Hate Halloween?

[WonderfulChristmasTime1]

Am I one of the only people around who hates halloween? I seriously don't see what purpose it serves, and over here in Liverpool it merely encourages crime and vandalism. We always here of old people being targeted by 'trick or treaters' and having their homes attacked if they don't answer the door. Many houses on my estate have been attacked, and it seems that halloween merely encourages anti-social behaviour amongst youths.

So is it like that over in the US of A or is it just a British thing? I am a firm anti-halloweenist as are many of my friends.

Good day,

Sebastien.

[scrooge2]

Liverpool is well known though for anti-social behaviour. Scousers have got a well deserved reputation it seems.

[e_xander]

Here in the US, it isn't as bad. We still have our vandals that go around at Halloween, but in my area of the US (upper midwest), for the most part, it isn't too bad.

If you have all that bad stuff happening, I can see why you would hate Halloween! :o

Sean

[Christy Carol]

Nope, I actually like the day. We dont have any real issues in my town or any in the state that I have heard of. Sorry you are not able to enjoy that time of year. Bet you really start looking forward to Christmas early dont ya?

[xmaslilly]

I like Sean live in WI.
We haved lived here in our present house for 10 yrs and never had any sort of theft or vandelism.
We have a huge outside party every yr and I put up a 10x20 tent filled with halloween stuff. Also have pumpkins all over,and large graveyard in the yard and all my many things that go along with that , nothing has ever been touched ...
and i have only seen 1 pumpkin smashed in the road in those 10 yrs.
I guess it all depends where you live.

[devOn]

i like Halloween too... there doesn't seem anything going on in our small town.

[devOn]

i like Halloween too... there doesn't seem anything going on in our small town.

[slick]

I love every holiday my favorite is christmas and then halloween and then so on.

[megarrick]

Nobody in my part of the country decorates for Halloween but the kids do go around trick or treating and my family does give out candy. Personally, I have never been trick or treating (not even when I was little) so it wouldn't be right for me to say I hated it or loved. The holiday doesn't excite me nor depress me. It just means Christmas is right around the corner!

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r308/megarrick/Gifts.gif

[Merry Sage]

Halloween is definitely not a big success on this side of the Atlantic. It may even be wearing a bit thin in North America too. But that doesn't stop me enjoying it! I have several Wiccan friends so Samhain, as it is known to them, is a signficiant holiday on the calender.

But then, being a Canuck, any excuse to decorate and have a party will do! :boo:

[sarahelizabeth]

We don't have that kind of trouble over here. I love Halloween, and think it is a really enjoyable holiday.

[SC]

My mom passed away a few years ago, but strangely enough I always think of her around Halloween.

My mom was years ahead of her time on decorating for Halloween. When I was a kid growing up in the late 60s and yearly 70s she would decorate the whole house and invite people in on Halloween. She would spend months creating tombstones out of cardboard boxes for the front yard with a clever limerick on each headstone. She took quilt batting and turned it into instant cobwebs and scoured every mail order catalog for rubber spiders, frogs, and eyeballs. Ketchup was not a suitable fake blood for her, so she invented her own concoction using a variety of food coloring (believe it or not it wasn't all red) and starch that would convince the best forensic investigators. To this day I have no idea how she made it. She turned our piano into a coffin with a guest lying in state and decorated each of us as a classic horror film monster. We recorded hours and hours of our own sound effects onto cassette tapes and played in the bushes. And all this was WAY before you could purchase Halloween decorations, supplies, or party essentials.

I sometimes wonder if she would like the fact that now you can purchase all of this stuff in the local Walmart down the road. But I suspect she would still prefer to make her own decorations.

[caseydbell]

I dont like halloween.

[Jeff Westover]

Wow, SC, sounds like Mom was a real party animal. I can see where your love for the holidays comes from with Mom being that into it.

It cracks me up to see people use Halloween as a means to get on their religious soap box. Halloween is simple fun around a simple theme. That's all, nothing more, nothing less.

Anciently it had more to do with bringing good luck into a home than it did any kind of connection to the occult. It is too bad that modern society has twisted perception of it or, worse, have used it as an excuse to vandalize or injure.

Of course, the same can be said of Christmas. Many go to excess at Christmas that is way beyond food -- abuse, murder, depression, even torture has been tied to the merry season.

It takes all sorts to make the world go around.

