Halloween costumes

I had a colleague who was a Christian and she believed that Halloween was evil and should not be allowed to be celebrated, especially in Primary schools. I didnt agree with her but did not feel strongly enough to challenge her.

We didn't "celebrate" Halloween when I was a child and am fairly indifferent to it now - although I do keep a bowl of chocolate bars and sweets for any of the local children who call.

I think it is just another custom which has been taken over by business in order to make money - but I wouldn't want to stop kids from having fun

That reminds me of when I was Akela. We decided to have a ‘Nasty’s Party’ . I was naively thinking of literary and Disney villains. One very religious family told me that were pleased as they don’t hold with Halloween. She then sent her son in a horrific Zombie costume of bandages and fake blood.

My impression is that within the UK there were regional differences, about these 'autumn' festivals, and you can see how they merged into each other. I see 'trick or treat' coming from 'if you don't give us one, we'll take 2, better for us, worse for you' rhyme we used to say when asking for bonfire wood.

We certainly 'celebrated' Halloween and my grandmother told of things like peeling an apple to see if the peel made the initial of your true love, and various rituals involving mirrors.

I told my kids they were rituals from old times about coping with the coming winter darkness. And if you look across the northern hemisphere, most cultures have something: from Diwali to St. Martins' Day. I lived in a large town at one point, where, to accommodate all cultures, we had, on the nearest Saturday, a 'lantern procession' (there were workshops to make and decorate the lanterns) followed by a bonfire (no guy) and fireworks. My friend who hated Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night joined in happily.

I have no religious feelings about it at all but certainly don't remember it in my childhood in the 40s
As far as I'm concerned it's just another tacky, commercialised excuse for selling plastic tat!
Imported from America, along with bridal showers, baby showers, proms, baby naming, baby gender revealing and so on and so on.
Is this what the economy is built on nowadays?

Well I can’t stand it, but grandchildren love it, I’m not a old grouch by the way, I buy sweets for the kiddies that come to the door, and most enjoy it, we live in a nice area but have recently heard of some people being scared and teenagers dressing up in clown outfits and scaring ppl, eggs being thrown at windows always the odd ones spoil things for others who want to go out and enjoy themselves

Nannarose is right, most cultures have some kind of way of coping with winter darkness and the fear of the unknown. I grew up in the north west, the tradition there was to dress up and bob for apples, eat toffee apples and baked potato and tell ghost stories by a coal fire.
I don't remember going knocking on the neighbours doors at Halloween.
We kept bad behaviour for Mischief Night, the 4 November. We'd raid people's apple and pear trees, take gates of their hinges, knock a door run and in our teens, roam about in groups never doing anything worse than this.

This generation of parents are great party creatures in my experience. They love occasions and throw themselves into it. My grandchildren will be meeting up with the children of their parents friendship group. There will be dressing up, apple bobbing, ghost stories and no doubt they'll watch a scary children's movie whilst their parents socialise.

There seems to be a bit of confusion here. All Souls' Day is 2nd November. All Saints' Day is 1st November, and us also known as All Hallows' - hence 31st October is Hallows' Evening, or Halloween.

I’m not a Christian and have no opinions on its blight on religiosity..... but as others have said it’s American clap-trap... my grandkids go out with parents and collect sweeties... but I found bonfire night a much better celebration .... what’s not to love.., roasting potatoes... hot dogs.... bonfire ( chance for men to get rid of old garden rubbish)..... and fireworks( just one night a year) ... much better. My grandkids do the Halloween thing and ignore the ‘penny for the guy’ .... shame!

I suspect she means they don't believe in the commercial version; it is, after all, a Christian feast, to remember the dead, although I believe it probably has its roots in older religions.

Why would any responsible parent teach their child to knock on strangers' doors and demand something with the threat of a 'trick' if refused. It's unethical and quite scary.
Not only that, for weeks before and after I have to suffer the sight of skeletons, gravestones, ginormous spiders and their webs, a gibbet etc, adorning the house opposite. What exactly are they teaching their 5 and 7 year olds to celebrate?

For the first time ever, I'm enjoying Halloween, because some local shops started prepping for Christmas in September! So I'm so grateful that others didn't follow due to their obsession with Halloween.

Halloween originates from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain is a Celtic pagan festival meaning ‘Summer’s End’ whichcelebrated the end of harvest season. This was a period whenpeople would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts – hence the familiar sightings we associate with Halloween today.
The Pope made Nov 1 All Saints' Day (All Hallows) in 8th century

Floradora9
Known as freedom to chose. The world changes people change .

I did a session at a local (South West) National Trust House yesterday, 22nd October, it being half term down here.

I was, (frankly,) astonished by the vast number of small children who were brought to the property, dressed up and face painted at 10:30 a.m. for the "Bug hunt".

It seemed to me the children were SO intent on searching for the clues, they saw nothing of the property, and generally missed the clues too!

