# Cynical about Halloween



## Victor (Oct 8, 2018)

Is America the only nation that celebrates (if we can use that word) Halloween?

Obviously it's for kids with the candy and costumes. So it is
totally commercial with no meaning to adults--except to give candy.

Basically it's a day to show off images of death.
One village has annual casket races. How tasteless!

Any other nation care about Halloween?


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## Shalimar (Oct 8, 2018)

Canada also celebrates Halloween.


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## Marie5656 (Oct 8, 2018)

*To be honest I was never much of a Halloween person. Except for the influx of horror movies in October, I like them.  We darken the house on Halloween and do not answer the door.*


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## C'est Moi (Oct 8, 2018)

I believe Halloween originated in the UK, as part of the Celtic fall festival centuries ago.  We don't "celebrate" but we enjoy seeing the children having fun.


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## Elsie (Oct 8, 2018)

Victor, as a child till possibly around my age of 30-? I just went along with "whoopty-do- Halloween, holiday of fun.  But then, over time, I learned about the 'background' of the reason for Halloween. UGH.  And I wondered why in the world would I want to celebrate it, and pass out candy to kids in costumes who came knockin' at my door?  Many people say don't pay attention to there being evil in it--that's silly.  It's no big deal, just a day of fun, don't be a stick-in-mud.  But now, after what I learned about its background/origin, I see it as just a yucky fake clever money making commercial holiday.


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## RadishRose (Oct 8, 2018)

Victor said:


> Is America the only nation that celebrates (if we can use that word) Halloween?
> 
> Obviously it's for kids with the candy and costumes. So it is
> totally commercial with no meaning to adults--except to give candy.
> ...



Well, it did start out regarding people who have died (the faithful departed) Mexico is very into it as well.

from Wiki-
In the Western Christian practice, the liturgical celebration begins at Vespers on the evening of 31 October, All Hallows' Eve (All Saints' Eve), and ends at the close of 1 November. It is thus the day before All Souls' Day, which commemorates the faithful departed. In many traditions, All Saints' Day is part of the triduum of Allhallowtide, which lasts three days from 31 October to 2 November inclusive.[SUP][11]



[/SUP]


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## RadishRose (Oct 8, 2018)

Just as with most holy-days, it became commercialized, like Christmas, Easter and so on.


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## AprilT (Oct 8, 2018)

Not a big deal, seems some people get their panties twisted about the least bothersome things going on in the world today.  We could pick apart Thanksgiving next month just for fun, Oh we forgot to pick apart today's holiday, Columbus Day, that's a real winner we could harp on don't ya think.

I find it to be fun, more so than how some have destroyed most aspects of Christmas which seemed at one point a wholesome holiday but has turned into one of extreme over indulgence on so many levels for children and adults.  It's the one time of year I most cringe especially seeing seeing the videos of the people ready to beat the crap out of each other at the big box stores.  :holymoly:

The background stories of much of the histories of everything we celebrate has some aspects we find distasteful.  Halloween in the here and now of any holiday, celebrate don't celebrate it is what one wants it to be to them.  

I haven't been to any parties since I've moved to my present area, but, I used to attend fun events and would do it again, but, I can live without dressing up, that part I'm over for now.  Still I enjoy seeing the kids and adults have fun at it.  I had great fun when I helped host BOO benefit events for the kids; the smiles and happiness experienced by the children brought so much joy to my day at those events.


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## Grampa Don (Oct 8, 2018)

I don't understand people who get upset over Halloween.  Sure, it started as a pagan festival.  So what?  For most people in the US it has no religious significance.  People used to believe in witches and goblins.  Now they laugh at them.  Is that bad?  Or do you still think they are real.

Kids and even adults like to dress up in costumes.  Look at the success of Comic Cons.  The candy is just a small part of it.  They can get that any time.  The big deal is dressing up and seeing how others are dressed.  Would you really want to take that away from the kids?

Sure, it's commercialized.  Everything is.  That's free enterprise.  Look at the price of Mother's day cards.

El Dia de los Muertos is something different.  The locals were celebrating that long before the Spanish arrived.  It's a serious time to honor and remember those who have died.

Happy Columbus Day, or as the city of Los Angeles has declared, Indigenous Peoples Day.

Don


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## C'est Moi (Oct 8, 2018)




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## Keesha (Oct 8, 2018)

RadishRose said:


> Just as with most holy-days, it became commercialized, like Christmas, Easter and so on.


