The Halloween Thread

[OakTree500]

Halloween, with its religious connotations shouldn't be celebrated by atheists anyway FFS.
Its silly notions are diametrically opposed to the tenets of atheism, as it supports the
supposed existence of spiritual beings.

October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day begins the
3-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the Christian liturgical year that's
dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (the "hallows") and all the
departed faithful.

    

In saying that, and I agree somewhat, my parents are members of a proper "spiritual" church and they often boycott halloween because of its "dark connotations", or more specifically that they think it's unholy or whatever.

They often host a "light party" instead and encourage kids to dress up as non scary things. The whole thing is pretty funny when you take into consideration it's a christian tradition 

[Alan V]

Halloween, with its religious connotations shouldn't be celebrated by atheists anyway FFS.
Its silly notions are diametrically opposed to the tenets of atheism, as it supports the
supposed existence of spiritual beings.

While I'm no fan of Halloween, do you have a good book I can read on the tenets of atheism?  I obviously need to brush up.  

[Chas]

Because it's my favorite holiday.

Which one is you? 

[Chas]

Halloween, with its religious connotations shouldn't be celebrated by atheists anyway FFS.
Its silly notions are diametrically opposed to the tenets of atheism, as it supports the
supposed existence of spiritual beings.

October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day begins the
3-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the Christian liturgical year that's
dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (the "hallows") and all the
departed faithful.

    

If the penny didn't drop for you:  All Hallows' Eve -> All Hallow Even -> Hallow Even -> Halloween

[EvieTheAvocado]

I fucking hate halloween.

Here's how to correctly answer the door to trick or treaters:

[EvieTheAvocado]

Personally, I never answer the door on Halloween.

I buy a bunch of candy from my local shop on Halloween, every year, and I take it all home and scoff it all myself.

[EvieTheAvocado]

I've never celebrated Halloween either. As OakTree says it's not a big thing in the UK.

Hmmm .... odd. I've lived in the UK all my life, and I've lived down South, in the Midlands, the North West and the North East ... and there's always skeletons outside, pumpkins in all the shops, people dressing up as monsters and witches and skeletons and whatnot, and kids knocking the door ... trick or treating. And everybody besides the scrooges, like myself, goes out to buy candy for the kids ... even if they don't have kids themselves.

Maybe it's not as hyped up as in America but I wouldn't say it wasn't a big thing over here.

Now, Thanksgiving, that is not a big thing over here, lol. Insomuch as it's not a thing at all over here lol.

[jerry mcmasters]

I've never celebrated Halloween either. As OakTree says it's not a big thing in the UK.

Hmmm .... odd. I've lived in the UK all my life, and I've lived down South, in the Midlands, the North West and the North East ... and there's always skeletons outside, pumpkins in all the shops, people dressing up as monsters and witches and skeletons and whatnot, and kids knocking the door ... trick or treating. And everybody besides the scrooges, like myself, goes out to buy candy for the kids ... even if they don't have kids themselves.

Maybe it's not as hyped up as in America but I wouldn't say it wasn't a big thing over here.

Now, Thanksgiving, that is not a big thing over here, lol. Insomuch as it's not a thing at all over here lol.

Thanksgiving isn't quite the "fuck you England" holiday July 4th is, but it's close, so no surprise there!

[Smercury44]

I’m not a huge fan of haloween. Fall is my favorite season so I do like the time of year. My neighborhood isn’t great for trick or treating. I usually just hide away in my basement and shut off the lights upstairs.  I have some friends that throw a Halloween party every year and I always dread having to find a costume.

I did have one fun Halloween. I was about 17 and had a boyfriend who LOVED the holiday. I bought a cheap nightgown from Walmart, covered it in some fake blood, a bit of makeup and messy hair to be an undead murder victim or something

I stayed propped up against the tree like that until little kids came up to the house, then kind of zombie crawled towards them as they came up the walk. I scared a few kids so bad they wouldn’t come up to the house at one point I was propped up against the tree, a cop car drove by. They immediately reversed, stopped to ask if I was ok and then left again.

