All Hallows Eve is bigger than Christmas

[Matt Deckard]

Maybe I just think it was different when I was a child though it is pretty obvious today that Holloween is much much bigger than Christmas... at least here in LA. I can walk into whole stores that are transformed to witch filled wizard palaces with orange and black all around. Goths decide it's time to go back in black and hipsters decide they need something that emulates the goths. I know Christmas never recieves this much attention.

Aside from the carnival aspect of Holloween and people just being able to let loose... could it be because it's pan religious? You don't have to subscribe to a belief system to pull out the pumpkin? Christmas itself isn't for Christ historically speaking as the holiday predates the bible... though neither is Holloween. It was a children's holiday for a while though I think today in a world where it's getting more and more okay to not grow up... it's an adult holiday.

Just curious on your take on this holiday.

Have a merry Holloween month.

 

[Ecuador Jim]

I would agree that Halloween's popularity is probably due to it's lack of any religious affiliation; at least in this country. It has Celtic origins, and the Scots brought the concept over to America.

It does allow us to throw off the bonds of adulthood, and allows us to walk down memory lane as children.

I've also seen though, that retailers must think that Christmas happens quite soon after Labor Day. Lowe's and Depot already have ornaments and various Christmas village components ready to go...

I'm only starting to see pumpkins arrive at the market!

I'm gonna be a pirate...with a waxed tricorn hat! lol

And for everyone....practice safe hex!

 

[ScionPI2005]

Unfortunately, this Halloween night, I get to work. But then again, security and investigation knows no holiday, especially on Halloween...its gonna be a busy night...[huh]

 

[Starius]

I had a small argument with a religious friend of mine once about Halloween. His stance was that it wasn't a real holiday because it wasn't a religious holiday. (Which in itself could be argued I imagine) But my stance simply was, if its printed on a calender, it's a Holiday.

In any event, here in the rural midwest, Halloween is definitely not larger than Christmas. Which is a shame for me personally, cause Halloween would be my favorite holiday.... if I did anything for any holiday. Traditionally, I'm am not a big observer of holidays in general.

 

[BakingInPearls]

I believe it's from all the religious aspects around Christmas that makes everyone shy away from it, due to not wanting to offend anyone. I personally like Halloween better then Christmas simply because Christmas seems very fake now a days, and that is coming from a Catholic. Plus I never understood why we had to be so caring and giving around Christmas instead of all year long. Merry Halloween Month!

 

[dhermann1]

Here's my stump speech on the subject of Christmas: Christmas goes back to Pagan times when they used to set up bonfires on the hill tops at the winter solstice to make the sun come back to life. It started in the northern latitudes because that's where the greatest difference in day length was between summer and winter. Nights in the northern winters can be long and cold. What we now call SADD, Seasonal Affective Depression Disorder, is caused by lack of daylight. The brain naturally gets depressed. Setting bonfires was a natural therapy. Today we still have the same differential between summer and winter at these latitudes, people still get depressed in the winter, and we still need LIGHT to cheer ourselves up. The various mythologies developed in relation to the solstice holidays are all about rebirth and hope. The rampant commercializtion of the holiday is a disgusting diversion. Every year I put up lots of lights in my home, and decorate pretty profusely, and just sit and enjoy my Christmas lights. Presents are nice, the music can be wonderful, but the real purpose of Christmas is to overcome the depression brought on by darkness.
As an aside, on the Roman calendar, the day they called December 25th actually fell on December 21st, according to our modern calendar, so when it was first initiated, Christmas actually fell on the traditional winter solstice.
Merry Christmas, everybody!
EDIT: All the holidays that are worth their salt have some psychological function they fulfill. Every culture seems to have one where the rules are suspended, Mardi Gras comes to mind. So I think that's one of the attractions of Halloween. But also, in this age of terror, which must be especially terrifying for children, the chance to ritualistically confront and master symbols of fear must be very needed.

 

[Bebop]

Holloween is much more of a "party time" than Christmas. Christmas is much more of a family oriented holiday. The child aspect of Holloween seems to have disappeared. At least in S.F. It is a young adult holiday. I imagine it depends on where you live. In places where the population has less childeren, like in S.F., Holloween is almost like Mardi Gras. Some years crazier and more out of control. There is nothing like Holloween in the Castro district of S.F. It is not for the faint of heart. At 50, I am way too old to understand the need to get so out of control but they do celebrate like crazy. I prefer the reletively quiet Holloween and Christmas of No. Eastern Wa. state.

