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Is Halloween evil?
- Thread starter Riders
- Start date
exchemist
Veteran Member
Sure. All Saints' Day is a feast day in the Catholic church and is followed by All Souls' day, when all the dead are remembered and prayed for. The eve of All Saints is Hallowe'en of course (from All Hallows Even).
The church of course has nothing to do with the rather silly stuff involving ghost suits and rubber spiders that Americans love so much
. But we used to have some traditional Hallowe'en games when I was a child, like ducking apples.
exchemist
Veteran Member
Amen to that. But he's going to have to ask for an extension, if only to finalise his mad withdrawal deal - and then he may not get it through the Commons. All is not lost.In my opinion Halloween will be evil here in the UK this year if we leave the EU on October 31st, as our idiot Prime Minister has promised.
Where i live, Halloween was unheard of 5 years ago. American and Canadian friends along with our family started putting up decorations outside our houses and got our kids to invite a few french kids to go trick or treating.
Met with bewilderment by at the french at first, but for the last couple of years they are catching on and joining in. Last year we had 8 groups of trick or treaters (we hope for more this year), the year before five and the year before that only 2.
We live in a small (mostly catholic village) and consider this a major step in cultural relations.
It is closely followed by Toussaints, or all saints day/day of the dead. Where local villagers spend their day at the cemetery, having a picnic lunch, chatting and offering a drink or two to their dead ancestors. So maybe Halloween is not that weird.
He claimed we would leave on October 31st come what may, do or die, he would sooner be dead in a ditch if that didn't happen.
exchemist
Veteran Member
I'm shocked that you are acting as a "cultural Chernobyl", as a French minister once described EuroDisney.
exchemist
Veteran Member
But the whole country knows he is a congenital liar, so what's the surprise?He claimed we would leave on October 31st come what may, do or die, he would sooner be dead in a ditch if that didn't happen.
Boris comes out of the same mould as that idiot across the pond!
I'm shocked that you are acting as a "cultural Chernobyl", as a French minister once described EuroDisney.
The beloved French minister does not live in a small village where cultural integration is a big thing, people (most people) here are curious and like to mix and match.
But as it happens i agree with him on EuroDisney. And that the pyramid outside the Louvre is a carbuncle on the landscape!
exchemist
Veteran Member
Yes Bozolini has tried to copy a lot of the ideas, including that of undermining the institutions of the democratic state by painting them as being in opposition to the will of Das Volk - which he, naturally, represents.
We saw this sort of thing in the 1930s. And I don't mean from Churchill!
BilliardsBall
Veteran Member
Halloween is awesome! Trick or tract-ing for evangelism!
That would be even worse!
Halloween has a pagan origin and no, JW don't celebrate it.
According to History.com "Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth."
Later, when the influence of Christianity spread to Celtic lands things got a little mixed and the pagan tradition was tied up with the All Saint's day and the rest is history.
Even before I was a Jehovah's Witness I never celebrated Halloween. I find the whole thing very disturbing and distasteful.
According to History.com "Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.
This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth."
Later, when the influence of Christianity spread to Celtic lands things got a little mixed and the pagan tradition was tied up with the All Saint's day and the rest is history.
Even before I was a Jehovah's Witness I never celebrated Halloween. I find the whole thing very disturbing and distasteful.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
My religion takes no stance on Halloween. As a matter of fact, my church often has Halloween parties for the kids. Personally, I hate the holiday, but it has nothing to do with a belief that it's evil.
whirlingmerc
Well-Known Member
Depends... some christians turned the frown of the pumpkin into a smile to remind them of spirits redeemed.
but.... If one is obsessed with the dead and demons i don't see much value in it.
so depends
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Halloween is an imagination celebration. It's roots are the Christian holy days of All Souls Day and All Saints Day. It is not connected with Samhain. If it were pagan, it would be a harvest festival or something similar.
I fail to see how a festival celebrating the harvest and commemorating the beloved dead would be "evil".
The trick or treating and pumpkins have roots in the Celtic Samhaim festival.
Callisto
Hellenismos, BTW
The irony of those allegations: festival customs were done to ward off evil.
And yes, how remembering and honoring the dead can be seen as evil is beyond me. What does that make Memorial Day or Patriot Day 9/11?
IndigoChild5559
Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Trick or treating have nothing to do with Samhaim. It's an American tradition that developed in the 20th century.