Halloween costumes

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 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?

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

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.

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.

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 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!

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

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.

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

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!

No confusion here pen50

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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!