Harvest instead of Halloween?

[Seewhatimesdone]

Who said anything about "sheltering" children? And calling todays kids "wimps" is not intended to be offensive?

In your opinion a good scare is fun. And do your children agree with you on that?

I was seriously just kidding. I don't think kids are wimps, I was a kid once myself and was afraid of stuff too. I thought I had a witch living in the corner of my bedroom and sometimes open closet doors still scare me XD Truce okay? I'm sorry for being a jerk.

Thanks for the article Michelle, it's very well researched!

 

[KEH113]

I'm Catholic as well. We have always celebrated Halloween. Our church/school holds a Harvestfest every year. So I guess we get to enjoy both. We have never viewed Halloween as a "satanic" or evil holiday. Actually I don't know anyone personally who does. Catholics tend to be more laid back?

I love Fall. It's just a cozy season with the pumpkins, leaves, etc.

 

[challer]

As a Jew, I don't celebrate Halloween, and neither do my kids. My kids don't even miss it. We don't celebrate it because of its religious origins that conflict with Jewish law - there are numerous articles on the web that can describe this better than I could.

Purim has been (awfully) labeled the "Jewish Halloween" because it is a day of dressing up in costume. However, there are two main practical differences (ignoring their origins):

1. It is festive, not frightening. Costumes tend to be clowns, Queens (as in Esther), and of course various Disney Princesses.

2. It is a custom to give treats and gifts to neighbors, not ask/beg/expect from them.

For Jews, I find this much more rewarding, and much more appropriate for children than Trick or Treating.

Two things I look forward to during Halloween season:

1. Entemann's Candy Corn Cupcakes
2. The day after Halloween - I get my kids Purim costumes for dirt cheap!!

 

[mistymouse5001]

If it's fun for the kids or makes you laugh you should do it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

i love religion, it intregues me. but i have to be honest there are a couple ive just never looked into much. epicopalian being one of them, also protestant and lutherin. but maybe now i will have to. i hate that i cant add anything to an episopalian conversation...except that im quite aware that its a christian religion, lol.

My brother calls Episcopalian "Catholic Light", if that helps any.


As for the original question, we do participate in Halloween here. We think of it as a fun children's holiday, and have never run into religious conflicts about it.

 

[RMulieri]

I'm Jewish and I celebrate Halloween! XD The rest of my family is Christian so I usually celebrate Christmas with them. It may sound weird but I like to be with them during their holidays and they take interest in mine. It doesn't reflect my beliefs one bit, I just love holidays XD

Technically if you're a Christian and do not celebrate Halloween because of the religion than you should not celebrate Christmas in December either because the Catholic church placed this holiday in December to try and convert the Pagans...

I do understand what you are saying.But I disagree.I have a minor degree in religious studies and can tell you that ALL christian holidays have their foundations in paganism.Every single one of them do.I know this and yet I am a Christian and will go even further and tell you I am Catholic by birth.Most Chrisitians out there are well aware of the early Church history and continue to celebrate the holidays anyway.Why? because that was how it was practiced then,and got handed down.It is tradition and a way of life for many people.Doesn't make it right or wrong.Religion and practice of it is something very personal,near and dear ,and way of life for millions of people, and it is very easy to insult or offend people discussing it or criticizing it.

 

[tmarquez]

We all love Halloween at our house! The scarier the better. We always decorate the outside of the house for the night...tons of people come by...so I guess they like it too. We're not really religious so maybe that's the difference.

 

[RMAMom]

im not offended. its quite hard to offend me actually. i am fully aware of the misconceptions with my religion.
paganism is to wicca as catholicism is to christianity.

I am not sure what you mean by that but a big misconception is that Catholics aren't Christians. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ himself began the Catholic church. Catholics are Christians!
Just wanted to clear that up!

 

[moredisneyplease]

i've never, ever thought Halloween was a religious day/event!!!

All I can say is that my family/I love it!!! We decorate, carve pumpkins, do crafts, and really just enjoy the season!! Its probably my favorite "holiday"

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

I do understand what you are saying.But I disagree.I have a minor degree in religious studies and can tell you that ALL christian holidays have their foundations in paganism.Every single one of them do.I know this and yet I am a Christian and will go even further and tell you I am Catholic by birth.Most Chrisitians out there are well aware of the early Church history and continue to celebrate the holidays anyway.Why? because that was how it was practiced then,and got handed down.It is tradition and a way of life for many people.Doesn't make it right or wrong.Religion and practice of it is something very personal,near and dear ,and way of life for millions of people, and it is very easy to insult or offend people discussing it or criticizing it.

