AIBU to find this halloe’en display’ offensive?

Mibs children of 4,5,6 hopefully aren’t seeing or playing violent video games but they may be living next door to a ‘body’ being tortured in the garden with a black plastic bag tightly bound around the victims head and body How many little kids could try and copy it ? most houses have black plastic bags in their kitchen ???

Midnightblue

Actually I don’t think I am being.
I am pretty relaxed about Hallo’e’en generally, and I am not easily shocked, but I have noticed it’s become more and more focused on violence these past few years, not only by teenagers, but by some parents of young children.

I’ve just walked past a house where the owners have put a ‘scarecrow’, dressed in full hazmat suit, performing a ‘post mortem’ on another scarecrow lying on a table, which is covered by a blood stained sheet. The owners of the property have taken up some flags from their garden and dug a ‘grave’.

Hanging upside down either side of their front door are 2 full size human shaped objects, tightly wrapped in black plastic.

I know it’s on their property, but it is put up for public consumption, otherwise they’d have set it up in their own living room.

TBH, I feel a bit upset, (to my own surprise) that anyone would think it’s ok to think up, find it funny, and display this. If I had children to care for, I wouldn’t walk them past.

Just interested to see what other grans think

I agree with you, Midnightblue, I think it’s horrible.

Incidentally, I used to think that the origin of Halloween was a pagan festival, but this year I saw this blog post by an atheist historian saying that’s not true.

//every October we see supposed rationalists parroting pseudo history about the “pagan origins of Halloween”, with no sign of any fact-checking, let alone engagement with scholarship. In fact, the claim that Halloween is “pagan” is largely a nineteenth century myth.//

historyforatheists.com/2021/10/is-halloween-pagan/

I believe it’s become a favourite festival for Satanists, though, and I think the way it’s been celebrated lately (body bags etc) has become repulsive.

To my Gdcs, and to dds before them, Halloween is just an exceedingly fun occasion when they dress up and go around the neighbourhood after dark collecting sweets.

Nothing ‘dark’, let alone Satanic about it.
Gdd1 (9) has been heard to say that it’s absolutely the most exciting day in the whole entire year - except for Christmas.

I have never been a fan of halloween. My chidlren did not get involved except for a bit of apple bobbing.

Truly abhor it- our neighbour with a young boy (5) have dug a grave in front garden with bony plastic hands and feet coming out of- but worse, have hanged lots of plastic human figurs from branches of the big lime tree. Just sick- hate it.

It's completely lost its meaning

Halloween means Holy - it's the evening before All Saints' Day when hallowed souls are remembered.
Some of them may have been tortured or killed for their beliefs but that is not what we are supposed to remember.

It's also mixed up with the pagan festival Samhain when the souls of the dead visited us but traditionally not in a menacing way.

I haven’t seen anything like what the poster describes, those people are warped and it should be taken down. Get local paper involved.
Round here its just good gun for the children.

Kitty wrote:

"I’m not keen, but my grandsons love it all, the more gruesome the better."

So what? Do you permit your grand children any potentially dangerous activity ? Or do you stop and think before you let them do and see anything they choose.
Maybe you don't think that children can lose their innocence by hideous events being normalised and made fun of.

It's true that Halloween superstitions grew out of Samhain and later, Christianity made Samhain into All Souls Eve.

Then the festival became an occasion for infants' games. Now the festival celebrates sheer nastiness and brutality. Time to stop!

You accept one atheist non-believer's opinion that Hallowe'en is not an ancient festval? It is one of the four important Celtic 'quarter dates'. The others are Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasadh.

Tizliz

This was posted on our local FB page, not sure about it 🤫

As long as no-one goes digging in the local churchyard!

witzend maybe your neighbourhood is full of nice people and fun for your family but a lot of us are living near gruesome scenes, would you little grandkids be happy and excited to see these horrible nightmareish gardens and houses

Body bags and overflowing graves are not things to entertain ourselves with. There are realities in the Beirut and Gaza tonight.

There is such a thing as pornography of brutality.

American import we can well do without!

Thought I'd just share this from my daughter

I haven’t seen anything as gruesome as described above here (UK) but some of the “displays” in the US that I’ve seen online are truly horrific.

I saw this on Facebook. 😂😂