Silvaqua
Full Member
They call me Spatula Hands
Posts: 872
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Post by Silvaqua on Oct 26, 2006 0:15:03 GMT -6
Are you allowed to celebrate it? Where do you believe it originated? Do you think Christians should celebrate Halloween?
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Ellen
Junior Member
Posts: 226
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Post by Ellen on Oct 26, 2006 20:23:39 GMT -6
Our family has never celebrated it - to the extent that we don't even do an alternative for it. I haven't ever really researched where it originated, to be honest...for me, I do not like to recognize it because of what it is potentially celebrating. Even though *I'm* not celebrating the spirits and the dead, I just prefer to stay away from it altogether. However I don't judge other Christians who like to do the candy and costume thing. I definitely don't think it's a huge deal either way, but spiritually, for me, I only feel comfortable by choosing to ignore it.
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Post by Firebird on Oct 26, 2006 20:25:56 GMT -6
Originally a Celtic festival of fire. I wrote about it in my journal. I do celebrate it. Here is my journal entry:
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Post by Firebird on Oct 26, 2006 20:27:24 GMT -6
I am always torn between my two worlds, but never more so than at Halloween. A large part of me wants to build a huge bonfire in the street and dance and sing until dawn. Lucky for both the fire department and my neighbors, the smaller but stronger part of me says "Hey, I'm not Wiccan anymore. I should just take something and go to bed early. The whole thing will be over in the morning." Of course, I'll probably end up lighting a bunch of candles and sitting on my porch with a bowl of candy, as I did last year.
I'm never really sure how to respond to Samhain. Obviously, celebrating a pagan festival as the pagans do would seem out of line with my theology. At the same time, it's the best kind of fun. And there's nothing really that would commit you to any religion in the celebration. Except, of course, that you are part of the celebration.
And the candy thing. I mean, if kids want to dress up and beg junk food from innocent home-owners that's fine with me, but do I really have to walk two of them around and beg for sugar too?
Ahk. I wonder if I will always be between two mirrors?
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Silvaqua
Full Member
They call me Spatula Hands
Posts: 872
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Post by Silvaqua on Oct 27, 2006 19:00:05 GMT -6
I've seen a lot of conflicting stories about the origins of Halloween. I think the Celtic version is the oldest, but several other holidays have been absorbed into it. My church celebrates the harvest--they have a party in the elementary's gym, where you can get all your candy in one spot, plus a couple of goldfish and whatnot. It's wonderful. No dragging siblings around town. Sometimes I think that if people didn't make such a big fuss about the origins, the sinister side of Halloween would be forgotten, and Halloween would evolve into something else.
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Post by Firebird on Oct 27, 2006 20:51:49 GMT -6
-nods- Aye, aye, Silv!
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Post by Helenlyn on Oct 30, 2006 18:28:17 GMT -6
The way I've grown up, halloween was either just ignored or we did other stuff on that night. Like going door to door asking for canned foods rather than candy--that is a lot of fun, especially since they give you candy also--whether or not you're dressed up. The nice thing about that is you're helping others rather than just stuffing your face. And then harvest parties, of course. In the past few years, rather than going to harvest parties or going door to door asking for candy, I've been going to costume parties, normally not even on halloween. Those were always boring; we just sat around watching movies or going to Albertsons (don't ask). So this year I'm not doing anything.
Actually, now that I think about it, it's very rare that I actually do something on the night of halloween. It's always interesting to see what others do; Last year, when halloween was on a Sunday evening, (I think) I played special music for a Lutheran church. For me, the service was a lot different from what I was used to, and the subject of the sermon was halloween--discussing the good parts of halloween and how its now a good thing. Somehow in that sermon the changing of halloween from a bad holiday to a good holiday was attributed to the church, and I got the impression that it's now a good holiday to support. I don't agree with that and I'm not sure if I really understood it correctly. Two years when halloween fell on a thursday and a friday, the Episcopalian church where my symphony practiced was having a banquet-y type thing. There were skeletons on the doors, there was black crepe paper everywhere and a black table cloth with a strip of white cloth, candles, and bones (chicken) down the middle. There were even these motion-sensing things that jumped out at you as you went by. Ok, maybe someone was pushing a button, but it was still scary. One year they even showed us the food they were going to serve--a heart, brain, and liver made out of gelatin. It was really... interesting to see the extent to which they took this. It made me wonder why they didn't do so much stuff for other holidays, like valentine's day or thanksgiving. (I never got to see what they did for christmas)
I'm not against celebrating the holiday--one of my best friends is dying her hair blonde to look like Link. (She's REALly into the legend of zelda.) It all comes down to intentions-- If you celebrate it for candy or to masquerade, then have fun. If you don't celebrate it at all, then it doesn't matter. What confuses me are the people whose intentions I don't know. People from my school, which is christian, get/are interested in wicca/ supernatural stuff. Sometimes I wonder why they celebrate it. It's a dangerous thing to get into or have a 'phase' of. I suppose its there choice, but it still seems odd to me.
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Post by Firebird on Oct 30, 2006 20:37:54 GMT -6
Wicca is dangerous because it will never leave you alone; but most kids dont get very far in, so I don't ussually worry much about those who show an intrest. I ussually answer their questions , remind them of the inconsistencies, and ask them to pray for the Wiccans - if you play keep-away with the knowledge there are always a few that take it as a challenge. Which is why I never discourage anyone from participating in samhain. Most will accept it as "that's just the way we do things", but for a few it will only serve to whet their curiosity.
Although, in it's defense, Wicca is pretty harmless. (Exceot, of course, you're still going to hell, which I guess is about a harmful as it gets.)
um... nevermind
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Post by Wolfie on Nov 6, 2006 18:43:56 GMT -6
I really don't know to much about it. I do participate in the whole dressing up and getting candy tho!!! Who doesn't love free candy!?!
I haven't ever dressed up as anything inappropriate like a demon or anything. This year I was a gorilla!!!
There is my two cents.
Wolfie
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Post by Firebird on Nov 6, 2006 19:12:28 GMT -6
If you give a penny for my thoughts; and I put my two cents in, do I get change?
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Post by Helenlyn on Nov 6, 2006 21:53:24 GMT -6
Firebird: I suppose you're right. I really don't know enough about wicca to be able to say anything about it. I do know that there are weird people out there who do weird things on Halloween and May Day. Once, I was over at a friend's house the day after Halloween, and we found one of her kittens -alive- and half skinned laying under a car. It was really sad and the kitten had to be put to sleep. Um... yeah. anyways...
Yay candy!!!!!
I'm keeping your extra cent so I can buy lunch tomorrow, Kari.
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Post by Firebird on Nov 7, 2006 20:59:15 GMT -6
Wah! I want my cent back! Heh. Joshin'.
okay, wiccans aren't mean people. Most of them won't harm a hair on a kitten's head. But as with all religions, there are exceptions. Some will tell you that certain magick rites require blood or sex or other archiac acts, but Wiccan philosophy is about balance and peace within nature. That doesn't make them any less damned or any less wrong. It's just an adjustment from the general line of thinking.
There are some arts, such as seances, which are in wider practice around halloween by poseurs and amatuers. Sometimes that gives Wiccans a reputation they don't deserve.
...um. I don't know what rabbit trail I was going down, here. I'm sorry for what happened to your friends' cat. Please don't hold it against the Wiccans, though. (Since it probably wasn't them in the first place.) They are a sad little people in need of Christ and His love.
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