Yep! :yes:


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## Keesha (Oct 8, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> View attachment 57653



Well whadda mean by THAT C’est Moi? :shrug:


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## C'est Moi (Oct 8, 2018)

Keesha said:


> Well whadda mean by THAT C’est Moi? :shrug:



:whome:


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## Keesha (Oct 8, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> :whome:



:lofl: I knowwwws!!!


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## treeguy64 (Oct 8, 2018)

Who cares?  If you like Halloween, dress up and go out to trick or treat, or carve a pumpkin, put it outside, and answer your door when kids in costumes show up. If you don't like Halloween, don't do anything. Your call.


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 8, 2018)

I live in a security building so I don't participate in Halloween.

Like all holidays Halloween is what you make of it. It can be an inexpensive time for the family to carve a pumpkin or make a costume out of odds and ends or a time to go all out with a giant holiday display from the local home center.

I think if you focus on what it means to the small children in your family and neighborhood it can be an inexpensive family event that will provide lots of great memories.

Please keep an eye on the children and make Halloween a safe holiday.


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## jujube (Oct 8, 2018)

My late husband and I were nuts for Halloween and never missed a big party.  We would work hard on our costumes and have such a great time.


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## Elsie (Oct 8, 2018)

I buy lotsa candy for Halloweenies handouts, then eat it all myself. LOL!


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## Trade (Oct 8, 2018)

Marie5656 said:


> *To be honest I was never much of a Halloween person. Except for the influx of horror movies in October, I like them.  We darken the house on Halloween and do not answer the door.*



I like the horror movies too. 

Saw a good one on Netflix just the other day. 

It's called "Terrifier"

Quite a gorefest. 

Warning, it's not for the weak of heart. Or stomach.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Oct 8, 2018)

I loved Halloween as a kid and when my kids were growing up. My Grand kids enjoy it but it's not the fun it use to be. Today they have curfews, only wrapped candy for safety sake and most go to parties or gather in a well lit parking lot where families will park their cars in a circle and hand out candy. We worked for our candy . I remember helping my Mom put some candy in napkins with a string around that she would give out on Halloween while I was out probably collecting the exact same candy she gave out. Sometimes we would get an apple or a pear. We stayed out late and safety was not an issue back then.


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## Grampa Don (Oct 8, 2018)

When I was a kid, we knew which houses gave out the good stuff.  One lady always handed out home made pastries.  They never made it into the bag.  Back then, a cheap mask was considered a costume.

Don


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## Camper6 (Oct 9, 2018)

Yes it is a fun day and I have no problem with it except for the theme.

Trick or Treat.  I don't like that.


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## Keesha (Oct 9, 2018)

We live in a rural setting and the only time we had any kids was our first year here. 
I carved a pumpkin, decorated the end of the driveway and our doorway and only one dad showed up with his kids in a car. He says the only reason he stopped was because I’d gone through all that trouble and he knew nobody else was going to stop so he did. Awwww and he was right so his kids got handfuls of candy each. They were very glad they stopped but it was the first and last  time I decorated. 

As a a kid I loved going out for Halloween. As a younger adult I lived dressing up to go out to parties but my man isn’t into much of anything so that ended once he came into the picture.


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## Keesha (Oct 9, 2018)

When I was a kid we went out with pillow cases cause we were greedy but also because they were easier to carry. 
One place about a mile away was a woman who would make handmade candy apples. I know! Crazy right? 
She would make you do a trick and since I loved the candy apples I’d always sing for her. Luckily she liked my singing cause I always got the candy apple whereas my brothers always passed. Their theory was that the amount of time it took to get the treat , they could have visited 10 other houses. Lol 

Each year we came home with between 10 to 15 pounds of candy each and that wasn’t including apples. 
Why do people give regular apples anyway.? They would just get all bruised and bashed anyway.


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## peppermint (Oct 9, 2018)

I have Pumpkins on my porch, a fake pumpkin face lit up in my front window....I love to see the kiddies dressed up....I mostly get the little ones...Some middle
schoolers...Not many older kids....I remember trick or treating and I want the kiddies to have as much fun as I did when I was a young girl....
I love all Holiday's....Especially Christmas....


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## Falcon (Oct 9, 2018)

Well,  I learned something  today:   holy  day   turned  into the word   "holiday".


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## PopsnTuff (Oct 9, 2018)

Marie5656 said:


> *To be honest I was never much of a Halloween person. Except for the influx of horror movies in October, I like them.  We darken the house on Halloween and do not answer the door.*


Yes the movies on SyFy and Ghostfest runs all of October, I luv em'.....