Kudos to Mom, SC and may you have great Halloween celebrations in the future in her honor!!

[Minta]

I like Halloween. I am getting more and more into it beacuse of the kids. Each year we decorate a bit more.

[SC]

It cracks me up to see people use Halloween as a means to get on their religious soap box. Halloween is simple fun around a simple theme. That's all, nothing more, nothing less.
<snip>

I know what you mean. Before she decided to become a nurse, my mom was almost a nun. She was very Catholic. But she always saw Halloween for what it is simple fun.

[Jeff Westover]

Sounds like Mom was/is a saint.

[elfworks]

It cracks me up to see people use Halloween as a means to get on their religious soap box. Halloween is simple fun around a simple theme. That's all, nothing more, nothing less.

Anciently it had more to do with bringing good luck into a home than it did any kind of connection to the occult. It is too bad that modern society has twisted perception of it or, worse, have used it as an excuse to vandalize or injure.


have i told you lately that i love you?

xo

[sugarplum fairy]

I think Halloween is what you make of it. It was always just a fun time to dress up in anything I wanted and eat junk food. I never thought about any "meaning" to it. I was never told any "meaning" about it. It wasn't until I got older and paid attention to the news media and all the controversy that I learned it was suppose to have a "meaning". I still treat Halloween the same way I did growing up.

[Christy Carol]

You took the words right out of my mouth. I still treat Halloween as a day to be goofy, dress funny and eat way too much candy. I dress up every year and go to work in whatever tacky outfit I can come up with. I go trick or treating to my co-workers and pass out candy,

Just amazes me there is always someone out there that has to try and ruin it for everyone else.

[caseydbell]

I agree with you Jeff there are now so many more extremes w/ every holiday. just fyi to all my reasoning for halloween is not a crazy one. we had something happen one year and I like to staw away from the 31st holiday because of what happened.

[Jeff Westover]

Sorry to hear that, Casey. I remember a disasterous Christmas once. I've spent many Christmases since trying to put it behind me. It happens, sadly.

[Head Elf]

Samhain is very specail to me as a Wiccan, but so is the Yule. Growing up in the Midwest we didn't decorate for Christmas as much, but my dad always did something for the little kids on Halloween! One year he made a Halloween stand made out of plywood. He painted a pumpkin on it and the nose was where we handed out candy to all the trick or treaters. When I was very little, he took a hollowed out pumpkin that had a face carved on it, put it on his head and wrapped a white bedsheet around him and sat on our porch. When the big kids (teenagers) came by and wanted to smash the pumpkin, my dad would wait til they got close and then scare them. But when the little kids came up to him he wouldn't scare them.:witch:

[Billy Battles]

I like Halloween, never had any problems on Halloween. However I am from the Detroit area and we have to have people patrol for Devil's Night

[kgstyles]

I love Halloween! Evrywhere I've ever lived it's just been the normal egg throwing and TPing of trees or pumpkin smashing. Nothing a hose can't wash off.

[Head Elf]

All the history in Halloween... why we use pumpkins.... why we wear masks... there is so much there in culture and the media has to turn it ugly and it's getting as commercial as Christmas. With all the sicko's out there that are *()_ bent on hurting little kids just for their own selfish kicks. Again, it's another holiday that people forget what it was like to be a kid and to enjoy the end of the harvest and getting ready for the next holiday. Sad!!!

[kgstyles]

All the history in Halloween... why we use pumpkins.... why we wear masks... there is so much there in culture and the media has to turn it ugly and it's getting as commercial as Christmas. With all the sicko's out there that are *()_ bent on hurting little kids just for their own selfish kicks. Again, it's another holiday that people forget what it was like to be a kid and to enjoy the end of the harvest and getting ready for the next holiday. Sad!!!


You said it right. The media "storytellers" always have to turn everything around and turn something fun into a controversey.

[Head Elf]

I guess that's one of the reasons I go all out for the holidays. To make a child happy and to see the wonder in their eyes. I know that money is always involved but to see that look, it's priceless.

[Sunshine73]

Luckily, in my neck the woods, we've never really had problems with vandalism like that on Halloween.

Personally, I love the holiday...to me it's the actual gateway to the winter holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years), besides a government sanctioned day where you are allowed to dress in silly costumes and go door to door begging for chocolate is always a good idea in my book!