 

[Viola]

I don't celebrate Christmas. Halloween is a fun party, though I know some people who find its roots too Christian to celebrate if that's not their background. For me its just a good time. And since I don't celebrate Christmas, Halloween is one of my only popular-culture decorating holidays, and I love me some little glittery lights and decorations.

 

[dhermann1]

I'm always saddened when Jewish people express the feeling of alienation towards Christmas. I can certainly understand, but it just shows how thoroughly the early church hijacked the old holiday. Take it back! Invent your own version of the holiday! I see nothing wrong with a good old fashioned Hanukah Bush! And my old neighbor used to string beautiful blue lights inside and outside his house, when others on the block had multi colors. I think everybody needs and deserves that jolt of festiveness just when winter is sinking its teeth into us. Being from Philly, you get basically the same winter we do in New York. Create your own holiday cheer! Don't let yourself be made to feel like an outsider!

 

[scotrace]

This is surprising stuff. Halloween here is just a pain in the butt evening of trotting kids up and down the street. Something to get to the other side of and forget. And a lot of really ugly stuff in the stores.

That "what do you want to be for Halloween?" thread's size is a mystery!









California is a strange planet.

 

[Viola]

I'm always saddened when Jewish people express the feeling of alienation towards Christmas. I can certainly understand, but it just shows how thoroughly the early church hijacked the old holiday. Take it back! Invent your own version of the holiday!

Uh, dhermann, take back what? It's Jesus's birthday. As some of my friends say "Jesus: He Is The Reason For the Season."

I can respect it as a religious holiday, but its not like it was ever ours. Its not even loosely based on anything of ours, like Thanksgiving was a borrowed, reworked Sukkot.

 

[BeBopBaby]

I'm always saddened when Jewish people express the feeling of alienation towards Christmas. I can certainly understand, but it just shows how thoroughly the early church hijacked the old holiday. Take it back! Invent your own version of the holiday!

Festivus for the rest of us!!! lol

 

[Shearer]

Festivus for the rest of us!!! lol

Thank you! Let the Airing of Grievances begin!

 

[Girl Friday]

And feats of strength!!!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I don't think it is...

bigger then christmas.

There have been christmas things out at retail stores since september. Thats 4 months.

There were not halloween things out 4 months ago. Maybe a month ago at best.


People dont make lists of halloween decorations and presents 8 months in advance......


Christmas is still bigger

 

[dhermann1]

Jesus's birthday

It's a debatable issue whether Jesus was born in December. Nothing in the Gospels indicates this. It's just as likely he was born in the spring, when the farmers would have been free to come to town to be counted. The early Christians used the fish as the symbol for Christ, some people think this was because he was a Pisces. Celebrating somebody's birth is not necessarily the same thing as observing somebody's birthday. Lots of saints have "saint's days" that are arbitrarily chosen. The early church was very calculating in choosing the Roman Saturnalia as the day the celebrate His birth. Pure business sense. But it ain't necessarily so.
What would of course be really weird is to celebrate Christmas in the southern hemisphere. I suppose it evolved into a celebration of the connection between the Australian and South African societies with the mother land. But what is Christmas like in South America? And what do the southern countries do for their winter solstice, in June? Southern hemisphere countries, in general, are closer to the equator, (except for Tierra del Fuego) so they'd have less day length differential. Marc Chevalier, can you enlighten us?

 

[TheKitschGoth]

Halloween is a fun party, though I know some people who find its roots too Christian to celebrate if that's not their background.

Just checking.. did you really mean to say Hallowe'en's roots are too Christian for some? [huh]

 

[dhermann1]

Well, it is All Hallow's Evening, meaning the night before All Saints' Day. But all these European Christian traditions are built on top of old pagan traditions, just as the old churches were built on the old pagan temples.

 

[Viola]

Just checking.. did you really mean to say Hallowe'en's roots are too Christian for some? [huh]

Yes. Its All Hallows Eve. Some Orthodox Jews, for instance, are not comfortable with essentially celebrating a minor Christian holiday, even if its rarely seen out of an entirely secular context in the US.

 

[Senator Jack]

I never cared for Halloween, and now that it's a month-long festival, it's even worse. It has begun to diminish our most awesome holy holiday season:

R O C K T O B E R !