Halloween is my favorite holiday!~

[G.T.]

Im more educated than you dear, unless you just play a drooling hate-filled loon on the internet.

 

[koshergrl]

Sure you are!

You're so educated that you throw a tantrum over whether or not Halloween is a holiday (it is not)...

So what was your costume? Did you give a lot of little kids candy?

How exciting!

 

[G.T.]

Throw a tantrum over it? Youre the one sniveling in my thread ya fuggin nerd.

And btw no ive posted my pic here a lot of times, unlike you hiding by your slovenly hideousness. I am a confirmed adonis. You? Well, you behave like a ratchet hoe but we can only speculate.

 

[koshergrl]

Lolol...you sound super eddicated there, adonis.

 

[G.T.]

Keep swinging up, mothballs. Bet you have wallpaper in your house with wagons, barns and straw on it. Sick bastard.

 

[koshergrl]

Another brilliant rejoinder! Way to flaunt your superior education!

Color me impressed!

 

[Steven_R]

Whatever Halloween originally was, whatever its origins and pagan connections, it has evolved to just mean costume parties, Trick or Treat and candy for kids, and a general excuse to have a good time. Why can't the God Squad leave it at that?

 

[syrenn]

It's a cultural observance. Not a holiday. For one thing it isn't even a day. It's a couple of hours in the evening.

Consider the source. Koshergrrrrrr thinks a holiday is defined by "getting off".

It is an ancient holy-day, and ran from sunset 10/31 to sunset 11/1. See post 2.
And I don't know what your experience is but I've seen people dressed up and going "Happy Hallowe'en" all day.

It's not an ancient holy day, you moron. It's the EVE of a holy day, i.e., ALL SAINTS DAY.

And it's not a holiday. I understand you want to change the definition of *holiday* to allow you to pretend that dressing up like a vampire and scaring little kids is some sort of imporant observance, but the truth is, neither the definition of "holiday" or even the actuality of Halloween observance in our country, makes this little fright fest a *holiday*.

Give up, dingbat.

it IS an ancient holiday.... it was a pagan holiday.

the christians had to ride its coat tails and to try an usurp it by adding all saints day the following day....

 

[Papageorgio]

I too love Halloween. It's meant for fun and nothing else. Kids used to rule Halloween but more and more it's becoming an adult holiday, much like St. Patrick's Day.

I've met at least one family that eschews everything Halloween. They are deeply religious, or so they say. So their kids don't dress up and canvass the neighborhood for candy. No parties with bobbing for apples and glazed donuts washed down with apple cider, no jack-o-lanterns. Think of that part of your own childhood and then think of it being ripped out by parents who read the bible differently from everyone else. What a pity.

My only problem with Halloween is the out-of-town trick-or-treaters. I live right where Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio meet. While I live in the Buckeye State, I watch each Halloween as POS pick up trucks and mini vans with out of state plates drop off kids a dozen at a time. Because my home is on a corner in a neighborhood that has large, well maintained homes sitting cheek to jowl along our notoriously steep hillsides, I get to see the out of state invaders as they come ashore. "You do this street and the next one over and I'll meet you at the stop light!" called one West Virginia mom as her kids tumbled out of the bed of her rusty pick up truck.

My message is: "Hey Gomer! Let your kids work your trailer park! My neighborhood is already crawling with kids who live here!"

Another nut job, criticize people for not celebrating and then be an asshole about sharing your candy with kids.

Actually he's complaining about immigrants. Thought you'd be sympathetic with that.

Why would I be sympathetic? You seem to generalize a lot.

 

[tinydancer]

I have a hard time with Halloween because I just love it to death but I'm wondering you know on the evil side how bad this is when you live to decorate.

And all you can do is envision that $79.99 giant blow up black cat that moves and growls from Wal Mart in your front yard scaring the living shit out of your neighbor's chichi.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Even wiktard acknowledges it:

"
Why is Halloween not a holiday?


Answer:

because its not the true reloign of the united states
I am a different person than who wrote the above:
This is not true- it is technically an unofficial holiday. The United States does not have a specific denomination of religion."

Though the answer is incoherent, as most of wikis masses of contributors and slavish followers are, even the wiktards recognize it's not a holiday.

And it makes them MAD!

Why is Halloween not a holiday

So even though any uniformed tard can post on Wiki and most of the posts are incorrect, this true because you want it to be.

Let me clue you in - the US doesn't have any official religion.

Hey, if its good enough for Ran Paul to plagiarize, its good enough for rw's to quote from.

 

[Pogo]

It's a cultural observance. Not a holiday. For one thing it isn't even a day. It's a couple of hours in the evening.

Consider the source. Koshergrrrrrr thinks a holiday is defined by "getting off".