Over excited that early in the day, and more than a week before Halloween.

Trick or Treating? Just try getting away with giving some of the hulking teenagers who turn up (attired in black bin bags with holes slashed in them for their arms - real effort that!) a handful of boiled sweeties and a satsuma each.......they want money and nothing less.

Just another ScroungeFest I'm afraid.

Sadly religion has a lot to answer for and is the reason for many conflicts we now see around the world (and in the past).

For my immediate, family who have been brought up as anti-theist's, we don't celebrate Halloween, but we have (and still do) participated over the years my children have grown up, simply because it brings family and friends together for a fun packed evening. My children are now at university, but we still deck out the porch and windows facing the public with Halloween paraphernalia as we think despite its dark undertones, it's just a fun night; once its over, everything returns to normal. Unlike the Christian celebration, which takes hold months before the actual event. We even have a TV channel that airs Christmas themed films 24/7 from late September until Christmas is over. We tire of it very quickly these days, but still celebrate it as a family occasion and participate in the commercial thing, spending lot's of hard earned cash on gifts and overindulgence's etc. Again not because of any religious connotations, but just for the sheer pleasure of buying gifts for family and friends and the companionship of family away from work for a break.

I was originally brought up as a Methodist and attended Sunday school as a child (I still have the Sunday School stamps we earned for attending). My mother used to be one of the Sunday school teachers and, until my early teens used to attend church, every Sunday, attended various religious events such as walking days and carol singing (where the money we were given was used for repairs to the church) and was a member of our churches choir for many years.

I was an avid reader from a young age, partly because I lived with my grandparents for a significant portion of my childhood due to my mother being ill and my father working away from home. . My Grandfather was a hard working caretaker at a local school and every weekend and school holidays he would spend most of the time stripping and rewaxing the parquet flooring that was present throughout the school. I was allowed access to the library, where I would virtually the whole day, every weekend and school holidays pouring over non fiction books that fascinated me.

I soon realised what religion had done to the populations of the world, so left religion behind gladly and have never looked back. Don''t get me wrong, I have always respected the feelings of those who still believe there is an all powerful being that knows everything, and usually don't preach my beliefs, but I won't be conned into believing there is a god, who, from all the literature comes over as a cruel, selfish, false, harmful, and authoritarian being, that would be better shelved with fictional books, in the science fiction categories.

Watch some Christopher Hitchens debates on You Tube. He regarded all religions as dangerous and cruel. You won't find any debates where well respected religious leaders could get one over on his reasoned arguments and all fell beneath his amazing knowledge of religion. It was a sad loss to the anti-theist's movement when his overindulgence's with alcohol and heavy smoking saw him leave this world several years ago becasue of cancer.

The attitude of the charity shop volunteer is in my opinion despicable. The whole point of a charity shop is to sell 'usually second hand' items so that the proceeds can be used for good. As someone pointed out earlier, Halloween has become very commercialized over the years since I was a kid back in the sixties, so there's a a lot of second hand merchandise that potentially could be put to good use by recycling it via charity shops. Also its one of the many things that contribute to sound environmental practices by recycling the goods instead of dumping them in landfill sites that blight the landscape.

There's no afterlife, just nothingness, so go enjoy the short life you have to the full and leave behind happy memories for your surviving family.

Yes, I agree with her, but she should of said in a nicer kinder way (and perhaps saying the reason behind it) it does say in the bible to leave ‘dark’ things alone so all Christians should be ignoring Halloween.

Never heard of celebrating Halloween until we moved to Scotland.
First year there my OH refused to give money to youngsters at the door. An hour later we had a brick through our window.
On Facebook I saw pictures an American woman had posted of her children,, barely more than toddlers, sitting in a bath of fake blood with their faces and bodies also covered in fake blood. Revolting!
I find it a horrible so called festival, especially for elderly or nervous people being confronted on their doorstep by children in scary costumes demanding money with menaces.
I think it should be banned and it’s probably illegal.

We always celebrated Halloween in Ireland since I was a child. We hollowed out a turnip because we couldn't get pumpkins in those days. We had fireworks until the government banned them. My dad didn't allow me to knock on doors though. He said it was no better than begging.

Halloween is predated by the ancient occasion of Samhain which featured fires and dressing up. Look it up it’s fascinating and predates Christianity!!

No confusion here pen50

Never said they were the exact same day. Its still the same sort of seasonal festival

Yes, I agree with her, but she should of said in a nicer kinder way (and perhaps saying the reason behind it) it does say in the bible to leave ‘dark’ things alone so all Christians should be ignoring Halloween

And the bible? Thats pretty "dark" in places!

Yes I agree with the shop lady, I hate halloween, even as a child I did

I think the issue here is not that the shop lady dislikes halloween, or whether people share her views.

The problem is that she is claiming that halloween and Christianity are mutually exclusive, when in fact there is no universal "party line" when it comes to Christians joining in.