← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Petr
Thread ID: 20763 | Posts: 14 | Started: 2005-10-26
2005-10-26 19:27 | User Profile
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_eu/spooked_by_halloween[/url] [FONT="Arial"] [SIZE="5"] Some Europeans Aren't Fans of Halloween[/SIZE]
[B]By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press [/B]
VIENNA, Austria - It's almost Halloween ââ¬â and all those ghosts, goblins, tricks and treats are giving Hans Kohler the creeps.
So the mayor of Rankweil, a town near the border with Switzerland, has launched a one-man campaign disparaging Halloween as a "bad American habit" and urging families to skip it this year.
"It's an American custom that's got nothing to do with our culture," Kohler wrote in letters sent out to households. By midweek, the mayors of eight neighboring villages had thrown their support behind the boycott. So had local police, annoyed with the annual Oct. 31 uptick in vandalism and mischief.
Although Halloween has become increasingly popular across Europe ââ¬â complete with carved pumpkins, witches on broomsticks, makeshift houses of horror and costumed children rushing door to door for candy ââ¬â it's begun to breed a backlash.
[B]Critics see it as the epitome of crass, U.S.-style commercialism. Clerics and conservatives contend it clashes with the spirit of traditional Nov. 1 All Saints' Day remembrances.[/B]
And it's got purists in countries struggling to retain a sense of uniqueness in Europe's ever-enlarging melting pot grimacing like Jack o' Lanterns.
Halloween "undermines our cultural identity," complained the Rev. Giordano Frosini, a Roman Catholic theologian who serves as vicar-general in the Diocese of Pistoia near Florence, Italy.
[B]Frosini denounced the holiday as a "manifestation of neo-paganism" and an expression of American cultural supremacy. "Pumpkins show their emptiness," he said.[/B]
To be sure, Halloween is big business in Europe.
Germans alone spend nearly $170 million, on Halloween costumes, sweets, decorations and parties. The holiday has become increasingly popular in Romania, home to the Dracula myth, where discotheques throw parties with bat and vampire themes.
In Britain, where Halloween celebrations rival those in the United States, it's the most lucrative day of the year for costume and party retailers.
"Without Halloween, I don't think we could exist, to be honest," said Pendra Maisuria, owner of Escapade, a London costume shop that rakes in 30 percent of its annual sales in the run-up to Oct. 31. Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, haven't logged any significant increase in crime.
But not everyone takes such a carefree approach toward the surge in trick-or-treating ââ¬â "giving something sweet or getting something sour," as it's called in German.
In Austria, where many families get a government child allowance, "parents who abuse it to buy Halloween plunder for their kids should be forced to pay back the aid," grumbled Othmar Berbig, an Austrian who backs the small but strident boycott movement.
In Sweden, even as Halloween's popularity has increased, so have views of the holiday as an "unnecessary, bad American custom," said Bodil Nildin-Wall, an expert at the Language and Folklore Institute in Uppsala.
Italy's Papaboys, a group of pope devotees who include some of the young Catholics who cheer wildly at Vatican events, have urged Christians not to take part in what they consider "a party in honor of Satan and hell," and plan to stage prayer vigils nationwide that night.
Don't take it all so seriously, counters Gerald Faschingeder, who heads a Roman Catholic youth alliance in Austria. He sees nothing particularly evil about glow-in-the-dark skeletons, plastic fangs, fake blood, rubber tarantulas or latex scars.
"It's a chance for girls and boys to disguise themselves and have some fun away from loud and demanding adults," Faschingeder said. "For one evening, at least, kids can feel more powerful than grown-ups."
[I] Associated Press reporters Marta Falconi in Rome; Tommy Grandell in Stockholm, Sweden; Jenn Wiant in London, and Matthias Armborst in Duesseldorf, Germany, contributed to this story.[/I][/FONT]
2005-10-26 20:23 | User Profile
[FONT=Arial] "It's an American custom that's got nothing to do with our culture," Kohler wrote in letters sent out to households. By midweek, the mayors of eight neighboring villages had thrown their support behind the boycott. So had local police, annoyed with the annual Oct. 31 uptick in vandalism and mischief.
