It seems an irony to me that Halloween and its decline are being lamented by someone who feels himself to be pagan and seeks the European traditions.. Halloween with its costumes and trick or treatery is very much an American invention, to my mind it was invented to surplant the truly pagan tradition of Samhain, which is a different thing ENTIRELY.
Samhain is celebrated in many different ways in many different cultures but essentially is recognising the older tradition that this is the New Year. This is because the older traditiins had the day ending at the end of DAY ie: dusk and the close of day.. the new day would start in darkness.. Similarly the year would start at the Autumnal Equinox. It was believed to be when the veil between the living and our dead ancestors was at its thinnest and we were most likely to be able to make contact with the other realms and our dead ancestors. Also of course that meant that our dead ancestors were more likely to be able to cross into this realm.
The trivialising of this deeply spiritual time into a holiday of over indulgance in sweets and frightening people, in my honest opinion, was an attempt at breaking the genuine Pagan tradition in favour of something vacuous and meaningless. As is the replacement of the Winter Solstices replacement with Christmas.. All born of the greed machine that is devouring our world as we speak.
So by all means mourn the loss of the Anerican tradition if you wish, yes it IS a sign of many things as you have proposed in your article. But please don't forget it's origins if you truly seek your Pagan roots.
I have tried many times to observe Samhain in its traditional manner and to utilise sacred sites to Pagans, only to encounter people throwing fireworks and proudly proclaiming they are stopping the Witches.. well yes they are.. and frankly it's a hate crime to Pagans.
I do agree with Halloween and Samhain being vastly different, and the celebration we have today is a jenky bastardized version.
What I am "complaining" about in the article if you will, is more about the killing of Traditions, because they are European, or "white" as they say, in origin.
It has nothing to do with my beliefs, or my Vinlander's version of this Celtic, and Germanic tradition. In fact this holiday is only one of the many that have been demonized and nearly phased out of existence.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Columbus day are all vivid examples. They are traditions that are being wiped away because of their alleged European / Colonizer origins.
As far as covid being part of the cause, I beg to differ.
The first years of Covid, there were still lots of people participating.
This is an Anti-Traditionalist, and Anti-American movement, that has no moral base, or one rooted in logic or reality.
It's just people destroying stuff, but only for the sake of doing it.
My celebration of these traditions with my family, and our Pagan community, are vastly different than the "trick or treating" tradition that we do with our kids.
Sure, Halloween isn't Samhain, but the Tradition is dying either way, with both.
I think covid also played a role in killing Halloween.
When my kids were little I used to sew their costumes. I've made an Apple Cinnamon Cherrios costume, Crumb & Ooblina, Scotty from Star Trek and the Borg just to name a few. When my kids got older we'd decorate for Halloween and my one son would dress up and lay on the lawn as if he were a decoration, and then he'd scare the crap out of the trick or treaters. They'd scream, then run and get their friends to come and have the same thing happen to them. They'd come by each year looking for him until he went away to college.
I miss Halloween. We used to go to a party every year where we'd all bring some type of food cooked in a Halloween theme and just hang out for hours. Then we moved far from there.
Now I live rural where the houses are far apart so no one comes. They all go to the church to "Trunk or Treat" instead.
I don't think COVID played that big of a part, because for first 2 years these people were still handing out candy, or had decorated for the holiday. In 2021 the homes in our suburban Florida neighborhood had about a 50/50 participation. In 2022, it was roughly 30% of the people. Last year, in 2023 it was even less, and this year it was maybe 1 in 10 homes on the busiest blocks.
There were entire blocks where there wasn't a single house decorated, or handing out candy.
It's largely from an obvious Anti-European / Anti-Colonizer sentiment that is rapidly growing. The perfect example is Columbus day, this year the Commander in Chief of the US has declared it "Indigenous Peoples Day."
Do Indigenous Americans deserve a national holiday, sure. I have no problem with that. But why put them both in the same day. Then also, we should ask why they begin badmouthing Columbus day, and calling it "Colonizers day."
This wasn't done this way just to start a new tradition, it was done to erase an old one.
I agree that there is definitely an anti-European / anti-Colonizer sentiment that has been growing. My kids are in their 30's but even when they were in HS competing for scholarships the scholarships were specifically for certain groups of people only, like minorities, and whites were only eligible for the scholarships that has no restrictions. So they would only be eligible for one where someone who was minority could apply for all of them. If you were a white male it was even more restricted.
I have always taught my children that a person's skin color was merely a way to describe their physical attributes, much like the color of their hair or eyes, and it had nothing to do with who they were as a person. We are all the same on the inside. I think if everyone looked the same life would be pretty boring.
Unfortunately not everyone agrees. We need to get back to treating each other with respect, stop the grouping of people as this or that. We are all human. As it was once said on Star Trek, "Humans are ugly sacks of mostly water". Don't know if I agree with the ugly part, unless you are talking about how humans treat other humans.
