i honestly dont understand people that celebrate Christmas, the "supposed" day of Jesus' birth, celebrate halloween, the devils day. It makes NO sense at all! I personally dont celebrate either traditionally on my own. yea i go to grandma's for christmas an still go to church, but i dont participate in the pagan traditions...tree, lights...etc And as for halloween! I scorn it! Why would i want to dress like a demon or idol an walk around threatening people to GIVE me food that will defile my body by making it fat and unhealthy an actually call this stupidity fun?! anyways, if you have an opinion or answer...lemme' know.
2007-10-01 06:32:51 · 39 answers · asked by Becka 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
Firstly, All Hallows Eve is not the devils day, get your facts straight!
In ancient Britain this date was the pre-Christian eve of the New Year and Celtic Harvest Festival, when the souls of the dead were thought to revisit their homes to eat and drink. People left refreshments on the table and unlocked their doors before retiring for the night, then bells were rung, fires lit to guide the returning souls back to earth and animals were brought in for the winter.
After Hallowe'en became a Christian festival, supernatural associations continued to thrive. It was believed that witches were abroad and that it was possible for certain people to perform magic and summon up spirits. Torches (made from cabbage stalks and bundles of dried heather dipped in grease) were carried and spells were chanted, in the hope that souls condemned to purgatory (from Purgatory Field, Poulton & Purgatory Farm at Weston, Lancashire) would find some relief.
Hallowe'en was also a time for rituals and divination, when nuts were roasted by young women and apple pips scattered on hot coals - the behaviour of the pips indicating the temperament of their future spouses. Fortunes were told with apples and cabbages; children bobbed for apples in tubs of water; girls combed their hair three times before a mirror in the hope of seeing their future husbands; and lanterns were made from swedes and turnips (gouged out to form a face with a grinning mouth), then kept alight from from dusk until dawn.
Hallowe'en was once a time for making mischief - many parts of England still recognise this date as Mischief Night - when children would knock on doors demanding a treat (Trick or Treat) and people would disguise themselves as witches, ghosts, kelpies and spunkies, in order to obtain food and money from nervous householders. In certain parts of England youths still play pranks on their neighbours by hiding garden ornaments, whitewashing walls and ringing doorbells in the dead of night.
There are a great many local traditions associated with 31st October. For instance, Hallowe'en is known as Dookie Apple Night in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the local children parade through the streets carrying traditional turnip lanterns. Then in Somerset's Hinton St George, where punkies (Hallowe'en lanterns) are carved from mangel-wurzels on the last Thursday in November (Punky Night), children go through the streets singing. When they knock on doors they receive either money or a candle from the householder. This custom is believed to have originated when the women of the village walked to nearby Chriselborough Fair with punkies to light their way, and from there dragged their drunken husbands home.
Hallowe'en, like many other ancient festivals, has always provided an excellent excuse for eating and drinking. At one time, Mash o' Nine Sorts, with a ring concealed within, would be served to unmarried guests - whoever found it would next be married. Then of course, Toffee Apples are still extremely popular and Hallowe'en Cakes are sometimes still baked in the North of England on what is known there as Cake Day.
2007-10-01 06:35:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
Halloween isn't the Devils day. Originally it was called Samhain, the Celtic New Year. Sometimes called The Day of the Dead it was believed that this world and the next were very close on that day and people would celebrate their ancestors and leave food for wandering spirits at the roadside. It was a time of magic and this has filtered down into modern culture as ghosts, witches and the like.
Being a Pagan festival it had nothing at all to do with the Devil, as that is a Christian thing. The name of Halloween is derived from All Hallows Eve which precedes All Saints day - a Christian festival.
Christmas too is originally Pagan - called Yuletide. The Romans celebrated their own version at this time - Saturnalia. So neither festival is Christian at all.
If you don't like Samhain then that's okay, it's your choice. I like it though. By the way, Easter was a Pagan festival too and May Day was Beltane, so you might want to avoid those as well.
2007-10-01 06:48:42 · answer #2 · answered by Nexus6 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
People celebrate Christmas and Halloween for the same reason, they're in it for the gifts. No one remembers "Jesus" on the 25th. No one actually conjures the spirits on Halloween.
It's not about the actual candy, it's about the friends you go out with on Halloween that makes it fun. I don't know your age, but if you're under eighteen, get a big group together and go out and just have a blast. I usually just gave my candy anyway, since I'm not a fan.
Christmas is much the same way. You get gifts. Score! No one realizes that it use to be a Pagan holiday, or that the date of the birth of Jesus coincides with pretty much every other accounted prophet!
So they're both commercial holidays now... that's why people celebrate both. Because most people aren't really Christians, cause if you really believed in a Supreme Being, I would think that most wouldn't act the way they do.
2007-10-01 06:38:35 · answer #3 · answered by burton160w 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Some celebrate some don't. But many Christians do celebrate both Christmas and Halloween. And I did some reading and I came across that Halloween is actually a Christian holiday.
2016-05-18 01:44:50 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, you really do need/ want to be re-educated....your not the brightest spark in the fire are you. Christmas was/is called Yuletide and is/was a pagan celebration...still is to this day....has nothing to do with jesus's birthday, cos jesus was not born in December. Historical fact. And Hallowe'en? Where do you get devils day from? Hallowe'en has nothing what so ever to do with the christian conception etc. of the devil. Hallowe'en was originally call Samhain and is above all else the celtic New Year....apart from ceremonies of honouring the ancestors that went before....nothing nasty or fattening in that. As for threatening people....wake up and smell the coffee. Threats are made all year round not just on one night of the year. I am only to pleased to celebrate Yule...the suns birthday....and Sanhain, to honour the ancestors...i do still have respect for the ancesors that went before. and trick or treat is for the little ones to enjoy, parties etc.. But if you don't want to do all that and have fun and enjoyment in the process, please stand to one side as you say you already have done and let even more people celebrate. cheers.