Although Halloween has become increasingly popular across Europe ââ¬â complete with carved pumpkins, witches on broomsticks, makeshift houses of horror and costumed children rushing door to door for candy ââ¬â it's begun to breed a backlash.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial]
Ummm, wasn't Hallowe'en brought to the US by European immigrants? Hellooo, McFly?
[URL="http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/?page=world"]History Channel online[/URL] [/FONT]> [B]Where It All Began[/B]
In Ireland, where Halloween originated, the day is still celebrated much as it is in the United States. In rural areas, bonfires are lit as they were in the days of the Celts, and all over the country, children get dressed up in costumes and spend the evening "trick-or-treating" in their neighborhoods. After trick-or-treating, most people attend parties with neighbors and friends. At the parties, many games are played, including "snap-apple," a game in which an apple on a string is tied to a doorframe or tree and players attempt to bite the hanging apple. In addition to bobbing for apples, parents often arrange treasure hunts, with candy or pastries as the "treasure." The Irish also play a card game where cards are laid face down on a table with candy or coins underneath them. When a child chooses a card, he receives whatever prize is found below it.
A traditional food eaten on Halloween is barnbrack, a kind of fruitcake that can be bought in stores or baked at home. A muslin-wrapped treat is baked inside the cake that, it is said, can foretell the eater's future. If a ring is found, it means that the person will soon be wed; a piece of straw means that a prosperous year is on its way. Children are also known to play tricks on their neighbors, such as "knock-a-dolly," a prank in which children knock on the doors of their neighbors, but run away before the door is opened. [FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
2005-10-26 21:10 | User Profile
It's a Celtic custom. I can understand other Europeans not wanting to adopt it, any more than the Germans would want to adopt the American corruption of their Christmas customs.
2005-10-26 23:47 | User Profile
I am no fan of Halloween, or at least the wandering about and handing out of candy foolishness. Costume party? Fine, go ahead, have a ball.
The "gimme candy" wheeze has gotten old.
AE
[quote=Petr][URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_eu/spooked_by_halloween"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_re_eu/spooked_by_halloween[/URL] [FONT=Arial] [SIZE=5] Some Europeans Aren't Fans of Halloween[/SIZE]
[B]By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press [/B]
VIENNA, Austria - It's almost Halloween ââ¬â and all those ghosts, goblins, tricks and treats are giving Hans Kohler the creeps.
So the mayor of Rankweil, a town near the border with Switzerland, has launched a one-man campaign disparaging Halloween as a "bad American habit" and urging families to skip it this year.
"It's an American custom that's got nothing to do with our culture," Kohler wrote in letters sent out to households. By midweek, the mayors of eight neighboring villages had thrown their support behind the boycott. So had local police, annoyed with the annual Oct. 31 uptick in vandalism and mischief.
Although Halloween has become increasingly popular across Europe ââ¬â complete with carved pumpkins, witches on broomsticks, makeshift houses of horror and costumed children rushing door to door for candy ââ¬â it's begun to breed a backlash.
[B]Critics see it as the epitome of crass, U.S.-style commercialism. Clerics and conservatives contend it clashes with the spirit of traditional Nov. 1 All Saints' Day remembrances.[/B]
And it's got purists in countries struggling to retain a sense of uniqueness in Europe's ever-enlarging melting pot grimacing like Jack o' Lanterns.
Halloween "undermines our cultural identity," complained the Rev. Giordano Frosini, a Roman Catholic theologian who serves as vicar-general in the Diocese of Pistoia near Florence, Italy.
[B]Frosini denounced the holiday as a "manifestation of neo-paganism" and an expression of American cultural supremacy. "Pumpkins show their emptiness," he said.[/B]
To be sure, Halloween is big business in Europe.
