supposedly a "devil's" holiday. So they take away all the fun the kids could have had, not to mention their candy.

[Toucano]

5. But what about their SOULS!

Trading candy for your mortal SOUL is a horrible bargain!


:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[LostinVA]

49. *sigh* It's based on Samhain, and Pagans don't believe in "The Devil"

This occult stuff being lashed onto Pagans drives me nuts. You know, you wanna slag on my religion? Then know what the heck you're talking about.

Halloween is NOT a Pagan holiday any more than Christmas is. Like Christmas, it evolved from a Pagan tradition. Geez....

You know, growing up, everyone's churches had Halloween parties... ALL CHURCHES. This is just their "thing."

[NYCGirl]

2. From a retail standpoint, Halloween is now the second biggest holiday,

with only Christmas being larger. And it's also becoming more of an adult holiday than one for children. So I don't think the rightwing is having much of an affect on it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Yes, they are having an impact, I think

Maybe not on the marketing of Halloween, but they are slowly taking it out of our schools.

[Toucano]

3. I don't think it's going anywhere.

The fundies have been on that rant for decades. It ebbs, it flows, but it'll always be here.

Personally, I'm a little bored and uninspired by most holidays. I'll take a few years off and come back with renewed enthusiasm.

[beingthere]

4. there are so many real creeps, horrors

and monsters and witches in the government, who needs anybody in a costume?

[Toucano]

6. Good point! n/t

[roguevalley]

9. its a holy day for some. up here, all the little parties in the world

don't subtract from the trick or treating and I live in the reddest red state around.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. It's certainly not dead here! I must have well over 200 kids that come

to my door every year, and it hasn't let up. One of the biggest fundraisers for the local elementary school is Fright Night, and every other house has Halloween decorations, big time.

On edit... the reason for some many children coming here is because I live in a townhouse complex and its exceptionally safe for kids to trick or treat.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Blue state?

Here in red state hell, Halloween is not nearly as big as it used to be. We have maybe 3 trick or treaters every year. And they are usually someone we know. Parents just don't send their kids out door to door anymore.

[lovuian]

26. Well I get many Spanish descent children and they love

trick or treat... Its kinda funny how Bush has let all the immigrants in and they are the ones who LOVE Halloween!!!

The poor Christian Right just didn't stand a chance with this guy!!!

Its a prelude to All Soul's Day which is a holy day...

Thats in the Catholic religion which has been around for centuries!!!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

27. Yes, NY. A suburb of NYC. Many of the people that live up here are

originally from the city. A diversity of ethnic groups with the biggest being Italian American. There are a couple of fundamental churches but I know of only one case of a child in either of my sons' classes that couldn't participate in Halloween. There was also an art teacher who refused to do Halloween art.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. I married into a RW evangelical family, but they did Halloween

because Mum loved it. :)

[Liberal Veteran]

10. Let the fundies have their hell houses...

...and tell them to mind their own business on what holidays you want to celebrate.

[lovuian]

11. Well its pretty obvious on the block who is celebrating and who

isn't!!! But they haven't stopped anybody!!! HA HA HA!!!
They come in their trucks their wagons crazy coupes and babies carried my their moms. They can't even say "Trick or Treat"


but they come...

I wonder what the most popular costume will be this year... I got lots of princesses and spidermans last year!!!

[GrumpyGreg]

12. Oh no,not Halloween! Say it isn't so.

[geomon666]

13. Not in my house and never will be.

It is my birthday after all. :)

[lovuian]

15. Happy Birthday Geomon666

:bounce:

[...of J.Temperance]

14. I've got some friends who are Southern Baptist

And they don't believe in Halloween in the way that...we do. They'll tell you straight that Halloween is evil and Satanic and that it corrupts children because it's based on Pagan beliefs.

In their church, they have some variation on Halloween but without the usual Halloween stuff. They'll have pumpkins and some kind of modified Trick or Treat thing going on, but no ghouls and witches etc.

Seems a tad bland if you ask me, but there you go...mind you, even though I ADORE these people, we've had some TOTALLY bizarre conversations about gays and blacks and because I LIKE them, I've unfortunately had to bit my tongue.

[lovuian]

20. Thats where I live Temperance and I understand its their

religion... Just there were Baptists in the 1900's and they still had Halloween...

I just hope we aren't going back to the Inquisition days of burning witches at the stake or Salem witchhunting!!!

Its troubling but hey lets see how long this craze lasts!!!

[...of J.Temperance]

30. Their religion is REALLY messed up

I mean some of the stuff they come out with is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

I must say that when they came out with the Halloween comments the other week, I was thinking "WTF? These people are crazy!" They're great friends though, and are normal in every other aspect.

I think Salem witchhunting could be back on the agenda soon, which is obviously troubling.

One weird conversation was when I asked "Do you have many black people in your church?" and they almost WHISPERED "There's two black people, but a lot of black's won't come because of the past historical association between the Southern Baptists and the Ku Klux Klan."

