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 Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:45 pm
The night before the Solemnity of All Saints, a holy day of celebration to remember those who have come before us and have lived exemplified lives in Christ.
Halloween describes the night before a Catholic feast day but I'm pretty sure that most of you are aware of the or at least somewhat aware of the history behind this now secular holiday.
In Gaelic tradition it signified the end of the summer, the end of the harvest and the transition into the cold winter months ahead. Since Halloween was mentioned in "the spa" subforum, I thought I would start an early topic on it.
Does your religion celebrate Halloween, El Día de los Muertos (the Mexican celebration of all Souls day is very interesting), Samhain...etc.?
I know a lot of Christians are against it because of the association to paganism although I've always found it to be a fun holiday.
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:54 pm
I love Halloween. The United Methodist Church I attended in my youth did hayrides to bring us kids door-to-door for trick or treating. I also love dressing up in costumes. Candy and costumes are fun. I am rather ignorant though of the spiritual significance of this holiday other than what I hear from pop culture.
What is the significance of Halloween in relation to All-saints day? Why is All Saints Day celebrated?
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:03 am
I celebrate Samhain as a Pagan. @rmcdra from what I've heard all Saints day was intended as a Transition holiday for Gaelic pagans so they would be more willing to convert to Christianity, While some did convert and others forced it was more a transition thing for them and it was intended to be like Samhain where they honor the dead but more specifically dead saints. Halloween History (History Channel)You can go there and learn some basics but there is a bigger history other than that and most is more in depth that's an easy read for anyone interested in knowing the origins of "Halloween."
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 6:00 am
I love Halloween. It's just fun. ^_^ I love the motif. As an atheist, of course, it's just secular.
Off topic, but in Spanish class once, one of my classmates accidentally called "El Día de los Muertos"...
"El Día de los Muebles" ("The Day of the Furniture") rofl
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:28 am
rmcdra I love Halloween. The United Methodist Church I attended in my youth did hayrides to bring us kids door-to-door for trick or treating. I also love dressing up in costumes. Candy and costumes are fun. I am rather ignorant though of the spiritual significance of this holiday other than what I hear from pop culture. What is the significance of Halloween in relation to All-saints day? Why is All Saints Day celebrated? A significant part of the Catholic faith centers around and even romanticizes the idea of Martyrdom. All Saints day began as the feast of all Martyrs (4th century) to remember and commemorate them for their fervent devotion to God even when it meant giving up their lives. The celebration did not take place on Nov. 1 until Pope Gregory III (8th Century) and there wasn't a universal celebration of that feast day on that date until Pope Gregory the IV. The feast of all saints used to be called All Hallows (hallowed literally means those who were sanctified or are holy and is used in the 'Our Father' prayer). Halloween is a contraction of the Old English words describing the eve before all Saints day, or I suppose it could have been more accurately looked at as the start of it.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:32 am
alteregoivy I love Halloween. It's just fun. ^_^ I love the motif. As an atheist, of course, it's just secular. Off topic, but in Spanish class once, one of my classmates accidentally called "El Día de los Muertos"... "El Día de los Muebles" ("The Day of the Furniture") rofl Lol. That sounds like it could make a good twilight zone episode. The best I've heard was when some guy in one of my Spanish classes said: 'yo tango hombre' instead of 'yo tango hambre'. So instead of saying 'I am hungry', he said 'I have man'.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:36 am
halloween, i celebrate it as halloween, samhain, new year & the first meeting irl of me & bf smile , going to see the latest "saw" film, & the end of my studies for the year!!
halloween weekend he came over to visit me smile & the following year when we met again we started going out with each other. "saw" was the first film we went to each together.
my studies usually end early-mid october but we've (me, bf & friends) have always celebrated it during halloween smile
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:43 am
I like Halloween, but I know what you mean about some Christians being against it. My mom wasn't even going to let me and my sibs dress up, but my grandmother threw a fit, so my mom gave in on the condition we don't dress up as monsters.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:29 am
I love Halloween. It gives me and a friend the excuse to be overly morbid and sadistic people. And it's when I'm going to watch horror movies in a marathon. Though this year it will be Asian horror flicks. :3
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:02 pm
Judaism has a few different views on Halloween.
The Pro-Halloween (Like Lumanny):
Halloween is Halloween. When in thre modern world, do as the Mondernworldians do. It's just fun and candy!
- Nothing we haven't seen before: The Jewish Holiday of Purim has already opened the door for holidays of costuming and the ancient Jewish Golem story opens up a door for spooky tales in Judaism, so it's not all that different.
-The Bottom Line: It's just fun and Candy for Moishe's sake!!!! Stop being such a Kvetch and enjoy, you deserve it!!
The Con-Halloween(Like many of the more Orthodox Jews and IMR):
Halloween represents several things that are unfavorable int Judaism.
-Assimilation in Celebrating a Pagan Holiday: We Jews are not into assimilation. Hellenism was just a moment of weakness. We will celebrate our own holidays, thank you. We are Jews, not Pagans. We celebrate Jewish holidays, not Pagaon ones. Get it?
-Begging for Candy: Through our Five Thousand Years, we Jews have been oppressed countless times. Yet we are a proud people in our own right. To have our children out begging candy from stangers is unacceptable. We will gladly give candy to those children who ring our doorbell, but we will not beg it.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:46 am
Personally, I have no qualms about it. However, I know some who do. It is often possible to find services on Oct. 31. For instance, All Saints Day, Nov. 1, is a Hold Day of Obligation for R. Catholics. Most churches offer a vigil Mass on the 31st.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:13 am
Day of the Furniture should totally be a horror movie. I mean, come on - if Lepus counts as one, that could totally fly!
In other news, I love this holiday. Mainly as an excuse to dress up in costumes and parade in public, to be honest - I have no religious ties to it at all, but I love any reason to wear something out of the ordinary and go out in public!
This year, I think I'm going to be a pirate. Or, if I can talk someone else into footing the bill, do a fast version of Max's wolf suit and crown and scepter from Where the Wild Things Are and declare myself King of the Wild Things. 3nodding
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:47 am
all spanish translation mistakes aside, i actually celebrate Halloween for a motley of it's associations. I pay my respects to the Martyrs, and to those among the Saints that i feel truely earned their title (despite the fact that i actually do not worship their god); i celebrate the changing season, observing the equinox as per family tradition (my mom is a pagan, though the rest of her family is devided between Catholic and Baptist Christians), i observe and celebrate the thinning of the Veil, paying respects to all the dead, and to other spirits that roam, such as Fae and Demons and Angels and Goblins and others such beings as like to celebrate and/or misbehave this time of year; and this is the on etime of the year that i summon things. typically teh spirit of a person who has passed, or else a succubus, but i always decide my motive for doing so for the year before actually starting my ritual.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:52 am
My religion doesn't really celebrate the holiday per say. There are those within the Church who let their kids dress up and go trick-or-treating.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:17 pm
While I celebrate the holiday with friends, I don't quite celebrate the religious aspect...at least, not on Oct. 31. The closest thing I've found so far is an event in the Feast of the Beautiful Valley. Basically people write letters to deceased family members and place them in jars.
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