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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18623
[Society]
Date Posted:
10/5/2007
12:23:51 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 6,961
RSS: 14,364
Comments: 22
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Not Even Halloween Is Sacred These Days
Author: David Harzanyi Source: Denver Post
Title: NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN IS SACRED THESE DAYS
The two most devastating words any red-blooded American kid is likely to hear are "Fall Festival."
It can mean only one thing: The War on Halloween is once again upon us.
No, the War on Halloween won't induce the same zealous indignation that, say, the War on Christmas can. For me, though, it's far worse.
We're still weeks from this glorious pagan celebration, but you can already hear the sound of the pinheads sucking the fun out of life.
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Community Thoughts: There are 22 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| For Shame! | Oct 8th. at 5:38:38 pm EDT
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Rizngfenix (Brookhaven, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
I love Halloween just as much as the next witch but I read the article and the comments and I still don't get it. A good wiccan warrior picks a battle they know they can't loose. You can't MAKE someone change their ideals. And you can't MAKE a person of another religion agree with your religion. Sometimes we wiccans can be guilty of cramming our religion down others' throat just like non-wiccans. I agree that christian zealots do not understand our religious holidays, and they don't understand that our religion is just as spiritual as theirs. But I don't think that some of our wiccan brothers and sisters realize that either. It's not just about spell casting and full moons and sabbaths. It's about having a RELATIONSHIP with Goddess/God. It's about FULLY UNDERSTANDING the Rede and LIVING it 24/7. Let christians have their point of view. They have a right to it just as we have a right to ours. Besides I'm not saying to let anyone stomp all over us,no not at all. We are not doormats. But maybe if we live the Rede and not just speak it we can reach someone. And personally I'd rather reach just one person by the life I lead instead of trying to cram it down the thoats and ears of a thousand.
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| Brief History Of Halloween Humbuggers | Oct 7th. at 9:10:07 pm EDT
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foreverknightfan (Dardanelle, Arkansas) - Email Me
To me this isn't news. I've been keeping an eye on the Xian fundy types for a long time. As far as I can tell, their current Halloween attacks can be traced back to Phil Phillip's book " Halloween and Sataniam", which even then was a crappily "researched" Xian book. Jump past the 'satanic ritual abuse" hysteria in America years ( guess which group fed that hysteria) and add the anti " witchcraft" books, tapes and videos of Xians that usually pop up this time of the year. Mix in the uptight fundy Xian parent who doesn't want their kids doing ANYTHING remotely resembling "pagan" or " occult" ( not even the tamest Halloween decorations) and the fear stories of kids being kidnapped and sacrificed on this "satanic holiday" and you get THIS stuff, plus their " alternative" of "fall festival" or similar. No Harry Potter, even. Not even Disney Halloween stuff.
There are Christian web sites attacking Halloween and claiming alternatives that are "biblically acceptable". For awhile they even had the prepackaged "Hell House" version of haunted house, which apparently is a tacky way to get converts. They used to toss in Chick tracts or similar bible tracts in the trick or treaters bags, but I guess they stopped that.
Simply put , what this is is their "spiritual warfare" thinking added to the idea of keeping their good llittle darlings "pure" from " occult" temptations. So they try to compensate for the obvious loss of a holiday by redoing it to a more acceptable version. In so doing they totally miss out on the healthy reasons we have Halloween and scary stuff that night. I actually feel sorry for their kids.
They can rename it, sanitize it all they want for themselves, but when they try to censor it for OTHERS, that's where they show how sick they really are. We'll be seeing more of this this month. Their mental/spiritual illness flares up this time of the year. They mistake the make believe terrors for real horrors. Poor idiots.
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| Too Bad For The Kids | Oct 7th. at 8:21:23 pm EDT
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Autumnfyre Spark (Port Charlotte, Florida) - Email Me
How bummed are these kids knowing they can't wear costumes,and get candy.You know If you don't want to call it Halloween at your school or in your town,call it whatever you want.Don't take the fun away from the kids.Let kids be kids dammit!Let them wear their dracula costumes,or Mighty Morphin Power Ranger costumes.Let them eat candy,get a good sugar buzz,followed with the inevitable sugar crash as they pass out in their costume of choice.The whole "it's all about inclusion " thing is a load of pc crap.
