Nasty School Letter -- Other Way

[LuluLovesDisney]

Scoff if you like, but this is the root of many holidays! Do you know who invented Mother's Day? It was Hallmark. Seriously, that wasn't a joke.

Actually the woman who invented Mothers' Day (Anna Jarvis) sued to stop the overcommercialization of the holiday. Sadly, she lost.

Anna and I both agree with you on the overcommercialization, though. Holidays in general are less and less about being together and feeling that warmth and togetherness in sharing a special day and extra time together than it is about keeping up an image of perfect decorations, an expensive meal and excessive presents. Even Halloween, Easter, etc. my nephews get presents, and expensive ones. All *meaning* religious, earth-based, or other wise has been lost in the shuffle.

As for commercialism being the *root* of them, definitely not. The roots are usually based in the earth's cycles somehow, though they evolve through the years. Commercialism is not the root, but sadly it does seem to be the fruit right now.

I am a teacher, and I just finished doing a project in conjunction with one of our stories where students have to present either a quilt about their personality or a poster about their culture. I've had kids bring in foods from other cultures and learn about all different places. I also do a project later on that deals with symbolism. I ask students to choose any holiday from any culture or religion and do a project on it. I myself have learned about holidays I never heard of through their research- Tomb Sweeping Day in China, Winter Solstice, Mardi Gras, Persian New Year, Bodhi Tree Day, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, etc. Kids love learning about the ones they've never heard of before. I've never had a single parent complain. I am incredibly lucky to live in a city/school system that encourages diversity. Our textbook even has a "Sources of Wisdom" unit with tiny excerpts from various sacred texts.

Not every student has to celebrate *any* particular holiday- but how beautiful is it for these students to *know* about them? I don't understand why people hide from knowledge or shelter their children from other holidays, religions, etc. It seems to me that people may be afraid their children will not want to follow their religions and traditions if they see others. It comes from fear and insecurity. I would love for my child to learn about any and all faiths that encourage the human spirit, whether I agree or disagree with their dogma. Coloring a jack-o-lantern will not *make* a child change their religious beliefs, but sharing with others will make them feel more accepted and confident.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

For us, Halloween is about the celebration of imagination and creativity, not about (using Dana Carvey voice here) Satan.

The whole point of children celebrating Halloween was to take the stuffing out of the original pagan holiday. If you've got kids dressing up at witches and ghosts, then it invalidates the power of the real thing. I feel bad for the fundamentalists who've gotten the whole thing wrong and are giving validation back to whoever takes Halloween seriously. QUOTE]

The Celts and the Druids who started Samhain (original Halloween) aren't around anymore so they can't get any validation given back to them, (they don't mind!) or get involved here, but I can!

Just wanted to let you know that Halloween was never an evil, powerful, serious, dark holiday. Samhain means *summer's end* and it was actually much much more like our traditional Thanksgiving than what Halloween is now. All the fruits, grains, etc. were at the stem and needed to be harvested, thus a big celebration. They would honor and remember the dead of the past year and build a big bonfire, sometimes sacrificing a few pigs, and would dress up in animal costumes as they celebrated the lives of those they'd lost.

Romans took it when they invaded (of course) and made it a little more decadent, ok a lot more decadent.

When Christianity got hot, they axed the overly decadent Roman celebrations and decided Nov. 1 would be All Hallowmas, thus Oct 31 was All Hallows E'en (evening) eventually it became Halloween and the Catholic Church still celebrates All Souls Day, remembering the dead, which was a big part of the original holiday.

As far as the candy thing, this is totally my opinion only, but I know in Poland men go door to door (or at least they used to) asking for a drink at New Years. In Europe, carolers at Christmas would also ask for a snack "figgy pudding" like in the song "We wish you a Merry Christmas". The candy thing is pretty similar- going door to door begging for treats for fun rather than necessity.

I love Halloween!

 

[King Slimky]

As a kid, I personally think that we should be allowed to experiance all types of holidays in school. Good Friday was a day in particular we got off, but they insisted it was just "Spring Recess". We get taught about different cultures in social studies, and we should be able to celebrate different holidays. It shouldn't offend a parent because their child is learning about what some other people celebrate. Does anyone agree with me?

 

[tigger813]

At my soon to be former school, we do a festival project every year right before Christmas vacation. Students choose any holiday and country from around the world and research how and why the holiday is celebrated.
We have a "Harvest Fest" snack on Halloween and we have a Holiday party and Valentine's Day party.
For Jewish holidays, at least the first day, we can not assign any homework or give tests the day after the holiday begins regardless if there are Jewish children in the class or not. In return we get Good Friday off from school.
We're taking our 2 DDs to Disney Dec 1-8 and are really looking forward to Epcot so the girls can learn about how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

 

[fan_of_small_world]

Just a little PSA on this thread...it's well over a year old. King Slimky must have been reading pretty far back to pick this one up, lol!

ETA: I didn't write this to flame KS for bringing up an old thread. I just thought someone might see how old it is and not realize that many of the original posters probably aren't going to read it.