Do you believe it is wrong to celebrate Halloween?

anew

Thought I would throw this out to the board. I was raised a JW. I am not now. I now celebrate most holidays. I still will not celebrate halloween or if I had kids, I would not allow them. This is a holiday that the entire world acknowledges as being of the devil and associated with evil. So I want nothing to do with it. What is your opinions on the matter?

Terry

Let us begin with a simple premise.

Let us pretend there really is a god.

Now, what is this God?

Is he eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, just, loving, wise? etc?

If so, God cannot be injured or deprived. This God cannot be goaded, provoked or frustrated because He has all the advantages.

Consequently, offending him is rather silly as a concept. He outlives us all.

Now, let us pretend God does not exist. Offending Him is out of the question now too.

That only leaves the question of why we celebrate any holiday.

Halloween is mostly fun and outrageous. It is an exploration of our imaginative plunge into fantasy and our hidden fears. It is a way to thumb our nose at rigidity and superstition.

If we have ruled out a God who is vulnerable to hurt feelings or outrage; why not rule out a corresponding nemesis in the form of a worthy adversary (Devil)?

That leaves us with personal freedom to have silly fun.

If we have to Q and A silly fun with such fervor and caution; it can only mean some awful religious cult has implanted wacky fears in our subconscious in order to control us.

Trick or treat!

Mysterious

What would be your motives in celebrating Halloween? Would you use that day to honor the devil or would you see it as just another fun activity for your children? Is dressing up in a costume and eating candy any more 'evil' on a certain day than it would be at other times of the year?

Jez

I use to think that Halloween was an evil holiday, now I see it as a way for society to look at the dark side of life and not be afraid of it. I think that every culture has their way of looking at death, dying, the spirit world etc and this is ours. I believe it is good if we do not take it all so serious and it is our way of poking fun at evil and saying, WE are in control, WE are not afraid and we can take the piss out of it all.

It is why kids and adults fell in love so much with Harry Potter as well. The spirit realm will always be of interest to humans, we love to guess how it is, could be etc and the delving into it allows us to face our fears therefore conquer them. Not to be afraid of death, go on, have some fun with it even.

I am no longer afraid of Halloween, I see it as a ways of preserving culture and feel that it does serve a purpose in society other than just the fun of dressing up and candy. (although that is great too!) Many other cultures have ways of 'celebrating death' 'looking at death/evil' and accepting it, this is ours.

Each to his own though, Jez

StinkyPantz

This is a holiday that the entire world acknowledges as being of the devil and associated with evil.

I have never really celebrated it myself, but I will allow my children to. I don't believe in the devil, and as far as I can see humans are about the only "evil" entities in existance.

Farkel

: I still will not celebrate halloween or if I had kids, I would not allow them. This is a holiday that the entire world acknowledges as being of the devil and associated with evil. So I want nothing to do with it. What is your opinions on the matter?

It's about kids and candy. My kids got their candy and they were happy about it and gorged on the candy. And nobody got killed and no demons messed with anyone.

Kids and candy. That's it!

I'm demonized. Just take a look at my music (yes I actually PLAYED this on the piano):

Demonized Halloween Music

I learned and played this music and NO demon approached me or spoke to me. Cowards!

By tne way, it took me almost a year to learn that music.

dh

i don't think it's wrong, no, a little misguided perhaps, since satan was such a beautiful angel of light, they make it out to be a dark thing.

Corvin

I like your perspective Terry, and the big H has always been my favorite holiday because of the costumes and candy I had to watch all my friends at school chow down on in front of me.

This year, I am making costumes for all the kids and I am going to have a blast doing it. God can strike me dead for it, but I am doing it anyway. I have never once been able to dress up in a costume until lately and I love it.

Corvin

gaiagirl

Actually, Halloween has nothing whatsoever to do with Satan. as the people who first celebrated this day had no concept of an evil adversary to God. Rather, this was originally a feast honoring departed ancestors. On Halloween, the barrier between our world and the spirit world was considered to be the thinnest, and loved ones who had gone on to the spirit world could cross over to our side and commune with those in the physical world.

The connection between Halloween and Satan was manufactured by fundamentalist Christians who opposed any observance which had pre-Christian origins.

Gretchen956

This is a holiday that the entire world acknowledges as being of the devil and associated with evil. So I want nothing to do with it. What is your opinions on the matter?

Thank you, Gaia, thats exactly what I was going to say. Here are some historical facts about Halloween, the second of which is from the History Channel's website:

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Halloween (Allhallows Even) was observed by some churches with religious services. However, most persons regarded it as a secular festival. In its strictly religious aspect, it is known as the vigil of Hallowmas or All Saints' Day, observed on November 1 by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

The festival of Halloween is based on a combination of the Christian commemoration of the departed faithful (All Saints' Day) with the pre-Christian Celtic feast associated with a celebration of the end of summer and the Celtic New Year. Celts who lived in what is now known as Ireland, Scotland and parts of Great Britain celebrated their new year that began November 1. Allhallows' Even was observed on the evening of October 31st. Around 800 A.D., the day became known among Christians as Allhallomas which eventually changed to All Hallow E'en, or Halloween.

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Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago 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. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Do you believe it is wrong to celebrate Halloween?

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