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| Buck Up Little Campers! | Oct 6th. at 9:17:04 am EDT
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Fraoch (Shelby, North Carolina) - Email Me
This is exactly what those jokers want! They want to take the fun, the spirit, and the mystery out of the day both Halloween and Samhain by creating this ruckus with their pushy grump curmudgeon crap. Let 'em wine and moan (No, give US, those that like the time the wine. Hand them the flat warm soda) . Ignore them. If there is a "Fall Festival" in the class send your tot to school with a Happy Halloween tee or volunteer plates and send Happy Halloween plates. Send nifty Halloween baked goods. Undermine the determined oppression of this most "wonderful time of the year." There are too many ways and too many companies (even Hallmark goes overboard and gets a little crazy) who indulge in the spirit to let these pseudo-righteous morons get to us.
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| One More Point | Oct 6th. at 12:22:18 am EDT
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cali witch (Artesia, California) - Email Me
Forgot to mention: Nobody in early Mass. had any real fun. All was just work, Bible instruction, church & more Bible instruction and work. Maybe one of the reasons those young girls started the whole Salem business by accusing people of being witches was because they couldn't stand the boredom another minute. It got them a lot of attention, and it sure livened things up!
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| Hmmmm....... | Oct 6th. at 12:18:29 am EDT
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cali witch (Artesia, California) - Email Me
Sounds to me that two things are going on here. One is the stubborn, fanatical persistence of fundies to force their ideas on the rest of us, aided by the PC police. Two, even fundys are not stupid and I'm sure they are aware that Paganism is a rapidly growing segment of the religious population in this country. If the fundys get their way, this country will resemble 1600's Mass., where the Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas because they consisdered it a Pagan holiday. And yes, the comments posted were a real hoot; such idiots posted such narrowminded bigotry. only to get set straight by the others.
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| There Is No Peace In This... | Oct 5th. at 10:19:01 pm EDT
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Sela (Happyplace, New York) - Email Me
I no longer care who owns the holidays...The spirit of them is being destroyed. Dumb them down, make them inoccuous, make them fit. Its feel as if something important is being lost...it feels perverse...
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| I Know! | Oct 5th. at 5:47:34 pm EDT
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Silverwing (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - Email Me
How about everybody disagrees with all the holidays and we just get rid of the lot? No more celebrations, no more parties, no more gifts! Gee - we wouldn't be overweight from overindulging and we wouldn't be exchanging gifts, fussing over costumes, and detoxing kids from sugar overdose several times a year!
OK, I feel much better now. I read the article and I read the comments until I just couldn't take anymore. I am loading up on treats for tots and if any 18 year olds come around after the little guys, they get the rest of it just as they always do. Kids should have holidays to look forward to and to get excited about. It is an easy way for them to mark the turning of the year. We always had our own rituals to mark the holidays (all of them) and we didn't ask the school or anyone else to support ours at the expense of anyone elses. By the same token, I don't expect them to banish them or rename them in the interest of PCness either.
Vive Halloween!
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| I Went To A Catholic Grade School | Oct 5th. at 5:35:20 pm EDT
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
We had wonderful halloween parties - everyone except the nuns dressed up, we had a costume parade and all kinds of fun - then went to mass for all saints day the next morning. No attempt to repress the fun or the holliday. It is not necessary for the christians to object to halloween, recent attempt to dominate society if you ask me.
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| Tell Ya What... | Oct 5th. at 5:17:49 pm EDT
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Moro NightBird (Carbondale, Illinois) - Email Me
If Halloween is evil and going to get me to hell, and that when I dress up and beg for candy even though I'm 18 I'm really worshiping evil, well then...
I will bow down before the darkest Lord of the Universe and proclaim that lord Proprietor of Life and Happiness!! For what is light if it is bland, compared to Dark at it's Deepest...
(insert dark, echoing chuckle here)
Mischief, Love, and Penguins
Moro NightBird
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| *sigh* | Oct 5th. at 3:41:43 pm EDT
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Darcie (Sicklerville, New Jersey) - Email Me
It's sort of sad how, along with pumpkin patches, colored leaves and spooky decorations, a sure-fire sign that Halloween is coming is the screechings of the evangelicals who are determined to convince us that we're going to hell for dressing up and begging for candy. If they don't like it, they shouldn't let their kids partcipate. Go annoy someone who cares.
