Halloween costumes

And the regions with a stronger history of celebrating halloween also tend to be the more Christian less secular regions too!

I think it's the apparent veneration of the devil, witches, vampires and other evil spirits that some Christians object to; also many parents don't like the idea of their children knocking on strangers' doors. At our church we have decided to have a 'Pumpkin Party' as an alternative, with optional dressing up in pumpkin colours, games, apple bobbing, crafts, food and a goody bag to take home. It's the first time we've tried it so we'll wait and see how popular it is with our community. As I'll be involved, my DH will be handing out the sweets at our door at home- we are not killjoys!

I had a Scottish Grandmother who lived very near us in England. We had wonderful parties at Halloween- all the above mentioned games- I loved bobbing for apples & eating doughnuts off a suspended string with your hands behind your back. Then the dancing!! I can still do a mean reel.
I think it was bigger still in Scotland then.
I now live in a cul de sac & all the children come round together - all dressed up -& their parents come too to supervise. They get treats at every house & then everyone gets together at the end of the road- weather permitting- for a glass of wine & it is a lovely social evening.
I decorate the front garden with illuminated jars ( that I make) with witches, ghosts etc & tea lights inside- most people make an effort for the evening.
I think any opportunity for a community to get together can only be a good thing.

I think the charity shop should make whatever rules it sees fit.
I remember Apple Bobbing once, as a child. Can’t remember any other experiences.
I think the current Halloween trends are truly awful. Grotesque costumes, hideous over use of plastic tat, rank commercialism etc. I went to Asda a few days ago; not a store I often visit, and they had several aisles totally devoted to Halloween tat of every description. I picked up their free mag and it was full to the brim of Halloween party ideas, ghoulish recipes, costume ideas and ads for their expensive tat.
Some of the items on sale are vile .... severed fingers, arms and even heads. Revolting zombies, corpse costumes etc.
What are we exposing our often, very young children, to?
Rant over - thankfully, there don’t appear to be any parents near me who allow or take their children begging, and I have never seen any lit pumpkins or other decorations in Windows.

Halloween in the 50ies in N. Ireland was always so exciting for us. Dressing up, lighting a bonfire in the back garden, letting off sparklers and fireworks, it’s a wonder we didn’t set the neighbourhood on fire! We kids made toffee apples and all sorts of goodies to eat but my favourite was the apple pie stuffed full of sixpences wrapped in grease proof paper. Oh the joy when you found one in your slice.

We have friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses. They have nothing to do with Halloween. My children were invited to 'hallelujah' parties.

Also another good friend of mine is rather religious and was anti Halloween and wouldn't let her children have anything to do with Harry Potter

I was never a fan of the Trick and Treating malarkey. We used to go away to a theme park. Great fun and fireworks. And no uncouth teens standing at the door with bin bags on

I have only glanced through the thread but I have not seen any mention of unaccompanied children knocking on unknown doors.
On one occasion I answered the door to see a 6 year old standing there.' Does your mummy know you are out here alone' I said and.... suddenly an anxious parent( an acquaintance) popped up from behind a bush.
I could offer the child only a carrot as I do not like teaching children about the possibility of extortion during ' Trick or treat' In addition, there are so many scares about approaching strangers now that I do not believe that children should be encouraged in this way. Am I a curmudgeon or sensible?

I don’t like Halloween either, and it was never something we ‘celebrated’ as children. When I was a child it was ‘ penny for the guy’ in November, and carol singing near Christmas. We never see that now, but the children dressed in scary clothes are rampant where I live.

I remember Hallowe'en and All Saints' Days as being in the calendar as quite low key events in my childhood. Sometimes, better organised parents would have some apple bobbing and games but that was it. Guy Fawkes night was the real treat for those who were allowed fireworks or who attended displays.

Latterly, the name, Guy Fawkes, was dropped by New Labour to avoid offending Catholics, though, even as a baptised Catholic, it never much bothered me.

At the same time, Hallowe'en, as an all singing, all dancing kiddifest with highly commercial overtones, has been imported from America and rampages around our streets with noise and menaces.

The most annoying feature to my mind is the presence of dopey, middle class mothers who should know better, accompanying dressed up, hyped up, capacious bucket-carrying littlies. Small imps who really should be in bed, doing their homework, having a bedtime story or sucking their thumbs.

Wrong on so many counts.

Yours sincerely,

Lilyflower the Hallowe'en Grinch. (Grrrr!)

I suppose the SA lady was right - was a festival long before Christianity. Celtic and Roman and then Christianity 'incorporated' the idea. Bit sniffy though really. These days is can be fun or totally OTT, all depends how you do it. www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/10/31/how-the-ancient-romans-gave-us-bones-of-the-dead-cookies-for-halloween/

Lilyflower,Halloween grinch dosen’t even begin to describe you!

Your post makes you sound a total killjoy.