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## PopsnTuff (Oct 9, 2018)

Grampa Don said:


> I don't understand people who get upset over Halloween.  Sure, it started as a pagan festival.  So what?  For most people in the US it has no religious significance.  People used to believe in witches and goblins.  Now they laugh at them.  Is that bad?  Or do you still think they are real.
> 
> Kids and even adults like to dress up in costumes.  Look at the success of Comic Cons.  The candy is just a small part of it.  They can get that any time.  The big deal is dressing up and seeing how others are dressed.  Would you really want to take that away from the kids?
> 
> ...


Totally agree with you Don....


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## PopsnTuff (Oct 9, 2018)

treeguy64 said:


> Who cares?  If you like Halloween, dress up and go out to trick or treat, or carve a pumpkin, put it outside, and answer your door when kids in costumes show up. If you don't like Halloween, don't do anything. Your call.



Ha you got that right TG....H'ween is my favorite day of the year, or should I say the whole pre-holiday thing.....my house is spookily decorated to the max with help from my gr'daughter, I drive around to enjoy the creativity of the house decorations wth lights and pumpkins at nite, then I walk around our town gazebo where kids and adults are dressed up and the merchants along Main Street give out treats, so its a safe place on H'ween and lots of good clean fun....I'm never home that nite whether I'm feeling well or not


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## PopsnTuff (Oct 9, 2018)

jujube said:


> My late husband and I were nuts for Halloween and never missed a big party.  We would work hard on our costumes and have such a great time.


My Mom and Dad did this every year after joining the Elks....their costumes were awesome, i.e., bumble bees, french maid (my Dad) and the butler (my Mom) lol....can remember my uncle dressing as a woman too, it was hysterically funny layful::chuncky::cheerful:


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## SeaBreeze (Oct 12, 2018)




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## RadishRose (Oct 12, 2018)

You've outdone yourself, SeaBreeze!


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## Leonie (Oct 12, 2018)

We 'celebrate' it in Australia too, it sort of snuck up on us.

We never had it when I was a kid, although we sort of knew about it. We never did the carved pumpkins and trick or treat though, we just saw all that as an American thing. 

I can remember going to a Halloween party as a teenager in the 60's, but that was pretty unusual, the first time I had ever seen anybody acknowledging the day as such. But eventually it became pretty well established here too, with the usual complaints that inevitably follow - not part of our culture, just following America, over commercialised etc, etc, etc. I don't know what made us start embracing it, the 'Peanuts' cartoons maybe? 



I just saw it as a bit of fun, to be honest. 

I would stock up on lollies, just in case some kids came knocking, (and eat most of it myself), but it's been a couple of years since any have. Maybe interest is starting to wane. I think kids knocking on strangers doors asking for lollies is a bit risky these days ... sadly.


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## Giantsfan1954 (Oct 24, 2018)

My tiny Scottish grandma used to call it beggin,drove my dad nuts!


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## peppermint (Oct 24, 2018)

If you are talking about (I love Holiday's) is a saying...I love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....My family go to church and we have fish on Christmas Eve (Italian tradition) On Christmas Day we 
have a big meal....I also love Easter Sunday....Fourth of July, Columbus Day, my brother was born on Columbus Day,  St. Patrick Day, I was born on St. Patrick Day....New Year's Eve and Day....We celebrate them too.....We also have relatives Jewish...Sometimes we celebrate with them...My Niece is married to a Jewish fellow and he Celebrates Christmas Eve with us....So that's how holy I am.....

This post was for Falcan….(John)….They are all Holiday's to me.....I didn't think people here were mean.....


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## Elsie (Oct 25, 2018)

peppermint, I read no "mean-ness" here (concerning Halloween opinion(s).  Trick or treating is a fun thing to do.  Not the tricks-lol  But now I prefer Halloween substitute costume parties in some home or church, minus costumes that represent evil characters.  My step-grandmother sewed together perfectly a monkey costume for me when I was 10-? to wear in a school play.  And I wore it at a neighborhood Halloween party, and was peeved I won only second prize, ... a metal thing that rattled when I shook it by its handle.  LOL, I was 10 years old, not 2.  sheees.