On edit: I'll mention to them about the Baptists in the 1900s and them having Halloween, just to see what they answer. It could be interesting.

[melody]

39. thats been around forever though

My father wasn't allowed to celebrate Halloween in his family either and that was back in the 30s in Texas.

[Left Is Write]

43. "....it corrupts children because it's based on Pagan beliefs."

I certainly hope they don't celebrate Christmas with popular cultural traditions. I hope they don't have a Christmas tree, mistletoe and holly, a Yule log, gift exchanges, or any other such trappings.

Wouldn't want to corrupt the children.

[LostinVA]

50. Tell them Pagans DO NOT believe in Satan

Or any other metaphysical evil being. That is a Judeo-Christian-Muslim belief, and not ours. Satanism is the "flip side" of Christianity, not Paganism.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. It is so sad to see this happening

At school, it gets less and less fun every year.

[bemildred]

17. I hope so. nt

[lildreamer316]

19. Since it is my high holy day

I will certainly be celebrating it a long time from now.(Samhain is New Years for us)
I do think it is a southern problem though; noticed the same thing around here. The decor was harder to find this year and is already almost gone(I went shopping for some yesterday--ak). The Christmas stuff is overwhelming. They are going to turn me off to it and I love the Christmas season, even through all the BS.

[lovuian]

22. Yes lil dreamer!!! I had to search for the Halloween stuff amidst

the Christmas stuff!!! Retailers are in on this stuff too!!!

[lildreamer316]

24. I'm tellin' ya

I found more cool decor on ebay (just hate to pay for shipping!) and I think I will budget that in from now on....I couldn't find half the stuff I was looking for this year! Very annoying.

[Arugula Latte]

23. They celebrate it in my kids' school but it's called "Harvest Celebration"

:eyes:

Well, I'm all for celebrating harvests, but, let's call it what it is.

Halloween.

I love it. My favorite holiday.

[NewInNewJ.]

25. I live in a small town in N.J.

Halloween is one of the biggest celebrated days here. I would almost bet 99% of the residents here take part in it. I love to see all the different costumes. We even have a costume parade for the pets. Fun

[lapislzi]

28. From a co-worker: "It's not biblical"

She stiffly informed me that she prefers to celebrate "the harvest" at this time of year because she doesn't want her little brother to miss out on the candy.

Funny, she brought in a photo of him wearing the most ghoulish mask...I remarked that I thought the costume inappropriate for a child. She looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language.

OK, so let me get this straight...OK to take the free candy. OK to wear the freakiest, most blood-curdling, violent costume in town. BUT JUST MAKE IT BIBLICAL, OK?

Is it me, or what?

[Left Is Write]

44. Traditional Christmas celebrations aren't Biblical either.

Wonder what your coworker would have to say about that?

[LostinVA]

51. Fourth of July isn't Biblical either, or Xmas, Easter, etc.

Alot of this is also anti-Catholicism from generation back. For real.

[Sin]

29. They will never get rid of it.

They have tried to for years, lots of years the people just liked it. and they couldn't do anything about it. thats why all saints day was put were it was directly after on Nov 1st because they couldn't plop it down on top of the 31st like the church has done with so many other pagan holidays so they decided to make a church holiday right after.
so I expect it here for a while. all of us have to dress up at least once a year and pretend to be someone else :) Hell bush does it every day and pretends to be president.

[Perky]

31. As a Christian I have a couple of thoughts.

1, Being anti-Halloween for alot of Christians is fine because to them it is an issue of deep spiritual significant. The pressure within the CHritian communtity to stope thier own from celebrating something they feel in antithetical to their beliefs is also fine.

2. At the same time...alot of fols use halloweeen anf Harry potter and the like solely to pick a fight for the sake of picking a fight so that they can get their names in the media ans dell more books or get more offerings. It's shameful because the motivation is far from pure.

I have no quibble with Joe Christain telling someone why he and his family choose not to participate in Halloween, but wearing your Christianity on your sleeve is prideful, haughty and does little to celebrate the meekness and purity of Christ.

[seabeyond]

32. halloween is winning out over fundies. and people are getting

pissed and rebelling over church saying halloween bad, here in panhandle of texas. religious belt, baptist stronghold. i had kids in christian school and we werent allowed ot do halloween. they never called me on my coffee cup i brought in to school so many mornings dropping kids off in classes, bah hahaha

the real hypocrisy, all these churches will have a fall party. not halloween oh no, though lots of candy give away and dress up...... just not ghouls and witches.

such hypocrisy

i told kids, family gathering, laughter and play and joy honoring our neighborhood, saying hi to neighbors, scoffing at evilness...... where oh where would god have issue. i can easily hear god say kick evils ass..... in happiness and love and play,.....this is the way to live life. my kids like to look at halloween that way

we just hung up four bags of webs in our front yard, and have our skeleton bodies and tombstones all around. jack o lanterns, friday

[porphyrian]

33. Don't give in to their fundamentalist bullshit.

Celebrate at your leisure, not theirs.