[JanaBanana]

I too love the holiday... I dont "read" too much into it as just a special time of year for my children to enjoy dressing up, getting free candy and what-not. The decorations that go along with it are for fun as well.. they get so excited when they get off the school bus and see that mom has decorated the house and smell homemade pumpkin bread when they run through the door. To me thats what makes it a fun holiday... not to mention its the start for my favortie Holiday CHRISTMAS!!!

[Cedarfarm]

I adore Halloween. All my favorite things rolled into one, crisp fall days, bright colors, wonderful pumpkins ( which I grow every year, without fail ) people seem happier, weather cooler, wood stoves & smell of wood smoke, leaves, leaves, leaves...and of course the best of all, the anticipation of the best holiday of all....guess what!

And some mulled wine on the stove doesn't hurt either!

[JanaBanana]

You summed it up for me CF :)

[Jack Frost]

Halloween is the second largest grossing holiday in America. In terms of popularity it has only grown bigger as far as I can tell. Many have already commented that any holiday can be changed on an individual level to mean and include almost anything they want. I'm not surprised those in Europe are not as into Halloween as Americans because the popular notion of Halloween is a uniquely American holiday.

For my family, we down play the more ghoulish features. It is more a time of dress up and pretend and a chance to get some minor thrills from pumpkins, skeletons, and bats. We almost always dress as heroes or possibly classic monsters like Frankenstein (last year the whole family was the Munsters).

For Catholics especially it can be a time of witness due to the celebrations of All Souls and All Saints, it was the church that helped give the holiday its name after all. My wife and I include prayers for those being purified in purgatory and link our thoughts to their cause. As for vandalism, other than a tp job once in a blue moon I've never seen or heard of (locally anyway) any "attacks" on the general populace. That's more urban legend in my neck of the woods.

[Head Elf]

Spending Halloween (Samhain) in Ireland was the best. We spent the day at Newgrange and it was glorious. We smelled the bonfires that were being lit and all the myths and legends came into my head. Dublin wasn't so bad, but in some of the out lying areas they told us to becareful. Most of Ireland keeps to the old ways, it was really nice. I have heard that England isn't so festive. That young hooligans seem to like to take life into their own hands and beat up defenseless elders and young children. It's a shame that they have to ruin a fun holiday. But Ireland knows how to celebrate Samhain.

[scooterbugs25]

All my favorite things rolled into one, crisp fall days, bright colors, wonderful pumpkins ( which I grow every year, without fail ) people seem happier, weather cooler, wood stoves & smell of wood smoke, leaves, leaves, leaves...and of course the best of all, the anticipation of the best holiday of all....guess what!



I Hate this tacky holiday! I think if i had children or had children that came around I would like it better. with some decorations. MAYBE! LOL We live in a rural mountain town and there is no sign of Halloween here at all. But people decorate for harvest and put up nice harvest displays. I always buy a couple packages of candy bars in case we do get a trick or treat-er. They get a couple full size candy bars. we had 2 children last year for the first time in 5 years! WOW- we had a record..lol

CF: you described why i like that time of the year perfectly. Very calm and serene. I love the smells of autumn! especially the bonfires and crackling leaves!


:boo:

[MissKringle]

I don't think it's a big thing in Oz & we don't get vandals in my town, kids dress up & go round trick or treating some years, it's fun, just not big.

[Maureen]

Halloween isn't big in Scotland either although more kids are going "'Guising" They don't know why though - if they see it on TV, then that's good enough for them!!

I still really like Halloween, even though I was attacked one year when I was 10, whilst out Trick or Treating (living just outside Montreal at the time). I was okay and they were only after my candy and Unicef box but it scared the hell out of me and especially my parents.

The best thing that came out of that was I found out just how great my friends were as they all pooled their candy together so I could get some of theirs:devil:

[Jack Frost]

Halloween isn't big in Scotland either although more kids are going "'Guising" They don't know why though - if they see it on TV, then that's good enough for them!!

I still really like Halloween, even though I was attacked one year when I was 10, whilst out Trick or Treating (living just outside Montreal at the time). I was okay and they were only after my candy and Unicef box but it scared the hell out of me and especially my parents.

The best thing that came out of that was I found out just how great my friends were as they all pooled their candy together so I could get some of theirs:devil:
Good Grief!! I'm sorry that happenedto you. I can't believe stuff like that actually happens. Being from the American midwest I think if that happened in my nieghborhood those boys would be chased down by all the parents within earshot and beaten ruthlessly. Especially now a days when child safety is so emphasized. I have just never seen anything like that happen. The teen kids around here still trick or treat and love looking at the made-up houses.

