Happy Halloween to one and all, but you have to ask yourself is it a holiday? No surely not, I wonder if we will start sending Halloween cards next. In Britain the custom of celebrating Halloween is seen as fairly new, a transatlantic idea, that was in-itself a transported idea from countries such as Ireland. I wonder with Paganism now beginning to be accepted as a recognised religion in Great Britain whether it will gain more acceptance.
These are some of the websites and blogs I have found on the history of Halloween and paganism, but I would just like to say that the views on these sites are in no way a reflection on my own views.
The Jeremiahproject.com
Halloween Is here
The Telegraph News Blog
Religious Tolerance
God Web
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/halloween
www.bbc.co.uk/news
The are hundreds and thousands of Halloween posts out there on the Internet, these are just a few I've seen today. I think Halloween has the potential to be all things to almost all people: Pagan or Christian. My daughter's school does not allow and mention of Halloween, but all the children celebrate it with parties and trick or treating anyway. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the children could learn more about the traditions and history, rather than just seeing it as a time to watch ghost stories and knock on neighbours doors demanding candy.
Happy Halloween
The idea of sending Halloween cards would almost be funny - if it wasn't so true. I just passed a big display of Hallmark Halloween cards in Walmart the other day. Who says American is commercialized?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I'm from the UK and I've loved Halloween and horror/monster movies since I was a kid. Halloween is now massive in the UK but way too commercial for my liking. The multi-millions spent each year on merchandise and candy is far more frightening than any horror film!
ReplyDeleteHello Cyber and K.M I'm shocked at how Halloween has taken off in the UK over the last 20 years, but it is the all mightly £ or $ that seems to fuel it. As a child the wasn't any fuss made and no shop carried rack after rack of costumes as they do today. It has gone the way of Christmas, where the message is lost in the crass commercialism.
ReplyDeleteLast year I gave a Halloween party for my youngest and all her friends. We played games and did a little trick or treating and then half a dozen of her friends stayed over to watch films. 20 odd pre teens high on sugar is worse than any horror film ever made. This year I sent my kids to other parents who were foolish enough to pander the the whims of their own hell's munchkins.