And it's funny; no matter how many times we tell them that Samhain, not Halloween, is the religious holiday, it still seems to go in one ear and out the other.
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| Fall Celebration? BAH! Halloween Is My Day! | Oct 5th. at 3:22:14 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
Most folk now are missing what Halloween is supposed to be about.
I shall miss those early Halloweens, trick or treating in the evening dressed as one of the midnight denizens of the dark. I shall miss the feeling that I wasn't really alone when the wind rattled the dry leaves around my feet and the cool touch of autumn was in the night air. I shall miss the pumpkin faces lit and flickering, their ghostly countenances grinning on doorstops and in windows, guarding against the real spirits of the night hovering on the edges of children's imaginations. I shall miss the grasping limbs of the trees rising to clutch the pale stars-or claw the moon from the sky with boney fingers. I shall miss the empty house on the block, transformed by the dark into a real Haunted House if only for one night. I shall miss the sounds of the chilly whispering wind bringing the sounds of Owls, the meowling of Cats and the groans and rattling of trees moving in the dark, their leaves ghosting like bats to the ground.
I shall miss the parties where fun included bobbing for apples, treats, games and prizes for the best costumes. I shall miss the tingle that always came with a ghost story, witch story or monster tale made more special when told on THAT night. I shall miss feeling like a pirate when I finally dumped my bag of candy to pick out the best treats at the end.
A"fall celebration" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. It sounds too generic-too bland, too much like a farmer's market day and denies the true nature of the Holiday.
Thanks pinheads. No simpering mealy- mouthed pallid xtian version of a "fall celebration" will ever truly replace Halloween, and there will generations of kids growing up missing the joys of life simply because of someone's whimpering fear that they might be "worshipping evil" by enjoying this day as it was meant to be.
Save me a space on that rocket. If this loss is the future-It will be an empty joyless one indeed. October will become just another empty month on the calendar with nothing to look toward but another empty season.
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| Regarding The Comments Section | Oct 5th. at 2:36:11 pm EDT
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Titania (Smallville, New York) - Email Me
It's funny how being PC is wrong on the fundy side of the street unless being PC supports their twisted idea of the way things should be.
My personal observation of the holiday has been that the kids can hardly wait. They look forward to it nearly as much as opening gifts on Christmas morning—and the appeal of Christmas is the gifts and a good week of sleeping late. Hmm, a bag a candy or a new iPod? Hmmm. They start talking about their costumes before September is out, even as early as the beginning of the school year. I don't think something that is harmful and frightening to children would be anticipated with such glee by these poor, impressionable little Satanists, I mean children.
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| What's That Smell? | Oct 5th. at 2:33:31 pm EDT
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Fraoch (Shelby, North Carolina) - Email Me
It's... It's... Candy Corn! and Candles! Pumpkis! and...Sandalwood incense and Patchouli incense after the kiddies' sugar rush has worn off and they've passed out in front of the credits of old bad horror films. Yes, it is October. It is that time. I've got my plans ready to take shape.
You know those people who don't undestand why some people (ahem) like Halloween better than Christmas? They don't get it, and wouldn't if you know, it were explained? I love this time. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "It is so choice."
Wow, that was brilliant. Kind of makes you want go out and buy a bunch of decorations a la me. That's my deal every year. I get my place all spruced up so the "party" actually looks like a party and a rite at the same time. Every year I buy a witch (Not a person) .
Events create patterns. So that leads me to believe that Samhain was probably not a dark melancholy holiday. The religio/spiritual aspect was probably taken seriously in the way that things were done (We don't know how) , but afterwards, I imagine, though not 100% certain, that there was some mad celebration. It also stands to reason considering the whole of the theme... that we can ascertain at this point.
Vive l' Octobre!
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| Check Yer Sanity At The Door... | Oct 5th. at 2:16:24 pm EDT
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Phledge (Henderson, Nevada) - Email Me
if you want to read the comments. Wow. Just...wow.
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