[Dancefortwo]

I like you Phaedrus but it's August for chrissakes! I'm enjoying beautiful, warm weather here. I like Halloween too but let me live in this season and in this moment.  Thanks.

[Phaedrus]

[TheGulegon]

I like you Phaedrus but it's August for chrissakes! I'm enjoying beautiful, warm weather here. I like Halloween too but let me live in this season and in this moment.  Thanks.

Now just who said you can't live in this moment, in this season, while dressed like a cereal killer?

Show ContentSpoiler:

[Mark]

God, those heavy days have got to be a bitch!


I'm not much into Halloween but I do have one of my dog Heidi Rose that is the best I have to offer.  She looks normal enough in the day time ..




But at night something eerie happens to those with heterochromatic eyes:

Show ContentSpoiler:

[EvieTheAvocado]

I like you Phaedrus but it's August for chrissakes! I'm enjoying beautiful, warm weather here. I like Halloween too but let me live in this season and in this moment.  Thanks.

Now just who said you can't live in this moment, in this season, while dressed like a cereal killer?

Show ContentSpoiler:

I know a dude who became a cereal killer. It's after he had a mini-meltdown after somebody ruined his James Bond DVDs:



Terrible video quality ... but it was uploaded in 2007.

[OakTree500]

I've only just remembered, talking about Halloween gives me the excuse to post this:



Sound on for best enjoyment 

[Phaedrus]

[jerry mcmasters]

I like you Phaedrus but it's August for chrissakes! I'm enjoying beautiful, warm weather here. I like Halloween too but let me live in this season and in this moment.  Thanks.

Ah Summer.  Six months just isn't enough, wish this beautiful 107 degree weather could last forever...!

[Phaedrus]

Even little kittens like dressing up for Halloween.

[Tres Leches]

Halloween for me a basically a day where my kid transfers loads of candy from other parent's homes to my home, thus supporting my sugar habit. Alas, I'm not sure if she will transfer candy trick or treat this year because she's getting older. 

I do like the fall season, though. All the pumpkin spice flavored food - I went nuts on that last year and I'll be on the prowl for it again this year.

The real fun for me with undead holidays is Dia de Los Muertos.

-Teresa

[grympy]

A lot of the costumes are great. Not sure about the kid in blackface.

We didn't have halloween when I was a kid. It seems to have insinuated itself into Oz by osmosis in recent years. I'm pretty much indifferent, it's by no means universally celebrate here. Households which are participating tend to indicate by say having say black balloons or a broomstick at their front door. Last year I thought a neighbour had been vandalised. Turned out it was meant to be cobwebs.

I'ma grumpy old fart who dislikes children, so do not participate.

Have alway found it mildly amusing that Christians are celebrating a significant pagan festival.

[Phaedrus]

Alas, I'm not sure if she will transfer candy trick or treat this year because she's getting older. 

When they no longer go trick or treating, do they attend Halloween parties?

[brewerb]

In my cheap ass broke college days I went dressed similar to this guy but with much less attention to detail.

[Tres Leches]

Alas, I'm not sure if she will transfer candy trick or treat this year because she's getting older. 

When they no longer go trick or treating, do they attend Halloween parties?

I guess I'll find that out. Stay tuned.

-Teresa

[Unsapien]

I gave up on Halloween when I was about 10, we were too far away from neighbors to do it without my parents driving me house to house, so usually a neighbor would host a Halloween party for all the kids in the area.

For my kids in the city we trick or treated with them until about 10 also, they gave it up voluntarily.

Mostly I remember having to spent an hour sorting out all the candy that had peanuts in it, cause my son is allergic, he usually lost about half his stash that way. You could really see how pissed off he got while he sat there watching me.

But I always made it up to him by buying left over candy in the stores the next day, by the time he was 10 I was just buying all the candy in the store and not going out anymore.

[Tres Leches]

Back in the 80s when urban legends about razors in Halloween candy were rife, parents could bring in their kids' candy to our local hospital to be x-rayed to make sure it was "safe".

I mean, I'm sure it put parents' minds at ease that the irradiated sugar was a-ok for their kids to eat.

-Teresa