Germans alone spend nearly $170 million, on Halloween costumes, sweets, decorations and parties. The holiday has become increasingly popular in Romania, home to the Dracula myth, where discotheques throw parties with bat and vampire themes.
In Britain, where Halloween celebrations rival those in the United States, it's the most lucrative day of the year for costume and party retailers.
"Without Halloween, I don't think we could exist, to be honest," said Pendra Maisuria, owner of Escapade, a London costume shop that rakes in 30 percent of its annual sales in the run-up to Oct. 31. Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, haven't logged any significant increase in crime.
But not everyone takes such a carefree approach toward the surge in trick-or-treating ââ¬â "giving something sweet or getting something sour," as it's called in German.
In Austria, where many families get a government child allowance, "parents who abuse it to buy Halloween plunder for their kids should be forced to pay back the aid," grumbled Othmar Berbig, an Austrian who backs the small but strident boycott movement.
In Sweden, even as Halloween's popularity has increased, so have views of the holiday as an "unnecessary, bad American custom," said Bodil Nildin-Wall, an expert at the Language and Folklore Institute in Uppsala.
Italy's Papaboys, a group of pope devotees who include some of the young Catholics who cheer wildly at Vatican events, have urged Christians not to take part in what they consider "a party in honor of Satan and hell," and plan to stage prayer vigils nationwide that night.
Don't take it all so seriously, counters Gerald Faschingeder, who heads a Roman Catholic youth alliance in Austria. He sees nothing particularly evil about glow-in-the-dark skeletons, plastic fangs, fake blood, rubber tarantulas or latex scars.
"It's a chance for girls and boys to disguise themselves and have some fun away from loud and demanding adults," Faschingeder said. "For one evening, at least, kids can feel more powerful than grown-ups."
[I]Associated Press reporters Marta Falconi in Rome; Tommy Grandell in Stockholm, Sweden; Jenn Wiant in London, and Matthias Armborst in Duesseldorf, Germany, contributed to this story.[/I][/FONT]
2005-10-27 15:28 | User Profile
[quote=Stanley]It's a Celtic custom. I can understand other Europeans not wanting to adopt it, any more than the Germans would want to adopt the American corruption of their Christmas customs. The German Christmas custom of having a decorated tree in the house was adopted by Americans too. Is it that they don't want us making claim on their customs, or that they have forgotten where these customs originated?
I can understand ,too, not wanting to participate in a pagan custom or having a custom that you closely identify with get taken in and changed by another culture. But these customs are all of European origin brought here by Europeans. To have Europeans get upset over White - Euro - Americans continue these traditions is strange to me.
2005-10-27 16:45 | User Profile
I care more about "tradition" rather than the holidays in itself and the whole anti-holidays, specially Cristmas, began with the Jews that want to kill anything that has to do with Jesus or religions other than their own.
I wonder how long before we start to "celebrate" a Jewish holiday, and then two of them, and then three of them.......and then will start to sacrifice some of our new borns to their "god" of mercy.
Look around to everything bad that is happening in this country and worldwide and you will be able to trace it to "those people".
The count is now over 2,000 americans that die for the Zionist state of Israel, how many more?
2005-10-27 20:22 | User Profile
Ponce, I am personally not that thrilled that you are back here with your tedious blathering, [I]non sequiturs[/I] and [I]reductio ad Judaerums[/I].
Petr
2005-10-27 20:58 | User Profile
In the other hand if this was a "perfect world there would be no Jews to give eveyone a hard time or no Ponce in order to let those people get away with murder.
PS: When I use the word "Jews" I mean the Khazard Zionists European invaders of Palestine that called themselves Jews and not the real Jews per the Bible.
2005-10-27 20:59 | User Profile
This thread is not about Jews, El Bozo.
