Has anyone else noticed that the "keep Christ in Christmas" folks....

[Novaheart]

Nothing I've noticed at all. Just saw one story on Drudge about a school that removed all mention of halloween, but that was it.

I was actually referring to things I had actually seen around here. The Fifth Avenue Baptist Church is one of the funnier ones because they have up the "Harvest Festival" sign, in Halloween colors, and they also sell pumpkins. Of course, they also sell Christmas trees...

[djones520]

I was actually referring to things I had actually seen around here. The Fifth Avenue Baptist Church is one of the funnier ones because they have up the "Harvest Festival" sign, in Halloween colors, and they also sell pumpkins. Of course, they also sell Christmas trees...

Halloween colors are fall colors. Many area's celebrate harvest festivals, especially rural ones.

Do you know for sure it's not a concerted effort to stamp out Halloween?

[NJCardFan]

Nothing I've noticed at all. Just saw one story on Drudge about a school that removed all mention of halloween, but that was it.

The closest I saw of this was some school district somewhere(can't remember off hand) who banned Halloween costumes at schools because it might offend the kids who's parents can't afford to buy costumes.

[Novaheart]

Halloween colors are fall colors.

Black and orange?

[djones520]

Black and orange?

You live in Florida right? So it's not as evident down there. Spend october up north though and you'd understand.

[Apache]

Black and orange?

Drop it Princess... You know nothing of which you speak....



Up here, right NOW, we are AWASH in fall AND harvest festivals... and on the 31^st there will be plenty of lil' gobblins and ghosts going door to door.

[noonwitch]

The closest I saw of this was some school district somewhere(can't remember off hand) who banned Halloween costumes at schools because it might offend the kids who's parents can't afford to buy costumes.

Pat Robertson once called for the banning of Halloween-it was a long time ago, before the 1988 primaries (because it was brought up during his campaign). Also, there are fringe people who continue to call Halloween Satan's holiday and such-Jack Chick, of the Chick tracts is one. When I lived in Detroit, the church around the corner put one of those in my mailbox, it was amusing.


I grew up in a pretty Christian community-I had friends who weren't allowed to dance, who weren't allowed to listen to rock or pop music, and who weren't allowed to play on Sundays, but all of them went trick or treating on Halloween.


The alleged war on Christmas is a fabrication by FOX News, based on reports of the usual cranky atheists who object every year.

[Elspeth]

So, you are saying that celebrating a harvest, rather than Halloween, offends your sensibilities? I wasn't aware that you'd converted to Wicca (at least, I hope that it's Wicca; if you've become a Druid, the ceremonial sacrifices tend to run afoul of the law).

Interesting you bring up Wicca. The new Wiccans-the ones that have emerged since the 60s (and there are many here is California) have reclaimed Halloween as their holiday.

http://www.witchway.net/halloween.html

Halloween, plain and simple is our favorite time of year. A true time for witches, Witchcraft itself, and Wiccans alike who feel that on this night the separation between the physical and spiritual realities is it's least guarded and it's veil the thinnest. It is a time for dimensional openings and workings, it is a somber holiday, one of dark clothes and thoughts for the dead, it is said to be the time when those of necromantic talents can speak with the dead and it is certainly a time to remember ones own dead. Witches believe it is a time of endings of relationships and bad situations and it is the time when one can see the glimmer of hope in the future. There are as many concepts attached to this holiday as any other, truly a time of remembrance of our ancestors and all those who have gone before.

and this one that has an interesting claim:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hallo_np.htm

Ancient Druids were not bloodthirsty killers of humans. All of the stories of human sacrifices by Druids are traceable to a single passage in one of Julius Caesar's books. And that passage is probably simply a centuries-old example of wartime propaganda.

Ody, if you are around, do you know about the ancient Druids? I figure this is your kind of question.

[Elspeth]

I grew up in a pretty Christian community-I had friends who weren't allowed to dance, who weren't allowed to listen to rock or pop music, and who weren't allowed to play on Sundays, but all of them went trick or treating on Halloween.

I grew up Catholic, and we always had the day after Halloween off (Nov. 1, All Saints Day) and were expected to go to church. November 2 was all Souls Day, and though church was not required when I was a kid, the church still celebrated it as a day when you prayed for all the people who weren't saints--that is, all the regular Janes and Joes who had died (like everyone!) who were waiting around in Purgatory until the right amount of time had passed when they could enter heaven. Purgatory was supposed to be a pretty dismal place, so we were told to pray for all those souls, and our prayers could cut off the time our loved ones would have to serve in this celestial DMV office.

[noonwitch]

I grew up Catholic, and we always had the day after Halloween off (Nov. 1, All Saints Day) and were expected to go to church. November 2 was all Souls Day, and though church was not required when I was a kid, the church still celebrated it as a day when you prayed for all the people who weren't saints--that is, all the regular Janes and Joes who had died (like everyone!) who were waiting around in Purgatory until the right amount of time had passed when they could enter heaven. Purgatory was supposed to be a pretty dismal place, so we were told to pray for all those souls, and our prayers could cut off the time our loved ones would have to serve in this celestial DMV office.

I kind of like the idea behind All Soul's Day. A day to celebrate average people.

I think Purgatory is an interesting concept, but I particularly like your comparison to the DMV, where I have to go spend my morning and my money on Friday. They've come a long way over the past decade (although we call them the Secretary of State, here), but one computer malfunction and the whole system can crash for hours. I'll bring a book-maybe I'll bring Dante's Divine Comedy!