Is Halloween Evil ....

[naomi24]

... and is it harmful to children to celebrate it? What about Harry Potter books and movies? Harmless fun - or dangerous?

[Old_Geezer]

'Halloween' isn't. Kids understand make-believe.
'Trick or Treat' is. Kids believe what parents teach them to do is right.

[rockyracoon]

Harmless fun. Very annoying. But, harmless nonetheless.

[AuntLydia]

All Hallows is tradition and not evil. It represents the acknowledgement of death and the fantasy of the afterlife.

Trick or Treat however is a vile import from the USA that allows children to misbehave if they don't get candy. While living in the USA I've seen toilet rolls wound around people trees and eggs thrown at garages so the Trick part does happen, more probably in the USA than here.

[jno]

AL, trick or treating comes from Scotland, as guising. But the tradition of asking for food has been around in Britain for centuries.

[hereIam]

No it's not evil, but I know a 'born again christian' who truly believes it is and celebrates an alternate Halloween where no macabre costumes are allowed and definitely no skeletons !

[AuntLydia]

jni in 'guising' do you just ask for sweets like we used to do as kids, or do you do naughty things if they don't give you sweets? ;-)

[retrocop]

Deffo happens here. About 20 years ago next door neighbour's son accompanied by 9 year old buddy knocked on our door. The wife gave the little sh....ts a mini Mars bar each and closed the front door. She heard a lot of giggling as they scampered up the front path.
Next morning at 0600 ,on way to her shift at hospital, she found they had thrown eggs and flour over pride and joy.It formed into a sticky congealed mess over the windscreen. That evening she confronted parent who was mortified and made her miscreant son clean the mess off but did a carp job anyway. My wife did the job properly but I had to bite my tongue the next time she put the windscreen blower on. She was covered in flour as it had penetrated the bonnet grilles . :-)

[Old_Geezer]

Begging for food if hungry, and acting as an actor or minstral in the hope of payment, may be known for for centuries, but 'Trick or Treat' extortion for profit was not around in my part of the world when I was young. Seems perverse to tie the two together to try to make it seem ok. Should be, and I suspect most likely is, illegal harassment.

[naomi24]

Trick and Treat aside, does anyone think Halloween is harmful to children? Does it encourage them to investigate witchcraft, for example, and does it lead them away from the established religions?

[hereIam]

The born again Christian I know, would think so, yes. I don't by the way. Kids, I think, just see it as fun ...

[jno]

sort of the other way round, the kids would traditionally dress up as ghosts (as camouflage against real ghosts who are abroad that night) and perform "tricks" for the adults, by singing songs or telling jokes, to earn their treats. Now they want something for nothing, but that's the spirit of the times, I'm afraid.

[jno]

that was to AuntLydia

[naomi24]

hereIam, my bible bashing Baptist friends and those of the born again variety would agree with your friend. They have forty fits at the thought of Harry Potter's influence on children.

[retrocop]

Naomi
I very much doubt it. My two Grand children are very unlikely to be steered towards any religion as they get older. Trick or treat is just a fantasy to them.I doubt,in this day and age,they will be taught the significance of it all.
I wonder how many kids know of the history of the Gunpowder Plot etc.

[AuntLydia]

To be honest I have more of a problem with people celebrating what was in effect a foiled terrorist attack on the House of Commons -be it over 400 years ago.

Children dress up & they get candy, I doubt they are going to go over to the dark side......Our C of E church are having a childrens Halloween disco tonight so they must not be worried.

[Bathsheba]

When i worked in Libraries year after year we would get the Halloween box out, and stick black paper cut-out bats, and witches riding on broomsticks on the windows.
The only complaint on religious grounds was by villagers in our most far-flung branch(in Yorkshire!)

[jno]

AL, it's the foiling they're celebrating, not the attack itself. In fact celebrating was a legal requirement for many years.

[nailit]

//What about Harry Potter books and movies?//
I once had a conversation with a Christian friend who thought that Harry Potter was evil because it contained magic, talking animals, curses etc. He just couldn't see the irony...

[fiction-factory]

Give it a rest gulliver or go onyour travels for a bit. I've only read 3 threads today and two have the ones I've seen have included your pathetic Thatcher attacks. It's nearly 30 years since she left office