Petr
2005-10-28 00:20 | User Profile
[quote=Petr] . . . with your tedious blathering, [I]non sequiturs[/I] and [I]reductio ad Judaerums[/I]. Petr
LOL. Witty. :thumbsup: AE
2005-10-31 21:52 | User Profile
I find this utterly stupid. It annoys me to no end when "Christians" rant on about how evil and satanic Halloween is. The truth is that Halloween is actually quite Christian in origins. Here's an interesting commentary on that:
[url]http://www.bellaonline.com/ArticlesP/art14136.asp[/url]
Catholic Christians and Halloween
Being Christians, Catholic Christians, should we celebrate Halloween? Is this "ghosts and goblins, witches and spooks" holiday one we should avoid or is there some value in it for us Christians?
Halloween actually has dual origins. The first being a pre-Christian Celtic feast which is associated with the Celtic New Year. The Christian aspect of the holiday is the second. Pope Gregory IV, in 835, changed the celebration for martyrs (and later all saints) from May 13th to November 1st. All Saints Day is a holy day of obligation where we honor all saints, not just those canonized. Saints and holy people are called "hallowed" in England, thus All Saints Day is known as "All Hallow's Day." The evening before "All Hallow's Eve" or "holy evening." Later this was shortened to "Halloween." All Souls Day is celebrated on November 2nd. The church's reason for these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether canonized or not. We celebrate the "communion of saints," reminding us that the church is truly one and not limited to time or space.
For more about Halloween's origins, read [url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/HALLWEEN.HTM"]Halloween: Its Origins and Celebration[/url] - a very informative article from the EWTN Library.
Another very detailed resource is the article, [url="http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=1230']Ideas for Sanctifying Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day[/url] found on the Catholic Culture website. Author Jennifer Miller gives an outline and time frame for planning a truly Christian Hallowe'en party, a sample invitation, recipes, prayers, as well as a history of All Hallow's Eve and more.
[url="http://www.catholicculture.org/lit/activities/view.cfm?id=913']Halloween or All Hallow's Eve Activities[/url] - also found on Catholic Culture offers a good description of the Christian origin of Halloween and traditions of the holiday.
As Christians we can not only celebrate this holiday, but take advantage of the occasion to educate our children (and even ourselves!) about All Saints Day and All Souls Day by focusing on the Christian origin of October 31st. One idea is to have your children dress up as saints instead of ghosts and witches. Teach them about the saint they've chosen. Together research that saint's life and make their costume. It's a great opportunity to make this a real family affair.
2005-10-31 21:57 | User Profile
I saw on the French News today that in 2000, 70 million dollars were spent on things related to Halloween. In 2005, that figure is now less than 35 million.
2005-11-01 06:24 | User Profile
LOL Xmetalhead -- does that mean a franc buys twice as many dollars as it used to?
Chesterbelloc: I would say Halloween both is and is not a Christian holiday. That is because "Christian" is used ambiguously. Christmas is not a Puritan holiday, and Puritans are Christians, therefore Christmas is not a Christian holiday.
A more interesting question is whether those Christians for whom Halloween is a holiday, and those for whom it is "Satan's {and the Pope's, as if there were a difference} own holiday"--their sentiments, not mine--are ethnically the same, or form an organic nation with one another. For example, we could ask, is Halloween a good Confederate holiday? [this factors out the America==Bourgeoise equation that Europeans like to drag up].
I am merely pointing out the obvious--that various Christian sects hate each others guts. Which of course doesn't sound very Christian. When someone who calls themselves Christian goes after your holidays, you have to wonder why.
2005-11-01 17:19 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Macrobius] Chesterbelloc: I would say Halloween both is and is not a Christian holiday. That is because "Christian" is used ambiguously. Christmas is not a Puritan holiday, and Puritans are Christians, therefore Christmas is not a Christian holiday.
Well considering the fact that Catholicism is the original form of Christianity and its practices pre-date the Puritans by almost a 1000 years; I could argue what the puritans feel is a moot point But either way, Halloween is still basically a Christian-origin holiday.
I am merely pointing out the obvious--that various Christian sects hate each others guts.
I know.