Anonymous wrote:Another American who just has no clue about where traditions come from. I can totally picture you too. Are you from Kansas?

Bless your heart, but how sweet of you to think I'm from the Midwest! Nope, Buttercup, I'm from the South. Where we still know how to have fun and let our hair down.

Are you one of those carpetbaggers?

Anonymous wrote: They can pretend to be whomever they choose and adults shower them with candy and compliments on their costume. It's about fun and seeing neighbors, friends.

I agree that this is a huge part of Halloween for me. I don't always get to talk to and see my neighbors, and this is a wonderful way to get to know the people in your neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, I'm not new here and I don't mind people being rude if they actually ANSWER the original question.

Very few people here actually tried to answer my main question. That's all.

Because there's not a good answer. No one is going to provide you with an epiphany that is going to make this all gel for you and what you perceive to be a religious (or anti-religous) holiday. You are new to this country. Halloween is *very* American. It is garish, consumer oriented, creative and lots of fun. Take it for what it is. Create your own traditions around Halloween with your child -- carve a pumpkin together, bake cookies, make a costume. Experience Halloween and you will discover it is not religious, it is not about devil worship -- it is for fun.

Another American who just has no clue about where traditions come from. I can totally picture you too. Are you from Kansas?

Another bitchy foreign who has no clue. I can picture you too, crapping in a pit in your backyard (just like home country) while going on and on about how uncivilized Americans are.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you NOT celebrate Halloween?

In my home country we don't have such holiday/festivity and this is the first time my child (2yo) is invited to participate. I'm not sure about what to do. My mom, after reading about the meanin of the party said we should not participate. I don't know what to do... (we're Christians)

I'm not a big fan of the horror aspects of it but I see that DC will miss a lot of fun going out with friends and dressing up as she gets old.

If you don't celebrate it, what's your reason to skip it? Our harvest feast is in April during Easter and that's the major holiday for us...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I personally, do not not celebrate Halloween (most Americans do participate). However I knew one church in our area that choose not to and instead had Halloween-like celebration at their church for the kids. I went once, and had no idea why they weren't celebrating Halloween - they just didn't allow children to wear costumes. (???)

Here is how I see it, coming from anglo background, family in America for 200+ years: It's the one night a year that a child's fantasy gets fullfilled. They can pretend to be whomever they choose and adults shower them with candy and compliments on their costume. It's about fun and seeing neighbors, friends.

The horror aspect its all that big - I would be shocked if someone invited 2 year olds to a party to scare them. If you are concerned about that just ask what kind of party it is. My guess is none of that will be involved. The 'scary' parties are mainly for older kids. There are usually no body parts - no consuming of bodies, worshiping the dead, etc. The Candy is just regular candy (like the kinds in stores) just in a smaller variety. Sometimes one house goes all out to be "scary" but you can see it coming for miles and just pass it by if you have young kids.

Hopefully that addresses your concerns. There shouldn't be anything that will make you feel like you are violating any religious principles and if there is you can always bow-out or walk around so that you don't have to be involved in that. Hopefully you will have lots of fun with your kids!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, I'm not new here and I don't mind people being rude if they actually ANSWER the original question.

Very few people here actually tried to answer my main question. That's all.

Because there's not a good answer. No one is going to provide you with an epiphany that is going to make this all gel for you and what you perceive to be a religious (or anti-religous) holiday. You are new to this country. Halloween is *very* American. It is garish, consumer oriented, creative and lots of fun. Take it for what it is. Create your own traditions around Halloween with your child -- carve a pumpkin together, bake cookies, make a costume. Experience Halloween and you will discover it is not religious, it is not about devil worship -- it is for fun.

Another American who just has no clue about where traditions come from. I can totally picture you too. Are you from Kansas?

Not the PP you quoted, but are you trying to be insulting?

I totally agree that Halloween is a very American holiday. I'm a first generation American, and it is definitely not celebrated where my family is from. But, I LOVED Halloween as a kid. What's not to love? Free candy and you get to dress up?? It's the perfect holiday as far as I'm concerned. You don't have to spend much money - you can make your own costume and you can still have a great time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, I'm not new here and I don't mind people being rude if they actually ANSWER the original question.

Very few people here actually tried to answer my main question. That's all.