2007-10-01 07:19:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
wow that's a fucked of perspective do you look at the entire world that way too, you're very uptight and closed minded and don't forget judgemental,losen up that's what these times are for. so ur critisizing pagans to be bad ppl, whatever have pagans done to you, alot of my friends are pagans and their the nicest you can meet thet don't believe in harming others, and they have nothing against other religions at all and I'm personally agnostic and I'm the same . Don't be so negative to the pagans, and work on being a better christian in that area.
Chrismas is now more of a time for giving and positivity, and you get and give gifts, but almost everyone celebrates christmas. exept for the ones who celebrate haunikka and quanza. so nobody thinks or even and know about how it's "pagan". people enjoy it because it's a holliday geared towards positivity and you have a nice meal with the family, open presents, give presents,decorate the tree with lights and ornaments and put the angel on the tree or the star, representing the one that led the 3 kings to jesus. and for holloween it's my favorite, but what do you mean by "demon and Idol" like that's the only thing your suposed to wear like the pupose of this holliday is to be evil, I gate to burst you bubble of hat but it's not at all it's all about fun and cheap thrills, and when I say cheap thrills (what you go to carnivals for) I mean by the haunted houses and scary movies. It's fun to dress up in a costume like a cowboy or princess and be creative, and go to different houses and great them in in a friendly with the old traditional non-threatening humorous phrase of "trick-or-treat" and they happily give you candy (which is pretty good you should try it) with a smile on theif face commenting on the costumes remembering the fun they had as a child doing that to have fun on holloween, it just shows the generousity and honesty in the world and kindness to others, just gives you good feeling inside that the world isn't a bad of a place like some make it out to be just brings poeple and the community together, and candy doesn't "defile your body" unless you eat only that everyday, it's all about taking a break from the everyday routines in life and have fun, by eating alot of candy and dressing up crazy. I'm looking forward to halloween so I can do just that. I'm 19 so I'm going to dress up as either a hot genie,pirite or playboy bunny,snowhite,cleopatra,nurse betty..and they're all sexy looking, this is the adult halloween, girls can dress like that and no one could say they are a **** because it's halloween you where a costume dress in non-everyday clothes as something else like a pirate or nurse, because I'm neither of those lol and in my costume I'm going to the bar to have fun with friends and see what cool ideas of costume you came up with or how pretty they look. and I'll prolly later crash a party, so how bad of a person now for that?
2007-10-01 07:34:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you don't like someone to disagree with you don't read on.
Christmas is great and full of tradition and it is what you make of it.
Halloween has been beaten up by critics it makes one wonder what all the fear mongering is about.
One school has even banned it. Give it a rest it isn't evil it is just another holiday tradition especially enjoyed by kids and adults who like to have fun too.
Time is better spent on complaining about the people in power, like some politicians in the world.
It is just plain evil how they waste tax payers money and can't see beyond their next pay hike.
So why this trend to pick on the holidays. Is there nothing else bad out there. Be happy for others there's no evil there, you don't have to celebrate but leave others who do celebrate alone.
We are fed up being told what to like and not like.
2007-10-01 07:11:17 · answer #7 · answered by Vash 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because they are both pre-christian festivals. Most European cultures had some sort of drunken feast around the winter solstice.These celebrations are more cultural markers for the turning of the seasons than religious festivals.
The candy is kind of a recent thing, It used to be the time of year they slaughtered the livestock for the winter, hence the association with death. Halloween has Celtic roots (Samhain). And yes, Christmas is totally Pagan. Jesus was meant to have been born six months after passover, which would be mid September-ish. It's a lot more to do with the Roman 'Saturnalia', where they exchanged gifts, declared goodwill to all men etc.
And I love both of them.
2007-10-01 06:54:53 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's part of an old tradition from countries that surround the old druid nation. (lower England and parts of Spain) In order to get people to convert, missionaries would incorporate the people's traditions into Christianity, sometimes redefining what the tradition originally means.
The idea of Halloween in Spain is a day to honor ancestors, not a day to extort people for candy. Also, dressing up like gouls and ghosts are becomming highly unfashionable, and it's become more of a costume party day. Dress up is fun for kids, and if everyone else is dressing up on the same day, it makes it even more fun.
You don't have to celebrate, you don't even have to come out of your house. Just hang a note on your door that says, "no candy" and they'll be happy to skip your house.
2007-10-01 06:42:44 · answer #9 · answered by Xanadu 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Halloween is not the devils day. Who told you this? It's not celebrating anything uless you celebrate The Day of the Dead. (Which isn't satanic either. It's a way for people to remember loved ones who have passed) Halloween is just for fun. Why don't you just keep quiet about things like this because most normal people enjoy Halloween.
2007-10-01 07:43:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because they both originated as pagan holidays that are very important to people.
Halloween is the pagan holiday that acknowledges the passage into death. We are supposed to engage our fears and face them, bringing them to light and making them less frightening. It has nothing to do with the Christian devil.
Christmas has its origins in Yule, which celebrates the light in the darkest time of the year. It celebrates life, hope, giving, caring, family, and community. Most people know Jesus was NOT born in the winter, but he represents the general theme of Yule so the celebration takes place at that time.
What you've got to understand about this, is that these themes are universal human concepts that don't belong to any one religion. They are for all people, and so all people like to celebrate them.
2007-10-01 06:45:17 · answer #11 · answered by KC 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