All Hallows Eve is bigger than Christmas

[John in Covina]

XMas VS Halloween - I win!

Actually, What does it matter which is bigger? Regionally & socially in the US the amount of time and effort, true involvement in these days varies based on the make up of the population and the weather and the history.

I'd figure Halloween would be a whole different thing in Salem, Mass than here in So cAl.

Halloween is a release day for everyone, where in a way dreams come true under the what do you want to be for Halloween question. It allows you to induldge your inner person for once as such the statement that it is the Crossdresser's National Holiday holds true. It's a time for a little self indulgence and that can be nice.

Thanksgiving really gets the short shrift in this exchange barely past Halloween, you get some Turkeys , a Horn of Plenty and some Pilgrims for a little while!

Christmas for a lot of people tends to be an extension of how your parents celibrated it for most families. It brings a whole set of what we call C&E Christians to church. C&E is a reference to Christmas & Easter, as it is the only time you'll see these folks in church. For my family, Mom went to church most weeks and took my brother and me, while my dad, who worked looong hours tended to worship at "St. Sealy's of the Posture-Pedic" most of the time. At Christmas dad always went with the family, and the candlelight Christmas Eve services were truly both beautiful and wonderful. We made a fuss, the tree the dinner the presents church time Advent & Advent calendars, going to visit relatives, decorating, etc. It was a cylcle of building to the big Day and the wind down afterwards. (Who is old enough to remember real LEAD tinsel and those cool bubblelights?)

Heck, I am old enough to remember when we used to make Christmas decorartion and hung them up in a PUBLIC school. It was a big deal then and it is a big deal today. although not quite as big since we don't always seem to have the time to invest into getting things ready as much today.

In the end though, I always feel that I am a winner after the festivities, because I have friends and family that love me and I love them and we show it in abundence at these times.

Someone asked why do we care for others and give charity at Christmas when we should do so all year 'round. Actually that is the precise answer in a way, if you forget to do so during the year, it is nice to give when others are needy and Christmas highlights those needs. You can even call it a personal redemption of sorts and can get it in before the end of the year. If someone only gives at Christmas, well at least we can say they give, even if it takes a big reminder.

I hope that we all get to enjoy these times!

 

[Nashoba]

I love Halloween , but I still prefer Thanksgiving as a holiday that maintains its spirit. Tho I'm not sure if the Native Americans do.

We just regret not letting y'all starve to death. Might have saved us some hassle in the long run (kidding folks...kidding...)

I have a very stranged and varied background with a fairly wide knowledge base in religion. I grew up Jewish and Native American. I studied Wicca for a long time. Today I call myself a Christian but I still hold on to the Jewish traditions I was raised with, am very active in the Native Community and hold tightly to those traditions as well. I love christmas, I love decorating the house (we have 4 trees) my husband goes a little nuts with the christmas lights which I usually regret in the electric bill, but heck it's once a year. And I polish my menorah, unpack my dreidel collection and do my best to blend the worlds that make up my own.

But Halloween is different. In my family it was always 'our' holiday. Some of my best memories are of my dad taking me trick or treating...then stealing all the good candy as 'payment' for being my chaperone. For me, it seems like halloween has been dying. When I was young the streets were thick with children until late into the night. Today they come in short sporadic bursts. I never understood why or when the mall became 'the' place to go for trick or treating, to me it was stupid but these days they're packed. I love halloween. I love everything that it was when I was growing up and it makes me sad to feel like it's dying. It was always Dr. Demento and several trips home to empty the pillow case before going back out again...with mom sorting the candy and putting the stuff no one would eat back into the bin to give to the next crew of kids that came to the door...I'm sure it's different everywhere. But when we were still in SoCal, I only went through half a bag of candy. I've yet to be home for a halloween in TN between deployments and traveling we havn't been home for the fall and winter holidays in several years. I don't think it's bigger than Christmas. But I don't think Christmas is the same as it used to be either.

Just my rambling two cents....for what that's worth

 

[scotrace]

One of the best Christmas bits I've seen is Rick Steves' Christmas in Europe PBS specials. Especially from Scandinavia. I would love to spend Christmas in Sweden.

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

We just regret not letting y'all starve to death. Might have saved us some hassle in the long run (kidding folks...kidding...)

I have a very stranged and varied background with a fairly wide knowledge base in religion. I grew up Jewish and Native American. I studied Wicca for a long time. Today I call myself a Christian but I still hold on to the Jewish traditions I was raised with, am very active in the Native Community and hold tightly to those traditions as well. I love christmas, I love decorating the house (we have 4 trees) my husband goes a little nuts with the christmas lights which I usually regret in the electric bill, but heck it's once a year. And I polish my menorah, unpack my dreidel collection and do my best to blend the worlds that make up my own.