It is an ancient holy-day, and ran from sunset 10/31 to sunset 11/1. See post 2.
And I don't know what your experience is but I've seen people dressed up and going "Happy Hallowe'en" all day.

It's not an ancient holy day, you moron. It's the EVE of a holy day, i.e., ALL SAINTS DAY.

And it's not a holiday. I understand you want to change the definition of *holiday* to allow you to pretend that dressing up like a vampire and scaring little kids is some sort of imporant observance, but the truth is, neither the definition of "holiday" or even the actuality of Halloween observance in our country, makes this little fright fest a *holiday*.

Give up, dingbat.

It must be blissful to employ one's personal dictionary, but......

holiday (n.) Look up holiday at Dictionary.com
1500s, earlier haliday (c.1200), from Old English haligdæg "holy day; Sabbath," from halig "holy" (see holy) + dæg "day" (see day); in 14c. meaning both "religious festival" and "day of recreation," but pronunciation and sense diverged 16c. As a verb meaning "to pass the holidays" by 1869. (OED)

Hmm... nothing about "getting off". Damn.


Must be bliss to be independent of linear time too.....

>> Samhain

While the exact start date of Halloween is unknown, it can be traced to the Gaelic festival of Samhain. The festival marks the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter, or the darker half of the year. Pagans celebrated from sunset on 31 October through to sunset on 1 November.

Samhain is mentioned in early Irish literature, from around the 4th century, and has pre-Christian roots.

During Samhain, cattle were brought in from summer pastures and livestock was slaughtered in preparation for winter. It was also thought that spirits could more easily enter our world during this time, so offerings of food and drink were made to them.

Pagans believed the souls of the dead revisited their homes and feasts were held where deceased relatives were invited. Costumes were also worn and Celts would tell one another's fortunes.

Christianity

In the 8th century, in an effort to stop the pagan festival, Pope Boniface IV announced that 1 November would be All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day. The evening before became All Hallows Eve. {poster note- should read 7th century}

All Saints Day was intended to be a day where Christian saints and martyrs were honoured.

The church tried to Christianise the festival but people continued to celebrate on 31 October with bonfires, costumes and other pagan festivities.

Over centuries, as Christianity took over as the dominant belief, the old pagan festival became shrouded in superstition. Fear of paganism was installed by the Church and people began to see All Hallows Eve as involving demons, witchcraft and necromancy.

Middle Ages

The practice of trick or treating can be traced back to Halloween in the Middle Ages through the practice of "souling". In this tradition, which dates to the 15th century, Christians were called on to bake and share cakes. Groups of poor people, often including children, would go from door to door during this time collecting soul cakes in return for prayers.

In the UK in the 16th century, during the Reformation, some Protestants said that honouring the dead during All Hallows Eve was wrong and that souls could not journey from purgatory to heaven, therefore any ghosts must be evil and threatening.

There was also widespread belief in witchcraft during the Middle Ages and up to 100,000 women were killed after being accused of being witches.

19th Century

Irish immigrants brought Halloween with them to the US in the 1800s and the celebration boomed with the Irish-American population.

Puritans in New England maintained a strong opposition to the festival, with most outlawing it saying it is evil and satanic in nature - despite the Church introducing it to Christianity centuries earlier. {poster note- they outlawed Christmas there too}

Despite their opposition, Halloween broke the confines of immigrant communities over the 19th century until it became part of mainstream society. << -- History of Halloween: From Celtic Beginnings to Commercial Goldmine

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>> Pagan Progenitor

Halloween's origins date back more than 2,000 years. On what we consider November 1, Europe's Celtic peoples celebrated their New Year's Day, called Samhain (SAH-win). On Samhain eve&#8212;what we know as Halloween&#8212;spirits were thought to walk the Earth as they traveled to the afterlife. Fairies, demons, and other creatures were also said to be abroad. (See pictures of crypts and catacombs.)


Celtic Costumes

In addition to sacrificing animals to the gods and gathering around bonfires, Celts often wore costumes&#8212;probably animal skins&#8212;to confuse spirits, perhaps to avoid being possessed, according to the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress. By wearing masks or blackening their faces, Celts are also thought to have impersonated dead ancestors. Young men may have dressed as women and vice versa, marking a temporary breakdown of normal social divisions.

In an early form of trick-or-treating, Celts costumed as spirits are believed to have gone from house to house engaging in silly acts in exchange for food and drink&#8212;a practice inspired perhaps by an earlier custom of leaving food and drink outdoors as offerings to supernatural beings. (Beyond Halloween 2013: more on the first Halloween costumes.)