[PassingFair]

34. Yes. I think we should all stay home and stay out of sight.

In respect for their religion.
Anything else would be mocking and rude.

:sarcasm:

[Ilsa]

35. Nope. The marketing hype is everywhere where I live, and

there are plenty of people here who do not do anything for Hallowe'en. I think there is enough money to be made that the marketing of decorations, clothing, candy, etc will continue forever.

[Borgnine]

36. Not on my watch.

In my opinion, it's the most fun holiday of all, Christian Right be damned.

I love it. In fact, someday I plan on opening a haunted house attraction, and just to piss people off, put it right next to a church boycotting Halloween.

[melody]

37. the more we try to restrict things, the more they are embraced

"If the Irish wish to see an upsurge in Gaelic, they should ban it. It'll immediately become hugely popular." Robert Anton Wilson

It's a safe bet that the fundies who force their kids away from Halloween will enshrine it as a sacred holiday in many of their children's hearts. The only thing bad about Halloween in my locale is we have backward fundies with their annual "Halloween Abortionist Chamber of Horrors". They force their children to see this BS.

Of course, one might point out to them that it's the mindset of the fundies that will return us to the days of "abortionist house of horrors" via back alley practitioners, but that would involve talking sense to gibbering apes.

[nonconformist]

38. I live in a very religious area

And there are Halloween decorations everywhere!

Halloween is one of my very favorite times of year, so even if it dies away it will NEVER die in my household. Fortunately, around here I don't see any evidence of it dying away... yet.

[yellowdogintexas]

40. I live in Texas; my (very large)church is having a HALLOWEEN

yes, Halloween Carnival, right out in the parking lot of the church, on Sunday afternoon the 30th. Old fashioned carnival with game booths, food, costume contest ..the works.

Our honored guests are evacuee children from Louisiana and East Texas. We are rounding up extra costumes to be sure they all have one.

Oh we are even having a cakewalk (I am making a chocolate pound cakd), and a dunking booth (the youth group is running the dunking booth), and there is of course a canned goods drive for the church mission.

[miss_kitty]

41. The only holiday which outsells Hallowe'en is Xmas

I heard that on the news the other night, FWIW.

[Left Is Write]

42. There are LOTS of decorated houses around here.

Some are as simple as a scarecrow and a couple of pumpkins, but quite a few are very elaborate. While out for a walk this afternoon, I saw a couple building a haunted house in their garage.

I LOVE Halloween. It's been one of my favorite holidays since childhood. Maybe because it really makes me feel like a kid again.

[SheilaT]

45. Heck, m,y only complaint is that

Halloween is rapidly becoming a holiday for which I'm supposed to decorate big time, like Christmas.

Sadly, my neighborhood is full of people aging in place, and last year not a single trick-or-treater came to my door. Year before I had maybe three. There just aren't that many kids around here any more. Fifteen years ago, when we first moved here (and my kids were then 3 and 7) we had trick-or-treaters until past 11pm. I miss those days.

One of my sons used to attend a Jewish pre-school. I recall there was some kind of official prohibition against Halloween since it was considered a "Christian" observance, but the entire week or two after October 31st every single kid brought leftover Halloween candy to school in the lunch bag.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I remember the nuns at my Catholic school approximately 50 years ago not sure that Christmas trees were really acceptable, since they were actually pagan symbols.

The more things change....

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

46. Halloween is frowned upon by some Brazilians on the basis that it is

an "American" holiday, especially when it's used untranslated instead of "Dia das Bruxas" (Witches Day). And they're right, to a point.

We instead give children candy September 27, day of Catholic saints Cosmas and Damian.

But hell -- I can't help liking something that pisses off the talibornagains.

[clyrc]

47. People still have Halloween where I live!

And I live in the United Arab Emirates, on a University campus. There are very few Americans here, but we started the trick or treating thing, and now most kids from all nationalities participate. Why wouldn't they? Costumes and free candy? YAY!

For the first time in three years I found a pumpkin in the grocery store. It was expensive, but I love carving pumpkins. I was so excited when I first saw it that I called my husband and had him tell the girls we would have a real pumpkin to carve this year.I had to go to Dubai to get a few decorations last year, but this year I found them in Sharjah.

I would say the popularity of Halloween is actually growing, where i live.

[Hardrada]

48. Not here in Eastern Iowa

Main stream churches too powerful. Lots of decorated houses. We have some neighbors who don't decorate but we have a lit punkin out in front and get from 75 to 100 kids. And they can only trick or treat from 4 to 6 PM on a Sunday afternoon. The stupid city council seems to think they will be held liable if there is some (very very unlikely) mishap if the kids roam into the dark like I used to do long ago.