It seems an irony to me that Halloween and its decline are being lamented by someone who feels himself to be pagan and seeks the European traditions.. Halloween with its costumes and trick or treatery is very much an American invention, to my mind it was invented to surplant the truly pagan tradition of Samhain, which is a different thing ENTIRELY.
Samhain is celebrated in many different ways in many different cultures but essentially is recognising the older tradition that this is the New Year. This is because the older traditiins had the day ending at the end of DAY ie: dusk and the close of day.. the new day would start in darkness.. Similarly the year would start at the Autumnal Equinox. It was believed to be when the veil between the living and our dead ancestors was at its thinnest and we were most likely to be able to make contact with the other realms and our dead ancestors. Also of course that meant that our dead ancestors were more likely to be able to cross into this realm.
The trivialising of this deeply spiritual time into a holiday of over indulgance in sweets and frightening people, in my honest opinion, was an attempt at breaking the genuine Pagan tradition in favour of something vacuous and meaningless. As is the replacement of the Winter Solstices replacement with Christmas.. All born of the greed machine that is devouring our world as we speak.
So by all means mourn the loss of the Anerican tradition if you wish, yes it IS a sign of many things as you have proposed in your article. But please don't forget it's origins if you truly seek your Pagan roots.
I have tried many times to observe Samhain in its traditional manner and to utilise sacred sites to Pagans, only to encounter people throwing fireworks and proudly proclaiming they are stopping the Witches.. well yes they are.. and frankly it's a hate crime to Pagans.
I do agree with Halloween and Samhain being vastly different, and the celebration we have today is a jenky bastardized version.
What I am "complaining" about in the article if you will, is more about the killing of Traditions, because they are European, or "white" as they say, in origin.
It has nothing to do with my beliefs, or my Vinlander's version of this Celtic, and Germanic tradition. In fact this holiday is only one of the many that have been demonized and nearly phased out of existence.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, and even Columbus day are all vivid examples. They are traditions that are being wiped away because of their alleged European / Colonizer origins.
As far as covid being part of the cause, I beg to differ.
The first years of Covid, there were still lots of people participating.
This is an Anti-Traditionalist, and Anti-American movement, that has no moral base, or one rooted in logic or reality.
It's just people destroying stuff, but only for the sake of doing it.
My celebration of these traditions with my family, and our Pagan community, are vastly different than the "trick or treating" tradition that we do with our kids.
Sure, Halloween isn't Samhain, but the Tradition is dying either way, with both.
I think covid also played a role in killing Halloween.
When my kids were little I used to sew their costumes. I've made an Apple Cinnamon Cherrios costume, Crumb & Ooblina, Scotty from Star Trek and the Borg just to name a few. When my kids got older we'd decorate for Halloween and my one son would dress up and lay on the lawn as if he were a decoration, and then he'd scare the crap out of the trick or treaters. They'd scream, then run and get their friends to come and have the same thing happen to them. They'd come by each year looking for him until he went away to college.
I miss Halloween. We used to go to a party every year where we'd all bring some type of food cooked in a Halloween theme and just hang out for hours. Then we moved far from there.
Now I live rural where the houses are far apart so no one comes. They all go to the church to "Trunk or Treat" instead.
I don't think COVID played that big of a part, because for first 2 years these people were still handing out candy, or had decorated for the holiday. In 2021 the homes in our suburban Florida neighborhood had about a 50/50 participation. In 2022, it was roughly 30% of the people. Last year, in 2023 it was even less, and this year it was maybe 1 in 10 homes on the busiest blocks.
There were entire blocks where there wasn't a single house decorated, or handing out candy.
It's largely from an obvious Anti-European / Anti-Colonizer sentiment that is rapidly growing. The perfect example is Columbus day, this year the Commander in Chief of the US has declared it "Indigenous Peoples Day."
Do Indigenous Americans deserve a national holiday, sure. I have no problem with that. But why put them both in the same day. Then also, we should ask why they begin badmouthing Columbus day, and calling it "Colonizers day."
This wasn't done this way just to start a new tradition, it was done to erase an old one.
I agree that there is definitely an anti-European / anti-Colonizer sentiment that has been growing. My kids are in their 30's but even when they were in HS competing for scholarships the scholarships were specifically for certain groups of people only, like minorities, and whites were only eligible for the scholarships that has no restrictions. So they would only be eligible for one where someone who was minority could apply for all of them. If you were a white male it was even more restricted.
I have always taught my children that a person's skin color was merely a way to describe their physical attributes, much like the color of their hair or eyes, and it had nothing to do with who they were as a person. We are all the same on the inside. I think if everyone looked the same life would be pretty boring.
Unfortunately not everyone agrees. We need to get back to treating each other with respect, stop the grouping of people as this or that. We are all human. As it was once said on Star Trek, "Humans are ugly sacks of mostly water". Don't know if I agree with the ugly part, unless you are talking about how humans treat other humans.