[Amanda Elf]

I love the Fall, the leaves changing color, cool air and pumpkins.
I also love Halloween. My husband and I put up some kind of display whether inside or out and dress up when we take our kids out (we don't collect candy though). This year we are doing a witches kitchen.
We don't have anything more than a few smashed pumpkins on the road, this usually happens before the 31st though and I've never heard tell of them being taken from someones yard.
I guess Halloween is what you make it!
My Mother hates Halloween, says it's devils worship..lol..but buys for the trick or treaters that come to her house. I also celebrated it as a child, she never kept me from it.

[kidzrme]

I live on a small Island and everyone(for the most part) decorates for Halloween. All of the schools put on Halloween parties for their communities, People decorate their yards to the max, Kids can safely walk from house to house trick or treating, it is WONDERFUL! I am very blessed to belong to such a spectacular community.:boo:

[xlizxfraserx]

I live on a small Island and everyone(for the most part) decorates for Halloween. All of the schools put on Halloween parties for their communities, People decorate their yards to the max, Kids can safely walk from house to house trick or treating, it is WONDERFUL! I am very blessed to belong to such a spectacular community.:boo:
yeah its the same way around where I live.Its one of my favorite holidays,I love being able to dress up and go out (yes I still do and I am in highschool) it's usualy a great time.

[Annette1990]

It's not to bad where I live. Just the typical egging and pumpkin smashing. Harmless really but annoying.

[chanelsmile112298]

yuck i hate Halloween as well.
Here in Ohio theres alot of crime as well
mostly harm to animals. Not my type of holiday!!

[Euan Buchan]

I getsad on Halloween because I want to be a kid and dress up lol. Halloween now is pretty much dangerous teenagers throw eggs at houses

[Sifreynir]

I am not really sure on the halloween thing. As someone said they do guising here, which I believe is the origin of the trick or treating.

Where I grew up we had something called 'mischevious night' which was the night before bonfire/guy fawkes night. This is where you went out and caused as much mischief as possible. This often involved vandalism and we had community police officers come into the schools and tell us to just be cheeky not destructive.

I don't know where that particular custom comes from, or for that matter how widespread across the UK it is. Would be interested if anyone has any info on that.

We try to have a party of some sort around wintersnight, but not specifically at halloween tho they tend to fall quite close together.

The kids dress up for school tho, they really enjoy that.

[Maureen]

Just out of curiousity, Halloween is traditionally a time to scare and be scared.

What would scare you (apart from a meeting with the bank manager!)??

Clowns get me everytime - hate the bl**dy things!!!!!!

[Sifreynir]

nothing to fear but fear itself

[Maureen]

Very true - but clowns are what instill the fear in the first place!!!!

[dvdguy]

cant sleep clown will eat me

[RavenHardt]

I normally love halloween, but for some reason this year....I am more excited about Christmas than I am about halloween....I just dont know why.....I have not even decorated my house for halloween and that is not me at all....but, I have already bought Christmas decorations....I guess you can tell what is on my mind....

[sila]

me too!!!!!!!
i collect nightmare before xmas stuff so i have some halloween / xmas decorations out all year round

[whychristmas]

I'm not really a fan. It seems to be used an excuse for thugery as much as anything now... and last year there were stories of fireworks being tied to animals, not good.

Anyway, here's some great halloween cartoons!
http://www.reverendfun.com/artchives/?search=halloween

[gennifyr]

I recently got into Halloween after buying a house. We don't get a lot of trick or treaters here but we do throw an awesome adults only costume party.

I always thought the devil's night thing was a myth. I've lived in three different cities (Canada) and have never in my 27 years heard of or witnessed egg throwing, pumpkin smashing or toilet paper wrapping in any of the places I've lived.

[kelly ann]

I think Halloween is becoming more commercialised over here too. I went to Tescos (supermarket) and was amazed to see they had 2 aisles full of Halloween stuff, from masks, to make up you name it they had it. I had never seen so much stuff for it before. We don't seem to get too much trouble here in Swansea. I take my daughter trick or treating but the majority of the time you find that not many will answer their door. You can't blame them really.