Because there's not a good answer. No one is going to provide you with an epiphany that is going to make this all gel for you and what you perceive to be a religious (or anti-religous) holiday. You are new to this country. Halloween is *very* American. It is garish, consumer oriented, creative and lots of fun. Take it for what it is. Create your own traditions around Halloween with your child -- carve a pumpkin together, bake cookies, make a costume. Experience Halloween and you will discover it is not religious, it is not about devil worship -- it is for fun.

Another American who just has no clue about where traditions come from. I can totally picture you too. Are you from Kansas?

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not comfortable with my child celebrating or partying while body parts are spread on the lawn. We're supposed to be disgusted by body parts and not eat them as candy...

Well, hopefully they're fake body parts. And, if you're eating them, hopefully they are chocolate body parts.

Just make sure that you let your kids know the difference between real body parts and fake body parts, and you should be good.

Anonymous wrote:I love the Christians who refuse to celebrate Halloween because of it's pagan origins. Christianity itself is just a big mash-up of a multitude of pagan origins, cherry-picking the best ones. But now, "No paganism! Terrible!" I assume you feel the same way about Easter and the resurection?

How is this helpful to the main question?

I'm a non-practicing jew, and I love halloween. I loved it as a kid and have a blast with it as a grown up. My family enjoys decorating the house and yard - in fact, we have a couple of neighbors who openly "compete" to make their house the spookiest on the block. We have bones on the lawn, ghosts in the trees, and a few of those fog machines that make the whole place look spooky. We aim for spooky, but never violent. My kids think it's awesome, although I'm thinking I'll have to tone it down this year for our toddler. I love the holiday in part because it is just make-believe and fun - it feels more "free" than holidays where there's more strongly-prescribed rules. After reading this thread, I am hoping that I don't offend too many neighbors with our decorations (which won't go up for another few weeks and come down right after the holiday, don't worry!). And I sure don't complain about my neighbors pretty christmas lights even though we don't celebrate that holiday!

I love the Christians who refuse to celebrate Halloween because of it's pagan origins. Christianity itself is just a big mash-up of a multitude of pagan origins, cherry-picking the best ones. But now, "No paganism! Terrible!" I assume you feel the same way about Easter and the resurection?

Anonymous wrote:Why do you NOT celebrate Halloween?

In my home country we don't have such holiday/festivity and this is the first time my child (2yo) is invited to participate. I'm not sure about what to do. My mom, after reading about the meanin of the party said we should not participate. I don't know what to do... (we're Christians)

I'm not a big fan of the horror aspects of it but I see that DC will miss a lot of fun going out with friends and dressing up as she gets old.

If you don't celebrate it, what's your reason to skip it? Our harvest feast is in April during Easter and that's the major holiday for us...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

We're Christians and we don't celebrate Halloween. It's not a big deal at all. Your DC won't feel left out as he/she gets older. Just explain your reason for not celebrating when he/she is old enough to understand. We have Jewish friends and we explain to DC why we don't observe Jewish holidays. Same thing. Your little one will have plenty of other parties in his/her life. (And don't let others pressure you into celebrating something you're not comfortable with.)

Anonymous wrote:

Many Christians aren't comfortable with Halloween. Google Wicca and Halloween.

Only the (1) Fundies who tend to homeschool and the (2) converted, recent immigrants from a developing country aren't "comfortable" with Halloween.

Your basic mainline Protestant or multi-generational Catholic is fine with Halloween.

I agree with this. As a teacher to students from recent immigrant families, I found that usually about a quarter of my class was not allowed to participate in the Halloween festivities at school. Some schools no longer have Halloween parties and just do some type of fall festival where they get treats. Other schools do nothing at all. Any school is now required to have alternate activities for students who are not allowed to participate in the Halloween party. It's not like that for Valentine's Day.

It is pretty much a secular holiday. All of the Jewish people I know (and I'm half-Jewish!) celebrate Halloween like everyone else.

Please don't try to take the fun out of everything for everyone. If you don't want to celebrate it -- fine. But, don't make a federal case out of it to the point no kid is allowed to enjoy it.

I'm not sure I know anyone who doesn't celebrate Halloween in the sense of dressing up and trick-or-treating. I also am not sure I know of anyone who celebrates Halloween in a religious-sense. I know it has a religious history, but I really think of it as more of a secular holiday.

Hey, whatever floats your boat.

Celebrate it, don't celebrate it.

Be warned thou, that if you keep your kids from it, they will feel excluded and hurt and will find ways (later on) to sneak around it.

It's a non religious holiday for me. It's about costumes and candy and having fun pumpkin carving, etc.