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## RadishRose (Oct 25, 2018)

peppermint said:


> If you are talking about (I love Holiday's) is a saying...I love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....My family go to church and we have fish on Christmas Eve (Italian tradition) On Christmas Day we
> have a big meal....I also love Easter Sunday....Fourth of July, Columbus Day, my brother was born on Columbus Day,  St. Patrick Day, I was born on St. Patrick Day....New Year's Eve and Day....We celebrate them too.....We also have relatives Jewish...Sometimes we celebrate with them...My Niece is married to a Jewish fellow and he Celebrates Christmas Eve with us....So that's how holy I am.....
> 
> This post was for Falcan….(John)….They are all Holiday's to me.....I didn't think people here were mean.....



Peppermint, my Italian friend's holiday dinners were the best!


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## Sassycakes (Oct 30, 2018)

peppermint said:


> If you are talking about (I love Holiday's) is a saying...I love Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....My family go to church and we have fish on Christmas Eve (Italian tradition) On Christmas Day we
> have a big meal....I also love Easter Sunday....Fourth of July, Columbus Day, my brother was born on Columbus Day,  St. Patrick Day, I was born on St. Patrick Day....New Year's Eve and Day....We celebrate them too.....We also have relatives Jewish...Sometimes we celebrate with them...My Niece is married to a Jewish fellow and he Celebrates Christmas Eve with us....So that's how holy I am.....
> 
> This post was for Falcan….(John)….They are all Holiday's to me.....I didn't think people here were mean.....



We seem to have a lot in common Peppermint. I love all the days we celebrate especially Christmas Eve dinner even though I am not really a fish lover but I am on that day. As a kid the only thing I didn't enjoy about Halloween was since I went to Catholic school we had to go to the convent and visit the Nuns. They would give us candy but I didn't enjoy going there. I really started to LOVE Halloween when it was the day I gave birth to my son. Since then it has been one of my favorite days.


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## Buckeye (Oct 30, 2018)

I plan on going out in the morning to get about 10 lbs of candy for the trick or treaters.  Last year we had, well, zero, but you gotta be prepared.


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## woody (Oct 31, 2018)

We have candy to pass out tonight to the trick-or-treaters.  Some of the costumes are very good!  Guilty of opening one of the bags a few days ago...

The oddest thing about this tradition - all year long kids are told to not take candy from strangers and then all of a sudden, it's okay to take candy from strangers!


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## Trade (Oct 31, 2018)

I didn't buy candy this year because we get very few trick or treaters, I think our average is between 5 and 10. So I wind up eating it all the left over candy myself. If there is candy in the house I WILL eat it. So this year I figured I'd just hand out money. I went to the credit union and asked them for a roll of half dollars. That way I can spend what is left over. But they didn't have any. I have plenty of quarters but that's kind of cheap, even for me. A quarter today is roughly equal to about 3 cents when I was a kid trick or treating. So I ended up getting a roll of those gold colored dollars for $25 bucks. But now I'm hoping I don't get any trick or treaters.


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## Elsie (Oct 31, 2018)

Yikes, Trade! You bought gold colored dollars for $25 bucks?  For real?  If I was a kid trick-or-treating I'd be happy to receive a quarter.


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## Trade (Oct 31, 2018)

Elsie said:


> Yikes, Trade! You bought gold colored dollars for $25 bucks?  For real?  If I was a kid trick-or-treating I'd be happy to receive a quarter.



Yeah, well I'm getting buyers remorse about it. 

We don't get many trick or treaters here. And I really just wanted half dollars but my credit union didn't have any. And if I get more than 10 kids I'm shutting off the lights.


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## StarSong (Oct 31, 2018)

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  What's not to love?  Each year about 100 adorable tykes come knocking on my door.  I admire their costumes for a moment, prompt the little ones who forget to say "Trick or Treat" - and then I watch them go on their merry way.  Being a good neighbor who celebrates the fun of childhood is well worth our annual $30 candy investment.

Possible unsavory roots of Halloween traditions don't matter a whit to me.  I only care what it means in this day and age.


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## RadishRose (Oct 31, 2018)




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## RadishRose (Oct 31, 2018)




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## hollydolly (Oct 31, 2018)

Well it's 9.30pm and we've not had one trick or treater knock the door, despite my friend telling me on the way here tonight, she saw quite a few walking down the next road... I'm chuffed, because I hadn't planned to open the door anyway because I can't be bothered..they usualy knock while I'm in the middle of dinner or watching my fave tv show.. so fortunately I never had to do that this year!!  Lots of neighbours got their outdoor  lights on tho' so I suspect the kids all went to those homes


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