Hello, all:
Ah, Halloween... the time of year when some people suddenly take an interest in Wicca and Paganism in a not-so-good way.
They call Halloween "the Devil's birthday". They accuse non-Christians of sacrificing animals to Satan. They trot out the old "Great God Samhain" myth and make broad accusations about the "evil" that Halloween represents.
All this, I will admit, makes me a little crazy as I try to put out the numerous misinformation fires. Does it do the same to you?
2007-10-30 12:12:06 · 35 answers · asked by prairiecrow 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I too try to put out misinformational fires but it does us no good. People want to see evil where there is non. If gives them something to worry about.
I try to educate where I can. That is my purpose here. Sometimes I find myself having a bit of fun.
I love Halloween for more then one reason. I love to watch the glee on the children as they pick out their costumes, then on the night running to the houses getting the candy.
I love my ritual time after trick or treating, when my son and I do ritual together.
So there is more to my Halloween/Samhain then just putting out misinformational fires here in Yahoo R&S.
Let the Christians have their delusions, there is no real changing their minds anyway. There are those who do listen, and those who don't want to hear.
For those who do listen I thank you. You are what I call true Christians, who have honestly embraced your Gods word and live by it. You are respectful of others beliefs even if they are not your own. You stay hopeful that someday we will come to your beliefs, but do not badger us. You listen to us with respect and hope. For this I thank you.
For the rest of you close minded lot, I feel sorry for you. You will never know the truth of your Gods word. You are too closed minded to truly hear it.
To all here, Happy Samhain, Happy Halloween to other pagans Happy New Year!
Let the craziness commence!
Blessings,
Aviana
2007-10-30 12:32:00 · answer #1 · answered by aviana_snowwolfe 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
No not at all I love this time year.
The only thing that makes me crazy is when certain people try and ruin it for the kids by trying to do away with the halloween costume parade and parties in schools and turning the day into the "Autumn festival". Some this is because now it is known as a Pagan holiday.
I am Pagan and now celebrate Samhain too of course but I also loved the whole trick or treating thing as a kid and also looked forward to the costume parade at my school.
It makes me very disgusted to hear that now some schools will not allow certain costumes because they don't want their kids dresing up as witches, devils, vampires or anything they deem "evil" or violent. Ok I can see not wanting your kid to dress like an ax murder for Halloween but the other stuff is classic.
Let the kids have fun for cryin' out loud and quite messing with my favorite holiday.
2007-10-30 12:59:43 · answer #2 · answered by Leeanen S 1 · 5⤊ 0⤋
What makes me crazy about this time of year are all the TV specials which put forth half-truths, misinterpretations, and sometimes outright non-truths about Halloween, paganism and witchcraft.
But then again, they are catering to the fears and prejudices of the general public which boosts their ratings: the All-mighty Dollar at work again!
It also use to drive my crazy that my sister, a born-again Christian, would hand out little slips of paper to the children on Halloween instead of candy. She was trying to "save" them fro the "horrors" of this "evil night". Fortunately she has come a very long way, and thanks in part to her finally realizing that I am still the same decent person I was "before" becoming a witch, and has learned to be more tolerant.
To my way of thinking, this is the best anyone can do with most people, of whatever faith, to try and bridge the "understanding" gap. Live life as you always have and show by example that the stereotypes we have all grown up with are wrong.
Blessings and a Joyous Samhanin to All!
Dreamsynck
2007-10-31 06:24:47 · answer #3 · answered by Dreamsynck 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It seems that as time goes on these types of accusations fade. In my local newspaper around this time they usually have a human interest story about Witches, usually interviewing someone from the Pagan community in a very good light. Since Witches have "come out of the broomcloset" in such large numbers over the years, I think people have really changed their ideas about Paganism and Witchcraft. My personal experience has been that when people know me and find out I am Pagan, they are very curious and know me well enough to know that I am not an "evil" person. Of course you still have those very evangelical christians that really just think we are tools of the devil and we really don't know what we are doing. Those people are pretty much puppets of their leaders and suffer from blind faith. I can say that over the years I have only had one encounter with a person like this. So yes this time of the year brings alot of questions about our path, but I feel that largely there is more curiosity than hatred.
2007-10-31 03:34:36 · answer #4 · answered by bluedahlia52 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It was the love of Halloween that peaked my interest into Paganism, because of all the negative publicity behind it, it made me want to find out the real story to it all and after learning about it I knew I found my path and haven't looked back since.
The Christians can say what they want about their own holiday, since Halloween is a Christian holiday anyways. To me Halloween is when all the kids come ringing my doorbell for candy, Samhain on the other hand is the ritual time afterwards celebrating the gods and ancestors.
2007-10-30 13:16:32 · answer #5 · answered by Ed 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't worry about other people on Halloween. I believe some things out of the Pagan/Wiccan ideologies and some things from other theologies. I usually think of Halloween as a time when I am closer to the departed family members I miss and I also use it as a time to clear out things I don't like. I do a cleansing ritual and try to get some things in order in my home to create a more sacred space.
I also do the commercial things like make stuff for my daughter's school parties and give out candy.
And the last time I checked, Samhain wasn't an entity but the name of the celebration?
2007-10-30 12:20:56 · answer #6 · answered by wyrdrose 4 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I'm in Canada, and while I run into a couple of intolerant louts (they Are everywhere, after all) they really don't mind paganism up here. Christianity/Catholocism is only 30-someodd % here, and they recognize their place as a minority. They are just more or less equal with the other groups (muslim, pagan, etc)
Also, I'm a fairly sharp empath, and as a result, just generally don't initiate conversation or join a conversation with someone whose energy I dislike. As a result, I almost never am met with criticism anymore.
Except for when I want to test my "idiot-proof" arguments, and find someone with a erm... shallow energy (good word, maybe?) and have fun.
Ha, got one to "sit me down" and carefully explain to me how I was ill and needed therapy. He thought I was delusional when I mentioned it's a very large belief system (wicca-type beliefs, but slightly more general). Talk about naive.
But halloween is always fun.
2007-10-30 19:25:24 · answer #7 · answered by Khana S 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Bad info is bad info. It would drive me crazy even if I wasn't Wiccan. What' really getting to me at the moment is the number of people here who keep insisting that Easter, Christmas and Halloween are pagan either through bad information or the assumption that some connection between two holidays makes them one and the same. At this point I'm actively avoiding those questions because I'm so sick of adressing the same ignorance over and over. I find such behavior generally more offensive to Christians than to myself.
Edit: I find it extremely amusing that the question just above this one is "Is Halloween baby Satan's birthday?"
2007-10-30 12:18:52 · answer #8 · answered by Nightwind 7 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Ignorance always drives me crazy, especially when it could easily be avoided by a little education. But, unfortunately, some people choose to remain ignorant.
It's insulting to hear Samhain called "the devil's birthday," or "the devil's night out." They don't know how ignorant, intolerant, and close-minded they sound when they say it.
I don't understand why people can't take the time to at least try to be a bit more open-minded.
2007-10-30 14:40:38 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I agree... I mean it's difficult enough being part of such an esoteric religion (not that Wicca's not hard to understand... it's just so many people don't know much about it) but... then Halloween comes and then the fundies start thumping their Bibles at us and people start asking about Satanism and Wicca then the fluffies pull out the "Wicca is more ancient than Christianity!" stuff when arguing about things and I see these HORRIBLE "specials" on TV on what I supposedly believe... it's just a crazy time.
But it's worth its weight in candy ^_^
2007-10-30 12:24:29 · answer #10 · answered by xx. 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