Cynical about Halloween

V

Victor

Senior Member
Location
midwest USA
Is America the only nation that celebrates (if we can use that word) Halloween?

Obviously it's for kids with the candy and costumes. So it is
totally commercial with no meaning to adults--except to give candy.

Basically it's a day to show off images of death.
One village has annual casket races. How tasteless!

Any other nation care about Halloween?
 

To be honest I was never much of a Halloween person. Except for the influx of horror movies in October, I like them. We darken the house on Halloween and do not answer the door.
 

I believe Halloween originated in the UK, as part of the Celtic fall festival centuries ago. We don't "celebrate" but we enjoy seeing the children having fun.
 
Victor, as a child till possibly around my age of 30-? I just went along with "whoopty-do- Halloween, holiday of fun. But then, over time, I learned about the 'background' of the reason for Halloween. UGH. And I wondered why in the world would I want to celebrate it, and pass out candy to kids in costumes who came knockin' at my door? Many people say don't pay attention to there being evil in it--that's silly. It's no big deal, just a day of fun, don't be a stick-in-mud. But now, after what I learned about its background/origin, I see it as just a yucky fake clever money making commercial holiday.
 
Victor said:
Is America the only nation that celebrates (if we can use that word) Halloween?

Obviously it's for kids with the candy and costumes. So it is
totally commercial with no meaning to adults--except to give candy.

Basically it's a day to show off images of death.
One village has annual casket races. How tasteless!

Any other nation care about Halloween?
Click to expand...

Well, it did start out regarding people who have died (the faithful departed) Mexico is very into it as well.

from Wiki-
In the Western Christian practice, the liturgical celebration begins at Vespers on the evening of 31 October, All Hallows' Eve (All Saints' Eve), and ends at the close of 1 November. It is thus the day before All Souls' Day, which commemorates the faithful departed. In many traditions, All Saints' Day is part of the triduum of Allhallowtide, which lasts three days from 31 October to 2 November inclusive.[SUP][11]



[/SUP]
 
Not a big deal, seems some people get their panties twisted about the least bothersome things going on in the world today. We could pick apart Thanksgiving next month just for fun, Oh we forgot to pick apart today's holiday, Columbus Day, that's a real winner we could harp on don't ya think.

I find it to be fun, more so than how some have destroyed most aspects of Christmas which seemed at one point a wholesome holiday but has turned into one of extreme over indulgence on so many levels for children and adults. It's the one time of year I most cringe especially seeing seeing the videos of the people ready to beat the crap out of each other at the big box stores. :holymoly:

The background stories of much of the histories of everything we celebrate has some aspects we find distasteful. Halloween in the here and now of any holiday, celebrate don't celebrate it is what one wants it to be to them.

I haven't been to any parties since I've moved to my present area, but, I used to attend fun events and would do it again, but, I can live without dressing up, that part I'm over for now. Still I enjoy seeing the kids and adults have fun at it. I had great fun when I helped host BOO benefit events for the kids; the smiles and happiness experienced by the children brought so much joy to my day at those events.
 
I don't understand people who get upset over Halloween. Sure, it started as a pagan festival. So what? For most people in the US it has no religious significance. People used to believe in witches and goblins. Now they laugh at them. Is that bad? Or do you still think they are real.

Kids and even adults like to dress up in costumes. Look at the success of Comic Cons. The candy is just a small part of it. They can get that any time. The big deal is dressing up and seeing how others are dressed. Would you really want to take that away from the kids?

Sure, it's commercialized. Everything is. That's free enterprise. Look at the price of Mother's day cards.

El Dia de los Muertos is something different. The locals were celebrating that long before the Spanish arrived. It's a serious time to honor and remember those who have died.

Happy Columbus Day, or as the city of Los Angeles has declared, Indigenous Peoples Day.

Don
 
Who cares? If you like Halloween, dress up and go out to trick or treat, or carve a pumpkin, put it outside, and answer your door when kids in costumes show up. If you don't like Halloween, don't do anything. Your call.
 
I live in a security building so I don't participate in Halloween.

Like all holidays Halloween is what you make of it. It can be an inexpensive time for the family to carve a pumpkin or make a costume out of odds and ends or a time to go all out with a giant holiday display from the local home center.

I think if you focus on what it means to the small children in your family and neighborhood it can be an inexpensive family event that will provide lots of great memories.

Please keep an eye on the children and make Halloween a safe holiday.

trick-or-treaters.jpg
 
Marie5656 said:
To be honest I was never much of a Halloween person. Except for the influx of horror movies in October, I like them. We darken the house on Halloween and do not answer the door.
Click to expand...

I like the horror movies too.

Saw a good one on Netflix just the other day.

It's called "Terrifier"

Quite a gorefest.

Warning, it's not for the weak of heart. Or stomach.

 
I loved Halloween as a kid and when my kids were growing up. My Grand kids enjoy it but it's not the fun it use to be. Today they have curfews, only wrapped candy for safety sake and most go to parties or gather in a well lit parking lot where families will park their cars in a circle and hand out candy. We worked for our candy . I remember helping my Mom put some candy in napkins with a string around that she would give out on Halloween while I was out probably collecting the exact same candy she gave out. Sometimes we would get an apple or a pear. We stayed out late and safety was not an issue back then.
 
When I was a kid, we knew which houses gave out the good stuff. One lady always handed out home made pastries. They never made it into the bag. Back then, a cheap mask was considered a costume.

Don
 
We live in a rural setting and the only time we had any kids was our first year here.
I carved a pumpkin, decorated the end of the driveway and our doorway and only one dad showed up with his kids in a car. He says the only reason he stopped was because I’d gone through all that trouble and he knew nobody else was going to stop so he did. Awwww and he was right so his kids got handfuls of candy each. They were very glad they stopped but it was the first and last time I decorated.

As a a kid I loved going out for Halloween. As a younger adult I lived dressing up to go out to parties but my man isn’t into much of anything so that ended once he came into the picture.
 
When I was a kid we went out with pillow cases cause we were greedy but also because they were easier to carry.
One place about a mile away was a woman who would make handmade candy apples. I know! Crazy right?
She would make you do a trick and since I loved the candy apples I’d always sing for her. Luckily she liked my singing cause I always got the candy apple whereas my brothers always passed. Their theory was that the amount of time it took to get the treat , they could have visited 10 other houses. Lol

Each year we came home with between 10 to 15 pounds of candy each and that wasn’t including apples.
Why do people give regular apples anyway.? They would just get all bruised and bashed anyway.
 
I have Pumpkins on my porch, a fake pumpkin face lit up in my front window....I love to see the kiddies dressed up....I mostly get the little ones...Some middle
schoolers...Not many older kids....I remember trick or treating and I want the kiddies to have as much fun as I did when I was a young girl....
I love all Holiday's....Especially Christmas....
 

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