Trick or Treat?

[Sweet Deliverance]

I was wondering, since Halloween is tomorrow, what are some perspectives on the observance of this day, particularly for Christians and non-Christians. Do you feel that it's a "day of evil" or it's "just a day to get extra candy"? Do you observe or celebrate this day in the traditional manner or not at all? What are your thoughts?

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Sweet Deliverance's PHI-losophy:
"What you do or do not do today determines what you can or cannot do tomorrow."

[Blunile2]

Well for me Soror I don"t celebrate Halloween
Because I am Muslim and we believe it is a day for devil worship-I don"t have any children but we i get a chance to have any they will not be going trick o treating at all...Instead i will be at home spending time with them and having family discussion.That"s my comment.

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The Epitome Of FinerWomen Hood
ZPB There's Nothing Better.

[SapphireSensation]

Peace & Blessings

Well, from the Christian stand-point, I am a devout Roman Catholic, who attended Catholic School and we had Halloween Parties in school.
They explained to origins of Halloween to us,which is how All Saints Day came about (to banish the evil from the night before). So, growing up, I got to dress up twice: once as my favorite character and once as my favorite Saint.
Although, like BlueNile2, I don't have any children yet...when I do, I will celebrate both the Pagan holiday of All Hallows Eve and the RC holiday of All Saints Day.
My thought is, if you explain it to children, then they're should be no issue...it's all in good fun.
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SapphireSensation
RoyalBlueDivaDivine
The Epitome of Finerwomanhood

[Shelacious]

At my previous church, we celebrated "All Saint's Day" where the children came dressed as Biblical characters and was an alternative to 'Halloween', which is probably what my kids (if I had any), would attend, for simply the inherently safer environment.

I have some scarecrows and pumpkins gracing my front yard, and will have lots of candy for the little ones. Much like commercialism has stripped away the essence of Christmas and Easter, to the point that it doesn't mean very much to non-believers, I also feel the same about Halloween. I do not get out the Ouija board, cast chants, intonations or spells during this time. I bring out the candy, the pumpkins, my Ghana African Queen attire and a couple of campy horror movies on the tele. I have no doubt that evil is alive and kicking on all Hallows Eve. But it won't be kicking that night at my house.

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Finer Womanhood: the "Cat's Meow" Since 1920

[MIDWESTDIVA]

Originally posted by Blunile2:
Well for me Soror I don"t celebrate Halloween
Because I am Muslim and we believe it is a day for devil worship-I don"t have any children but we i get a chance to have any they will not be going trick o treating at all...Instead i will be at home spending time with them and having family discussion.That"s my comment.

I don't have anything to add to this subject. I am just glad to see a Muslim woman representing Zeta Phi Beta. My college roommate was Muslim and she wanted to be a Zeta. However, she felt that being Muslim would prevent her from doing that. I didn't really understand her logic, but I am glad that everyone doesn't agree with her on this.

[Shelacious]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MIDWESTDIVA:
[B]
I am just glad to see a Muslim woman representing Zeta Phi Beta. My college roommate was Muslim and she wanted to be a Zeta. [B]


I know many Sorors who are of Muslim faith. I also know Universalists, Unitarians and Buddhist Sorors as well. Zeta is about diversity. Women who want to join a Sorority that has people who look like you, think like you, act like you and walk and talk like you, DON'T CONSIDER ZETA. Don't waste her time. Zeta embraces women who stand for and are willing to live by her precepts. Folks love to pigeonhole other people. Try as folks might, and oh, do they try, you just can't pigeonhole Zeta. I do wish folks would stop trying like they will win a prize if they guess the correct answer!


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Finer Womanhood: the "Cat's Meow" Since 1920

[Teresa2000]

This is so interesting! I have posted both these questions (the Holloween question and the Religion question) on other sites. If you are interested in seeing how people responded, please go to the Delta site and look under "non-Christians", or go to the AKA site and look under "Holloween". I recieved some interesting responses.

-Teresa

[Sweet Deliverance]

Thanks Teresa2000. I'll check it out.

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Sweet Deliverance's PHI-losophy:
"What you do or do not do today determines what you can or cannot do tomorrow."

