Page 7 of 7 FirstFirst ... 567
Results 61 to 67 of 67

Thread: Do you do any Halloween decorating?

  1. #61
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    From reading a little bit about Halloween it seems that there are three currents involved. First a very old one involving paying tribute to and offering food to various idols, including the warding off of evil spirits this way. Second a Catholic version where people went from door to door asking for soul cakes while praying for the souls of departed loved ones and asking God to bless the house that gave out the soul cakes (plus various related practices including the pumpkin latern representing the souls of the dead). Third, a Christian interpretation of the most original version where the evil entities (witches, ghosts, skeletons etc) are ridiculed in a humorous way because they are in reality powerless because of their powers having been superceded by the power of Christianity (this interpretation may have originated from a transition period from the original interpretation). So there are many aspects and possible interpretations.

    One possible interpretation of the contemporary practice of trick and treating by walking from door to door dressed as a witch, a skeleton or a ghost and demanding candy or else a magical trick will be performed is that this is performed by harmless children who are merely dressing up for fun and have no magical powers, meaning that the whole thing is a mockery of the original thought where the witches, skeletons and ghosts were unseen but still required real offerings in order to ward them and their destructive powers off. This could be seen as a Christian interpretation but it could also be seen as an anti-religious atheistic interpretation where everything religious amounts to powerless superstition. Harmless fun or fascination for something that has roots in evil ? That may be in the eye of the beholder or more precisely, the ones involving themselves with the whole thing.

    An interesting aspect to this is that the corresponding Pagan rituals in Christmas disguise don't appear to involve any component of warding off evil entities or making fun of them, it's just pagan rituals in disguise. Boring traditions, but people perform them. Including pretending that Odin aka Santa puts Christmas gifts into the stockings overnight as he rides the sky.

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by A.J. View Post
    I was involved in the occult before I turned my life over completely to Jesus.

    So I've had deep conviction about not personally doing Halloween, but always make sure I have a chocolate bar for the little kids that may come to the door. We live out in the country, so we MAYBE have had up to 10 kids on a really busy night. My kids didn't go out but I made sure they had candy in their school lunches so they didn't have to answer questions they weren't prepared to answer.

    Santa never came to our house.

    There was no Easter bunny.

    They knew it was all surprises and gifts from their mom and dad.
    we did that with our girls too..

    They had presents from other fictional characters too.. Bunny slippers from the Easter Bunny.. etc, etc.

    We always told them Santa was play pretend.

    I completely understand your aversion to Halloween. And, I'd not try to get you to participate.

    Years ago, a group we were in wanted to do a Halloween party, but there were a few folks who hated it, so we modified it to Insanity On Parade and had decorations from every other holiday.(ask me how difficult it is to find Presidents day in Oct!) We had our dressup party, on Halloween, but the icons from that holiday were not there.

  3. #63
    Senior Member Nikos's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Iowa
    Posts
    12,927
    Thanked: 7617
    Blog Entries
    49
    Santa never came to our house.
    Somebody has been naughty. Remember he is keeping a list. Just sayin'

  4. #64
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    Quote Originally Posted by Nikos View Post
    Somebody has been naughty. Remember he is keeping a list. Just sayin'
    They probably forgot to put out milk and cookies as offerings. Idols don't like to be robbed of their food on Christmas and Hallowmas.

    Here's someone who is more in line with the original offerings of straw, sugar and carrots for the idol's steed :


  5. #65
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    14,487
    Thanked: 5793
    The worst commercial witches today are not the witches of Halloween. Those are dressed old and look old, are made to look ugly precisely to represent their inner ugliness and they travel on a broomstick which is a joke. The worst ones, including from the old days are the ones made to look beautiful and powerful like they make the sexualized red devil to look like today. Like the witch in red from Carl Barks' comic strip, though that one is still fairly innocent. The very worst ones may be the ones where children or adolescents are being or trying to become witches and there is a touch of women's lib involved and a lot of fascination for magical powers. And a slight touch of the old witchy ugliness as if that is a small price that you have to pay for getting the good stuff. They dress well, look beautiful, wield magical powers and travel astrally. They are masters or mistresses of witchcraft at the age of 15. They even chant verbatim quotes of old spells used by actual witches. They are more in line with the original version of witches where people took most of the food they had to live on and gave it to the local witch who then kept what she needed then burnt the rest as an offering to the higher gods. Then cast destructive spells at those who couldn't afford to or simply dared to not give her enough. Have I met people like that except for the mentioned online character ? Oh yeah. Not in the West though, those weren't that bad.

  6. #66
    No. .... My wife will decorate with falll themes and colors.

    Don't want ANYTHING orange around my house. We are University of South Carolina fans and our colors are garnet and black. Our biggest in state rival is Clemson and their colors are purple and orange. I refuse to wear anything orange except for a hunter-orange hat when I am in the woods pursuing whitetail deer, and then only because state law and hunting regulations demand it for safety reasons.

    Seriously, ...

    We do not celebrate Hallowween. Our kids NEVER went trick-o-treating. We always provided fun, games, and lots of candy for them with church celebrations. We do a fall or harvest celebration at church but do not encourage evil costumes. On the 31st, my wife and I usually turn all the lights out and go to a movie.

    Halloween is serious business. When you play with the Devil, you will be caught in his clutches. I participated with the occult during my teenage years and KNOW that it is not anything to play with. I am appalled that many who name the name of Christ are so blind and callous to introduce their children to witches and demons under the guise of just having fun.

  7. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Ari For This Useful Post:

    Lively Stone (10-21-2015), Romans828 (10-21-2015)

  8. #67
    Senior Member Lively Stone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    252
    Thanked: 267
    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    I've already seen some major displays in people's front yards and on their porches along with pumpkins galore. So do you usually do anything special this month? Carve a pumpkin? String some lights? Anything?
    Not a thing, thank God!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
You can mitigate major repair costs with an extended service plan for your Jaguar. Many vehicle repairs can cost thousands of dollars in surprise expense, now is the time to consider an extended service plan for your vehicle.