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Posted by Tess Understandable! But then again, you're not Pagan. :-) (Or if you are, email me -- we gotta talk, Aunty!!) Actually, I celebrate both Halloween and Samhain -- one being the spooky/fun costume holiday, the other being the more somber end-of-harvest seasonal celebration. I know plenty of non-Pagans who don't like the "darker" aspects of Halloween, and I know plenty of Pagans who can't stand the lighthearted "Halloween" aspects of Samhain. Honestly, I like both, and incorporate both into my personal celebrations of this season. Now, if the friends of yours who consider this a Pagan holiday aren't Pagans themselves... that is, if they're Christians who are disturbed by the holiday and don't think it should be celebrated because it is "pagan"... then I must completely disagree with their position. Yes, Halloween has "pagan origins." (So do all our major holidays, including Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving which is a slightly misplaced Harvest celebration. The names of the days of the week have "pagan origins," and so on and so on...) But I don't know why "origins" of a holiday ought to be that important. What someone may or may not have done on such-and-such a day 3,000 years ago...or what significance your weird neighbor may attach to it...well, so what? It seems to me that a holiday is what you make it. If it has religious significance to you, it does. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. Just as an American atheist (or Buddhist or what have you) might celebrate the secular forms of Christmas, gift giving for example, I see no reason a devout Christian can't celebrate Halloween as a secular holiday without getting "tainted by the dark side," or some such nonsense. I once read an article in a Christian magazine saying that people (even good Christians) who put pumpkins and corn on their porches in autumn are actually worshipping the old pagan harvest goddesses like Demeter and Persephone. (!) Well, this concept of "accidental worship" is absurd. By definition, worship involves *intent* of some kind. How in the world can you accidentally worship gods you don't know anything about and don't even believe in? It's pure superstition for Christians to worry about this kind of thing, in my opinion. Besides, there weren't any pumpkins or maize in ancient Greece anyway. ;-) Tess P.S. Kiss my cousins for me -- I love you all too!
Link: http://midnight-muse.com/1demeter.htm
on November 5, 2002, 10:25 pm
Message modified by board administrator November 5, 2002, 10:38 pm
<< Halloween, to me, is a day to be taken lightly... a night to dress up and have fun with it - period. >>
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