[blu_theatrics]

When I was a child I went trick or treating and dressed up and everything, but I will not allow my child to participate in this day. This year is the first year he was in school and I was glad that I had the day off so he just spent the day with me ( he is only three he is not in "real school" yet)

We went to church last night and had a Hallelujah party. It was great it was just a celebration day for bbeing glad we are christians and I love the idea. The kids had a great time and they could really care less about the "holiday"

My only thing is that I know that as he gets older he will probaly want to participate in the free candy night, but I am doing a good job in raising my child while I instill a belief system in him. I told him what was going on becausre he aked if he could go to the party at school and when I explained that we were going to have another party that night for Jesus and that although the party they wer having at school wasn't wrong, it's just that jesus would be happier if we celebrate another way he understood, amazingly alot better than I thought.

My mother says that I should let himn trick or treat becuas I did, but I am sticking by my guns with this one and praying for Gods help over the years with the situation

If anyone read my post in the SGRho forum about christian/private schools vs. public, this is also one of the reasons I would rather my son at a christian school

[Sweet Deliverance]

I like your point of view Blu_theatrics. As Christians it's often tough trying to explain to the world (and children who see others doing something that they are not permitted to) why we do not participate in certain things and why we believe and do the things we do. You keep sticking to your guns sister. I like the Hallelujah party idea. A lot of churches have these type events.

Although I initially just aked the question for conversation's sake, I will reveal that I am anti-Halloween because of many historical things associated with it. I didn't even buy candy to hand out. I would be infavor of supporting church sponsored events with a Christian/Fall theme. Just as some can take good and make it bad, others can take what is meant for bad and make good of it.

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Sweet Deliverance's PHI-losophy:
"What you do or do not do today determines what you can or cannot do tomorrow."

[blu_theatrics]

Originally posted by Sweet Deliverance:
I like your point of view Blu_theatrics. As Christians it's often tough trying to explain to the world (and children who see others doing something that they are not permitted to) why we do not participate in certain things and why we believe and do the things we do. You keep sticking to your guns sister. I like the Hallelujah party idea. A lot of churches have these type events.

Although I initially just aked the question for conversation's sake, I will reveal that I am anti-Halloween because of many historical things associated with it. I didn't even buy candy to hand out. I would be infavor of supporting church sponsored events with a Christian/Fall theme. Just as some can take good and make it bad, others can take what is meant for bad and make good of it.

Thanks sisterfriend

[ridiculous2000]

Greetings everyone,

I just wanted to make a few comments. As a child, it was natural for me and my family to go trick or treating in my neighborhood. As I got older, I would attend church services.

Anyway, now that I am a teacher (second grade) I have no other choice but to celebrate Halloween. I feel that I cannot deny my students that and I cannot discuss religion in the classroom.

I take care of my 7 year old nephew and my husband had told him that it was against God's wishes. Well I decided to take him anyway because I did want him to feel bad. He has been moved around for most of his life and my husband and I offer him a stable home.
We went to about 10 houses and you just do not know what that did for him. He was so excited.

In conclusion, I know the history says that it is a evil holiday, but their are some ways that we can make it positive.

[Sweet Deliverance]

I understand exactly what you are saying ridiculous2000.

[SapphireSensation]

Peace & Blessings again (smile)
I know that I already posted on this subject but I forgot to add that even though All Hallows Eve is a pagan holiday, people dressed up to scare the evil spirits away...
That's my .13 cents

SapphireSensation

[mgdzkm433]

As a self proclaimed witch, we don't celebrate halloween. We celebrat Samhain. Samhain is traditionally a day of the dead, yes. But on this day we don't conjure up evil spirits or anything like that. It is a day to honor our dead ancestors (much like All Saints day--to honor dead saints). Some people even offer a feast of the dead, where they sit down to have dinner and invite one of their dead relatives to join them. The veil between the worlds is at it's thinnest, yes, it is a great time to practice divination for witches and pagans due to this. I wanted to point out though, on this day, people want to avoid the evil spirits, not welcome them. This is probably the most widely misunderstood holiday of them all. It is also the Celtic New Year. Samhain literally means 'summer's end'. The celtic people celebrated this day because it was the end of the harvest season, their god dies and is reborn at Yule (around Christmas). This is why it is considered the end of the year, because the earth seems to die with the coming of winter and their god dies--good reason to honor the dead. You won't see many pagans dressing up in costume on this night except to maybe enjoy the typical halloween party like other people. You mostly see them honoring this as a sacred holiday. Just thought I'd throw a little of the witch perspective in.