I was merely saying that if you are going to not celebrate Halloween because of its religious origins that you would have to examine every other holidays origins as well. I was raised Christian so I have great respect for Christian holidays. Even after I converted to Judaism when I got older I can still appreciate the beauty of the religion.

As a Jew we are not supposed to celebrate holidays other than our own but i'm Conservative and as long as you have good intentions and aren't calling the dead back to life or anything then it's not that big of a deal XD So I celebrate it out of habit and because I love the festivities, and of course, candy.

 

[KirstenB]

We adore Halloween!! Inside, our home is decorated in Pottery Barn Kids, and Yankee Candle Halloween stuff, so nothing scary. Just lots of pumpkins, black cats and friendly witches. Our 10 yr old is too old to be scared, but we keep it light for our 3 yr old.

Outdoors, on the other hand, dh goes all out. He has built animatronic witches, and vampires, and has ghouls who jump out behind tombstones, up from the porch etc. On Halloween night, he stands in front of the spooky stuff, so he can just give little kids their candy, and they don't get spooked. But for older kids, they love it!! Every year our neighbors and the kids at dd's school ask when our house will be ready.

I love Halloween, because it is a holiday without a lot of baggage attached. I don't have to wake up at 4 am to fill stockings, or Easter baskets. I don't have to hide presents for weeks. I don't have to deal with my in-laws. I don't have 30 people inside my house while I'm cooking. Gosh, I sound very grinchy!! I do like the other holidays, but Halloween is like holiday "lite".

 

[Seewhatimesdone]

We adore Halloween!! Inside, our home is decorated in Pottery Barn Kids, and Yankee Candle Halloween stuff, so nothing scary. Just lots of pumpkins, black cats and friendly witches. Our 10 yr old is too old to be scared, but we keep it light for our 3 yr old.

Outdoors, on the other hand, dh goes all out. He has built animatronic witches, and vampires, and has ghouls who jump out behind tombstones, up from the porch etc. On Halloween night, he stands in front of the spooky stuff, so he can just give little kids their candy, and they don't get spooked. But for older kids, they love it!! Every year our neighbors and the kids at dd's school ask when our house will be ready.

I love Halloween, because it is a holiday without a lot of baggage attached. I don't have to wake up at 4 am to fill stockings, or Easter baskets. I don't have to hide presents for weeks. I don't have to deal with my in-laws. I don't have 30 people inside my house while I'm cooking. Gosh, I sound very grinchy!! I do like the other holidays, but Halloween is like holiday "lite".

You said exactly like my friends mom, they go ALL OUT for Halloween. Tombstones in the yard, hanging witches, they even switch out light bulbs in their house with those flickering flame ones XD

I understand what you means about the no baggage. My family is always running around at Christmas getting presents and trying to host everyone. I'm like calm down people we should be relaxing!

 

[DISNEYFOS]

My brother calls Episcopalian "Catholic Light", if that helps any.


As for the original question, we do participate in Halloween here. We think of it as a fun children's holiday, and have never run into religious conflicts about it.

We participate in Halloween here. Love it. I really only consider it as Theatrical, nothing religious either.

It is true that all Christian holidays have some sort of druid festival/holiday associated with them, the church purposefully did so in hopes of converting druids to the religion.

Anyways...Episcopalian is basically the Church of England (when it split with the Pope over an Annulment of King Henry VIII). Today Very very similar to the Catholic church in terms of mass. Its basically in the middle between Catholism and Protestant. Definitely Catholic without all the guilt. (I was raised catholic)

 

[tzolkin]

When I was a child and we lived in the south there was a time where we did not celebrate Halloween. We were Catholic and my mom homeschooled, so we dealt with alot of anti-Catholic comments. I think avoiding Halloween meant one less reason for people to tell us we were going to hell. (I'm not trying to insult any southern non-Catholics, this was just our experience with certain people who lived around us.) I do remember one year we went to an "All Saints" party at our church were you could dress up as a saint/religious figure.

We participate in Halloween with our kids. Our elementary school has a Halloween parade during school that all the parents can attend. (I had a parade as a child when I lived in the north, but no costumes or parties were allowed when I lived in the south. So maybe this is a regional thing) My family all comes over for a little party in the evening and DH & I take the kids trick-or-treating to all of the neighbors that we know.

I do not like gory costumes, because I just don't find them appealing and I don't like horror movies. But I have no problem with the skeletons and things. I don't view them as scary, but as symbols of life and rememberance. My kids know quite a bit about Maya and Aztec culture (what I studied in college), as well as today's Mexican-American "Day of the Dead" celebration, so they see them in these cultural terms rather than as something evil.

