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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 54,944,616 |
 Americans Embrace Alternatives To 'Pagan' Halloween Author: Stephanie Griffith, AFP Source: Google Title: AMERICANS EMBRACE ALTERNATIVES TO 'PAGAN' HALLOWEEN Witches, beware. Mummies, be gone. Halloween may be a celebration of all things creepy and macabre, but a growing number of US communities are shunning traditional ghoulish festivities, seen by some as tainted by association with paganism and the occult. On Saturday, the streets of US cities and towns will fill with zombies, vampires and worse, as children clad in sometimes-fearsome costumes go door to door in search of candy handouts in the annual ritual of "trick-or-treating." The days leading up to the October 31 festivities often are marked by similarly ghoulish celebrations at US schools and community centers. Not everyone sees Halloween as good, wholesome fun, however. | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 10 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Double Standard | Nov 1st. at 11:15:04 pm EST |
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Feathercloak (Grand Junction, Colorado) - Email Me I always love how these folks want to choke out "pagan" Halloween, but they just decorate like crazy for Yule--er Christmas. No pumpkins, but sparkly trees are all right with them!! The Bible says nothing about Halloween, but actually says they shouldn't have trees decorated with silver and gold as the heathen do. Yet every year they will blast Halloween and start decorating for Christmas the very next week. Sigh.... While they are at it, they should just get rid of the names of the week, months, and planets because of their Pagan origins as well. Pagans Pagans everywhere!!!! EEEEKKK. |
| They Can Keep Their Alternative..... | Nov 1st. at 12:12:13 pm EST |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me I have no problem with them celebrating in their own way, I just detest their continued boorish insistence that absolutely everyone else should do it their way-- or not at all. |
| Silly Fundies! | Nov 1st. at 12:05:44 pm EST |
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Ixacacau (Moore, Oklahoma) - Email Me Let them be killjoys. That's fine and dandy and we get all the candy. |
| LOLZ FUNNY....! | Nov 1st. at 4:16:41 am EST |
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Whitewolf (Schenectady, New York) - Email Me I think that it's a total crackup that the more the fundies try to "dePaganize" Halloween with their silly "Fall Festivals" the MORE they are actually celebrating what Samhain was ORIGINALLY about! **walks away shaking head** Love to all and I hope everyone had a Blessed Samhain! |
| Say What ??? | Nov 1st. at 12:37:08 am EDT |
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Ellen (East Hartford, Connecticut) - Email Me "What people do privately or with their families is a different matter, as long as it's not offensive to others." Since when do I have to "not be offensive to others" privately or with my family? He can just get out of my house and out of my family! I didn't invite you and you're not welcome. If that offends you...GOOD. My home, my business. I will not be subject to the thought police there. |
| Journalist Needs Multiple Reality Checks | Oct 31st. at 9:32:36 pm EDT |
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karrie9 (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Email Me - Web When the people wouldn't stop celebrating their holidays Pagan style, a sort of harvest festival and memorial day for combo, the church then introduced the idea of being afraid of the departed and (and!) , over time, added the spectre of evil witches and such because they had to demonize the competition, in a frequently sexist manner, I might add. Even so, Pagan Samhain may be held around the same time of year but Halloween, costumes and all, is now more of a secular holiday. They're not fooling anyone for a minute, well, maybe a few, that they're trying to nix school Halloween celebrations in the name of courtesy and respect for real witches. It's Christian religionists who are behind this phenomenon. That cannot be hidden by the ever so rare rare rare instance of witches protesting school Halloween celebrations in any organized way get the ball rolling and the community behind them. Heh. And we're not buying into the bogus war on Christmas crap either because it's a tool of propaganda that's enabled the few to make it so that the entire public has Christmas shoved down their throats at every turn so such a large part of the year, starting now before the Halloween candy is even cleared off the store shelves. Overall, I've noticed more instances of overt Christian songs being added to the school holiday performances, so while some schools avoid all references to things Christian/monotheistic during winter holidays, I don't quite buy into the secular winter holidays being the directional force of things either. |
| So Let The Churches Have An Alternative... | Oct 31st. at 11:58:34 am EDT |
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Meadow Sweet (Rosendale, New York) - Email Me ...how is it harming us if they decide to do something different? Am I the only one who notices the inconsistency of sulking that "their" Christmas traditions were "ours" first and declaring the intent to "reclaim" them, and then acting all offended when they decide on leaving Hallowe'en to the Pagans and having their own alternatives instead? Christians eat food like the rest of us, and if they want to celebrate the harvest season in their own way, what's wrong with that? |
| I Feel... | Oct 31st. at 8:14:07 am EDT |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me that Samhain was instead- tainted by christianity who tried to change it's name and corrupted it in order to erase it from the calendar. Since they insist on making it a fall festival however, at least it's keeping it's ancient purpose. |
| Umm, Excuse Me! | Oct 31st. at 6:04:21 am EDT |
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Rev. Sea Wind (Louisville, Kentucky) - Email Me "...seen by some as tainted by association with paganism and the occult." SOorry to break their bubble, but we had it first! The only "taint", as far as I'm concerned, is the way it, like pretty much every other holiday, has been commercialized. |
| Ironic... | Oct 30th. at 11:03:36 pm EDT |
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Hoolet (Columbia, South Carolina) - Email Me Christians sponsoring "fall festivals" or, as they sometimes call them, "harvest festivals," to try to de-paganize Halloween. In fact, they are doing just the opposite. They are REALLY taking the holiday back to its true Pagan roots. |
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