[Billy Battles]

I always thought the devil's night thing was a myth. I've lived in three different cities (Canada) and have never in my 27 years heard of or witnessed egg throwing, pumpkin smashing or toilet paper wrapping in any of the places I've lived.

I live in the Metro Detroit area where Devil's night originated. It is real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devilsnight

[caseydbell]

This day next week is halloween. I'm ready for it to be over with. Lets get to November, in the swing of the holiday season! I'm ready for it.

[Head Elf]

Sorry to hear about all the problems overseas. The town I grew up in (actually an island) it was very safe to go door to door. Even then we had to get our candy checked out and mostly the apples. Then it seemed to go to hell. People wanting to hurt people and animals and such. So sad..... I know that when I was in Ireland a couple of years ago, I had a blast on Halloween (Samhain). I enjoyed it so much. The bonfires and such. Where I am at now, the kids don't go door to door, they have trunk or treating. People deck out their trunks (boots) and hand out candy for the kids that are dressed up. It's a big tail gate party. Usually held in the Church parking lot.

[clarebear]

I like Halloween, its harmless fun. I guess its a holiday you either love or hate.
I love to carve a good olde pumpkin i must say!

[ROCKIN'_Red-Green]

not bragging or anything because it is stupid but over here in Pittsburgh vandalizim is pretty LARGE around Halloween and ESPECIALLY Devils Night so yeah it all depends on where you go in the US...

[Annette1990]

not bragging or anything because it is stupid but over here in Pittsburgh vandalizim is pretty LARGE around Halloween and ESPECIALLY Devils Night so yeah it all depends on where you go in the US...
I agree completely. I know the community I live in I think I seen maybe 2 smashed pumpkins. I didn't read anything in the paper about vandalism which is good.

[Miss Darcy]

I am not such a big fan of Halloween. I have never really celebrated it. I have never been trick or treating. This year I went to a Halloween party which I did not enjoy. The party is really my only experience of Halloween and from that experience I can say that I do not like it.

[Annette1990]

I wish I got that many kids..I only had maybe 20
So needless to say I am stuck with the candy, my daughter also has a ton left, she really isnt a big sweet eater.

[SW1Dennis]

:sparkle:

I like Halloween because the weather here finally cools down and I know that Christmas is just right around the corner.

[Holly Cl'Oz]

I think Halloween is fun!! I love the decorations, not the blood and gory stuff, but traditional decorations. I used to love trick or treat but we've moved to an area where we won't get any trick or treaters which is too bad. One year we'd love to have our own Halloween party, but finances haven't allowed it yet. :pumpkin: And during the Halloween season I love to read books about Halloween and watch documentaries.

[Dom]

I always liked Halloween as I do most holidays...it's different. That's the key...kids dress up (heck and some adults) and get candy...it may not be the most significant holiday but I think it's a fun one where you as an adult can also kind of remember being a kid and enjoying that day.

[dvdguy]

any holiday where you get free candy is ok by me

[SnowMaiden1018]

Getting the kids all dressed up and taking them out to get candy is the best part!!! They arent allowed to eat alot of candy through out the rest of the year, so halloween is really a treat for them (and for me!!) lol..

[Dom]

Any day you can eat candy it has to be a good day.

[clarebear]

Any day you can eat candy it has to be a good day.

I agree there :D

[Dom]

I like to see kids being kids...and adults being kids...both can happen on Halloween at times. Sometimes you see kids and they seem to grow up almost too fast. It's nice that on Halloween a lot of kids don't seem to be that way.

[EdNog]

I love Halloween and get more and more into it as the years go by.
That first lighting of the pumpkins when you get to see how your carving skills have turned out never fails to thrill me!

I also like Halloween as it signals for me that the Christmas season has really arrived in earnest...same as Guy Fawkes Night five days later.

Love the smell of candle cooking pumpkin...can't wait!!

[Dom]

I used to have a lady on the block who'd staple a bag of popcorn together and put it in for Halloween...like I'm gonna eat that.

[ducktapehero]

I like Halloween, my wife LOVES it. So I play along. She does the same for me at Xmas so it works out. Of course living in the Bible belt sometimes you have people who want to say that it's "an evil holiday" but I say horse doo doo. There are people who love Xmas purely as a secular holiday so why can't that apply to Halloween too.

[MrsH]

Halloween is one of my top three holidays. Christmas and Thanksgiving are tied, Fourth of July is second and Halloween third. Halloween is great because it is creative and all about fun.