Reply to Do they have Halloween parties at Oakland Terrace ES?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You know what? Adults are just the damn worst. Thanks for the lecture above on the origins of Halloween. Halloween as it is celebrated in the US is about dressing up, trick or treating, and having fun. No one who isn't already a total weirdo all the time worships the devil on that day. No one is celebrating the devil's birthday. It isn't celebrated as a religious holiday. Just let the kids have their fun. Just stop over thinking everything and raining on all the kids parades![/quote]

That's really not it. I work at a school that has fall festival parties instead of Halloween parties. No costumes. We used to have Halloween parties and an alternate activity in the media center, but data collected over a number of years showed a high absence rate on that day and the alternate activity was well attended by the kids who did come to school on that day. At that point it didn't make sense for students to miss the entire day for a one hour party, since many students being kept home were ones who really needed to be in school.

Even with it being clear that it's a fall festival party, not a Halloween party, we still have students absent on that day because parents are concerned that the party will be at all related to Halloween. Kids will outright tell us that Halloween is the devil's birthday, because that's what their parents have taught them. It is what it is. They believe what they believe.

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My kids' school could easily be one of the ones under discussion, and I'll admit being a tiny bit disappointed when I found out there wouldn't be a Halloween celebration at school, since my kids always take great care in selecting their costumes.  But...yeah, I'm not going to contribute to creating a hostile environment for religious minorities by making a big fuss about it.  We get the costumes so the kids have time to wear them to the zoo, neighborhood events, and trick-or-treating.  We see a lot of their classmates in the neighborhood, including those who come from nearby apartment complexes to go door-to-door in the SFH neighborhood.  It's fine.  Really.  [/quote]

But halloween isn't a religious holiday.

And public schools don't observe religious holidays (or religious anything) at school.

I thought we were supposed to embrace diversity and celebrate multiculturalism? My very catholic kids go to a Jewish preschool. They celebrate Shabbat every Friday at school. They sing hebrew songs and know the blessings. They wear costumes for Purim. They think it's neat. It doesn't impact their religious beliefs, nor does it offend them (or me).

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The difference is you are choose to go to a Jewish school knowing that they would be exposed to Judaism.  Others choose public or non-religious privates expecting that religion is not taught.  You are religious so you are ok with some of it.  My children do not practice any religion so I am not ok with someone talking about God and Heaven and other things.

Its now not a religious holiday but it has religious origins and that is where the issue is.[/quote]

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