Christian Influence on Halloween

Samhain was later transformed as Christian leaders co-opted pagan holidays. In the seventh century Pope Boniface IV decreed November 1 All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day. The night before Samhain continued to be observed with bonfires, costumes, and parades, though under a new name: All Hallows' Eve&#8212;later "Halloween." << (National Geographic)

-- watch her neg me for posting known history...again


In other news, you'd better sit down for this -- some believe the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa

 

[pacer]

In other news, you'd better sit down for this -- some believe the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa

Answer 3:

How do we know that the Earth revolves around the Sun? To be honest, we don't. Before Copernicus, Westerners believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe and that the Sun revolved around the Earth, as did the stars and the planets. The Sun, however, does not merely rise in the east and set in the west. You can see for yourself that the Sun only rises directly in the east on the equinoxes: at all other times of the year, it rises in the northeast (summer) or southeast (winter). Also, the Sun moves with respect to the stars: the Sun wanders through the 12 constellations of the zodiac, coming back to its starting point after 1 year.

The complicated motion of the Sun forced the ancients to develop a very complicated model of the Sun orbiting the Earth. Eventually people realized that all the motions of the Sun could be explained very simply with

A) the Earth rotating on a tilted axis once every 24 hours and,

B) the Earth orbiting the Sun once per year.

You are right that you are free to choose the "center" of your universe wherever you like. However, the explanation you will have to come with for the motions of the stars and planets may become so horribly complicated that you may wish you had chosen a more natural place to be your center. So basically, we say the Earth goes around the Sun because it's much, much easier than the other way around.

Questions: If you wanted to say that the Sun orbited the Earth once every 24 hours, what other motions would you have to add to make it set in the northeast in the summer and the southeast in the winter? At the North Pole, the sun NEVER sets during the summer -- it just circles around the sky, fairly close to the horizon. How would this be explained by the Sun circling the Earth?

UCSB Science Line sqtest

 

[Pogo]

Thank you, Captain Miss-the-Point.

 

[Pogo]

"Much further out than inevitable..

Halloween's my game...

Sky King has come, and Wilma's done,

Uncertain as it is uneven.

Give us today hors d'oeuvres in bed,

And give us back our truss wrappers

As we forgive those who have dressed up against us.

And need us not enter inflation,

Butter liver, onions and potatoes...

For wine is a shingle, and a mower

And a story for your father."

(Adapted from John Hartford's The Lowest Pair)

I am only a messenger...

 

[syrenn]

 

[G.T.]

Wtf is a truss wrapper though

 

[Pogo]

Wtf is a truss wrapper though

(didn't think I could answer that, didja )

Haven't you ever seen those signs: "POSTED - NO TRUSS WRAPPING"?

​

 

[Pogo]

Interesting found-object blog:

>> In Wales, 1 November, the first day of winter, was called Calan Gaeaf. Much of the frightful aspect that we associate with Halloween arose from Galan Gaeaf traditions. The image of Y Hwch Ddu Gwta, a black sow without a tail, accompanied by a headless woman, that would together roam the countryside, terrified everyone on Galan Gaeaf when the best place to be was inside your house in front of a roaring fire. The tradition of Coelcerth involved building fires and placing name stones:

From Lunatic Outpost: &#8220;Home, home, let each try to be first. May the tail-less black sow take the hindmost&#8221; (Celtic chant for Samhain)

Before dawn, huge bonfires were lit on the hillsides, often two or three within sight of each other. It was a great honor to have your bonfire burn longest and great pains were taken to keep them alight. While apples and potatoes were thrown into the fires for roasting, the watchers would dance around or leap through the flames for good luck. Stones were thrown into the fire; then, when the flames died down, everyone would run for home to escape the clutches of the Hwch ddu gwta. The next morning, at daybreak, searchers would try to find their stones. Those who succeeded would be guaranteed good luck for the coming year. If you could not find your stone, then bad luck or even death would follow.

And here is more on hazelnuts: &#8220;Hazel nuts were also used in matrimonial divination. Two groups of &#8220;Sweetheart&#8221; hazel nuts were placed within the hearth fire; one group was marked with the names of the village&#8217;s eligible maidens, and the other with the eligible bachelors. As the nuts popped, the names of the pairs were romantically linked. On a more somber note, people sometimes placed a hazelnut with their initials on them in the hearth fire. If the nuts were missing the next morning, the unlucky person would not survive the year. Hazel is a sacred tree in Irish and Scottish mythology. In Ireland, nine hazel trees grew around the Well of Segais, where the sacred Salmon lived. This was the source of all wisdom. Using hazel nuts at Samhain availed seers of that sacred wisdom.&#8221; <<

 

[Abishai100]

Halloween is the time of dressing up like fascinating characters. We feel blessed by such characters as if they are condoning us dressing up like them.

Halloween is oddly psychotic yet strangely sane.

We never talk about Halloween when we talk about paganism or the occult, since the festival has been so colloquialized in culture.

It's almost as if Halloween has legalized zaniness.