I too grew up in Scotland and have happy memories of "guising" at Hallowe'en, "dooking for apples" and so on.

However, there were even then various sects that didn't approve of it as they felt that there was a lot of pagan superstition connected with it, which now as a historian of religion I cannot help but agree with.

A lot of people re-act against the commercialism of the American version of Hallowe'en too.

It would have been nice if your Salvation Army lady had explained nicely why they don't hold with Hallowe'en instead of biting your nose off. They don't hold communion services either, which has always struck me as a little odd in a Christian community, but they do not feel that sacraments are necessary for salvation, only belief in Christ.

iam64 I have never in my life heard of Mischief night and never ever heard or saw kids getting up the tricks you did Gosh what a sheltered life I led
Halloween was never heard about until 60/70 s in my area and then very low key until maybe the 90 s or more Mind you it seems Scotland / northern / Ireland / west thing so as
I m in the south east I m well away from it all I guess

nannarose I think you are right. As I understand it, over here it came from Samhain and was tied into Christianity later (8th Century?.)... but as a child at a Catholic school we acknowledged both All Saints and All Souls‘ Day. We did not have a Hallowe'en as such and certainly didn’t do trick-or-treating. At home, however, we did carve a turnip for 31st and then put it on the bonfire on bonfire night. I loved the turnip lanterns even though they were hard to make!

I expect what most of us don’t like now is the commercialisation of the “fun”. In the 1980s we lived for a while in America and it was madness over there. I see the same rubbish over here now with plastic pumpkins and throw-away ready-made outfits.

I did, however, send my daughter a picture of some home made outfits that were extraordinary as I knew she would be busy helping with the grandchildren’s creations.
Will see if I can find them for “crafty gransnetters” delectation!

This is the work of Stephanie Pokorny:
crochetverse.com/crochetverse-costume-gallery/

Lilyflower - loved your post
Llamedos13 is probably one of those mums you mention. ?

As a child growing up in Yorkshire but within the sight of Pendle Hill (Lancashire Witches) Halloween was a traditional affair certainly no "trick or treat". Dressing up was as witches & traditional games played i.e apple bobbing, turnip lanterns were made not not a pumpkin in sight

4th November was "Mischief Night" when harmless tricks were played on family, friends & neighbours

I went to a CofE school and the vicar arranged a Halloween party for the children,dunking apples,racing black cats on string and toffee apples for everyone.We used to make our faces from Swedes not pumpkins,I don't think I had heard of them 60 years ago,we used to put a candle inside for the light.On bonfire night we all three the Swedes into the bonfire.

Yet more landfill.

The 'snippy' lady doesn't sound very Christian like to me. Surely, everyone's point of view should be respected.

I agree that it certainly helps bring communities together and is harmless fun.

Enjoy it, your staring role as fortune teller sounds fab.

Julia

The NE has along history of celebrating Halloween. When my DSs were young they always had to visit an old man who lived round the corner. He was in his 80s. They had to sing a song or say a rhyme. He said he had done it when younger. He usually gave them 5 pence each.
I remember Mischief Night, knocking on doors and running away and somebody's gate being taken off and put on the other way round!

In Ireland Halloween has always been celebrated, but in a slightly different way from the modern American import. As children, we dressed up, often as witches, and went to houses we knew, saying "help the Halloween party" - not "trick or treat". Most people gave apples or nuts, and we would go home and play games like dunking for apples.
In 50s and 60s, Ireland was very Catholic (not sure how Christian!) but we never heard any church leaders condemning Halloween.
In recent years there have been a number of family events around Halloween, such as scary walks through woods and an old railway tunnel along a "Greenway" - cycle or walking path. (photo). It's all good fun, but doesn't have the slightly nasty undertones of the American Halloween.

A lot of churches now celebrate light night . Halloween is a pagan festival so it isn’t popular in Christian circles . There’s nothing wrong with a pumpkin but some people use the night to cause terror and So I think the churches like to spread light and not encourage youngsters to get into mischief .

Not surprised you had that reaction. Halloween is a pagan tradition. See that some Catholic schools are banning anything to do with Halloween. You mention Halloween in Scotland. I too went out 'guising' at Halloween. No sweets were involved, only money so either a different era or different area from you. Everyone was expected to perform a little act whether that be a few jokes, a song, poem, dance just something to earn your loot. The money could be 2d or if you were lucky a 6d. In my family we were allowed to keep it or to put towards fireworks for 05th Nov. Do not like the modern trick or treat imported from USA, to me it's basically begging.

Not my favorite holiday, but nothing to do with religion. I just never enjoyed wearing a mask or dressing up in some ridiculous garb.

We do enjoy handing out sweets to the neighborhood children. DH carves out a 'scary' face on a large pumpkin and we place a lit candle inside for effect. As long as the pumpkin on our porch stays lit, they all know it's still not too late to come knocking. Other than that, Christmas is my favorite, without a doubt.