But Halloween is different. In my family it was always 'our' holiday. Some of my best memories are of my dad taking me trick or treating...then stealing all the good candy as 'payment' for being my chaperone. For me, it seems like halloween has been dying. When I was young the streets were thick with children until late into the night. Today they come in short sporadic bursts. I never understood why or when the mall became 'the' place to go for trick or treating, to me it was stupid but these days they're packed. I love halloween. I love everything that it was when I was growing up and it makes me sad to feel like it's dying. It was always Dr. Demento and several trips home to empty the pillow case before going back out again...with mom sorting the candy and putting the stuff no one would eat back into the bin to give to the next crew of kids that came to the door...I'm sure it's different everywhere. But when we were still in SoCal, I only went through half a bag of candy. I've yet to be home for a halloween in TN between deployments and traveling we havn't been home for the fall and winter holidays in several years. I don't think it's bigger than Christmas. But I don't think Christmas is the same as it used to be either.

Just my rambling two cents....for what that's worth

fftopic:
Darling girl, you and I MUST sit down one of these days together. Methinks we have much to chat about!

 

[Ecuador Jim]

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!


Guess you won't be expecting "The Great Pumpkin" to be rising out of your pumpkin patch then, eh? lol

 

[Hondo]

re: Holloween

That’s why dentist make tons of moo la ($$$)
Lets drill the children shall we? Haa! On to Chrsitmas!!!

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!


Guess you won't be expecting "The Great Pumpkin" to be rising out of your pumpkin patch then, eh? lol

 

[Nashoba]

fftopic:
Darling girl, you and I MUST sit down one of these days together. Methinks we have much to chat about!

I think you are more than correct on that one RH

 

[katiemakeup]

In any event, here in the rural midwest, Halloween is definitely not larger than Christmas.

I agree... I think when you live in a place that gets cold and/or snow, Halloween is the start of the (Christmas) holiday season.

 

[Jovan]

One of the few times I can dress as a fantasy character and not be looked at funny. That's why I like Hallowe'en. I think like many holidays, it is way too overdone marketing-wise however.

 

[Miss Brill]

I think Christmas is fun when you are a child, or have children, or have a large/close-knit family, if you don't have anyone much to share the holiday with, what do you have? A reminder of what you don't have.

 

[Starius]

I agree... I think when you live in a place that gets cold and/or snow, Halloween is the start of the (Christmas) holiday season.

Yeah, when I was a kid, I remember trick or treating getting canceled on the occasional Halloween, on account of a blizzard.

 

[Dominic]

Christmas, Halloween... I'm the store with the stuff! -Wal Mart

 

[Jovan]

I think Christmas is fun when you are a child, or have children, or have a large/close-knit family, if you don't have anyone much to share the holiday with, what do you have? A reminder of what you don't have.

:-/

 

[Miss Brill]

:-/

Did I make you sad?

 

[Jovan]

Somewhat yes.

 

[Miss Brill]

Somewhat yes.

*hugs* I'm sorry.

 

[Diamondback]

I think Christmas is fun when you are a child, or have children, or have a large/close-knit family, if you don't have anyone much to share the holiday with, what do you have? A reminder of what you don't have.

Well, I could suggest a simple fix: build a close friendship with someone like-minded, then you have each other and it won't be so bad.

Or establish your own tradition, like me with John Wayne reruns.

 

[Miss Brill]

Well, I could suggest a simple fix: build a close friendship with someone like-minded, then you have each other and it won't be so bad.

Or establish your own tradition, like me with John Wayne reruns.

Y'all are making me feel like a spinster. I was talking generally, not miserably. Christmas is like VDay, if you don't have someone, it sucks, and if you have someone who sucks, it still sucks.

Does John Wayne fill you up? Is he emotionally satisfying? He doesn't do a thing for me. [huh]

 

[Diamondback]

Not particulary--call it "target study" as a profiler.lol More "research on someone to emulate" than anything else.

No, my ideal Christmas would be on a sofa, in front of a fireplace, snuggled up to a lovely lady. Unfortunately, I'm also known to be The Ugliest Dude Here, so...

 

[Edward]

And also, on the subject of Halloween being a Christian Holiday, I think its sort of the same idea. All Hallow's Eve was a Christian Holiday, but the whole ghosts and goblins and trick or treating stuff were non-Christian beliefs that just happened to occur around the same time, and thus were merged in with halloween while having no relation.

The Christian All Hallow's Eve, falling the night before All Saint's Day, was an effrot to christianise celebrations that too place already at the time, and bring people away from the pagan traditions, though of course many of them were incorporated.... actually, our modern Halloween is probably much closer to the pagan Samhain than Christmas is to Yule, or at least it was much less successfully Christianised. a lot of folks get annoyed by this Christianisation.... I may be biased (I'm Methodist myself), but I think it was a more benevolent approach by the Church: instead of saying "Boo! Evil Celebration! Boo! no!", it said "Cool, have a party, but let's celebrate this instead."