 

[disneykid4ever]

Halloween is the bomb! Loooooove it! Of course, I'm a little more juiced about it than your average person because it's my birthday!!! Mom tried everything possible to NOT have me be born on Halloween (walking around block, spicy food,etc . . .) but I wasn't having it, apparently! (Her not wanting me born on Halloween had nothing to do with religious reasons). I was raised Catholic and Mom is very religious but we always celebrated Halloween, not just for my birthday's sake but for the fun and frivolity. I always felt like everyone else in the neighborhood/school was celebrating my birthday with me, but even if Halloween wasn't my birthday it would still be my favorite holiday. It sort of cements the whole Fall season for me and gets me in the mood for the holiday season right through the end of the year, period. I love my birthday for everything it stood for back in the day (Samhain) and it's history and evolution. I don't dig the gore or extremely scary costumes that you see many times nowadays, but gimme a really cool vampire costume or witch costume and I am ALL IN!

 

[Fintastic]

I *love* Halloween and I look forward to it every year! If DD gets nervous around scary decorations, we let her touch them or turn them on or whatever to show her that they're not real, they're just for fun. We emphasize that everything's pretend and it's just a fun holiday to dress up. She wants to be Cinderella this year, but if she wanted to be something scary I'd let her. I have no problem with it. I love scary stuff.

 

[Fintastic]

I was born October 29th but seriously, LOOOOVE Halloween!!

That's my daughter's birthday too! She'll be five in just a few weeks.

 

[LisaInNc]

We love Halloween and we decorate the house starting with a Martha Stweart type pumpkin display and then adding more spooky things a few days before Halloween. We do dry ice, lights, spider webs on the bushes, toombstones in the yard. I make illumanaria bags for my walkway yard and my neighbors and I light my porch with only candles. This year I am buying the yard statues of the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the HM. I can't wait to add them to the other decorations!

I just don't see it as evil, it's fun and it seems to be more of an American Holiday with how we celebrate it. I just can't see what is wrong with the little girl dressed as a Princess trick or treating or the little boy dressed as Spiderman.

I am Catholic and I went to Catholic school and one cool thing about that was the day after Halloween is All Saints Day and a Holy Day of Obligation so we always had it off. I also opt to let my DD stay home for that reason. She gets to sleep in and we go to mass during the day.

 

[princessmom29]

My brother calls Episcopalian "Catholic Light", if that helps any.


As for the original question, we do participate in Halloween here. We think of it as a fun children's holiday, and have never run into religious conflicts about it.

I am not sure what you mean by that but a big misconception is that Catholics aren't Christians. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ himself began the Catholic church. Catholics are Christians!
Just wanted to clear that up!

When I was a child and we lived in the south there was a time where we did not celebrate Halloween. We were Catholic and my mom homeschooled, so we dealt with alot of anti-Catholic comments. I think avoiding Halloween meant one less reason for people to tell us we were going to hell. (I'm not trying to insult any southern non-Catholics, this was just our experience with certain people who lived around us.) I do remember one year we went to an "All Saints" party at our church were you could dress up as a saint/religious figure.

We participate in Halloween with our kids. Our elementary school has a Halloween parade during school that all the parents can attend. (I had a parade as a child when I lived in the north, but no costumes or parties were allowed when I lived in the south. So maybe this is a regional thing) My family all comes over for a little party in the evening and DH & I take the kids trick-or-treating to all of the neighbors that we know.

I do not like gory costumes, because I just don't find them appealing and I don't like horror movies. But I have no problem with the skeletons and things. I don't view them as scary, but as symbols of life and rememberance. My kids know quite a bit about Maya and Aztec culture (what I studied in college), as well as today's Mexican-American "Day of the Dead" celebration, so they see them in these cultural terms rather than as something evil.

I obviously live in the south and as Episcopalians we get the "youare not chriistian" thing too. It is a little better in Mobile b/c we were originally a French Ctholic settlment so there are still a large percentage of cathloics, but when we lived in rural Mississippi it was AWFUL. There we always ppl trying to "save "us.

 

[momma of 2]

I LOVE halloween!!!!!!!!!! my kids (4 and 3) LOVE it too. They laugh at anything scary in the stores. I think they get it from me. My dh takes them only to the houses of people we know. And I get to do the whole pass out candy thing. We live in Michigan and sometimes it snows on halloween.

Now our kids go to a Christian based preschool and they will allow them to dress up but they can not call it Halloween. They call it Harvest day. It does not bother me. I would not let them dress up in anything scary. Usually they choose a disney character to dress up as. Am I raising them right or what.