Re: Bl**dy Halloween!

October 31, 2000

wrote

Wish I had the moral fibre to

> tell them that I don't 'do Halloween'

I picked up a tip from another mum in the playground today and have a notice

on my door saying " No Trick or Treat Please - Children Sleeping " It seems to

have done the trick so far.

Cerys

October 31, 2000

we seem to have escaped tonight...too far down a culdesac perhaps?

we don't *do* Halloween either -can't bear it! glad i'm not alone!

Angi

who 3 years ago took the rather over the top method of avoiding answering

the door by being in labour

>I had of course forgotten that it was Halloween today.

>

>I've had 5 groups of children at the door so far this evening - all

>ringing the doorbell loudly. They seem monumentally unimpressed with

>the tangerines I've been giving them! Wish I had the moral fibre to

>tell them that I don't 'do Halloween'

>

>Its not as if I recognise any of the children so far!

October 31, 2000

>>Angi

>>who 3 years ago took the rather over the top method of avoiding answering

>>the door by being in labour

>

>SNAP! DS3, 3 today.

hey happy birthday to Fraser! (though I guess he's in bed now) Georgi didn't

get born till 3am so her big day is tomorrow (as is Tikkis) I have to admit

to being quite glad (later when i thought about it not actually at the time)

that she had avoided both sharing a birthday with me (30th) or a Halloween

birthday, Nov 1st is All Saints Day.

Angi

October 31, 2000

DH decided ages ago that he did not want to be around because of the trick

or treaters, so he took us all out for a meal this evening to avoid the lot

of them! Just got back!

> I had of course forgotten that it was Halloween today.

>

> I've had 5 groups of children at the door so far this evening - all

> ringing the doorbell loudly. They seem monumentally unimpressed with

> the tangerines I've been giving them! Wish I had the moral fibre to

> tell them that I don't 'do Halloween'

>

> Its not as if I recognise any of the children so far!

>

> --

>

> See pictures of us all at:

> http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=848605

> Password: Wisley

>

> Live chat /chat/nct-coffee

>

> Have you found out about all the other groups for the NCT online?

>

October 31, 2000

>I picked up a tip from another mum in the playground today and have a

notice

>on my door saying " No Trick or Treat Please - Children Sleeping " It seems

to

>have done the trick so far.

Mine is similar - " No Trick or Treat please - baby in the bath " Managed to

sustain the " bath " for over 2 hours!

Lynda

SAHM to (7), (5), Fraser (3), Callum (15/5/00)

Newsletter editor, Mid-Northumberland Branch

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=762789

October 31, 2000

wrote:-

> I had of course forgotten that it was Halloween today.

> I've had 5 groups of children at the door so far this evening - all

> ringing the doorbell loudly. They seem monumentally unimpressed with

> the tangerines I've been giving them! Wish I had the moral fibre to

> tell them that I don't 'do Halloween'

I was wondering what reaction to have since I am a Christian and to

celebrate Halloween (All Soul's Day) is to support the Dark side. As fortune

had it I was at badminton till now and DH removed the door bell!

It would be really difficult to tell children what they are really doing as

they think it is just a game.

Oh well here's to All Saint's Day - tomorrow 1st November

October 31, 2000

>we seem to have escaped tonight...too far down a culdesac perhaps?

>we don't *do* Halloween either -can't bear it! glad i'm not alone!

>Angi

>who 3 years ago took the rather over the top method of avoiding answering

>the door by being in labour

SNAP! DS3, 3 today.

Lynda

SAHM to (7), (5), Fraser (3), Callum (15/5/00)

Newsletter editor, Mid-Northumberland Branch

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=762789

October 31, 2000

I'm totally boring and have parked the car across the front door so no-one can

get to it! I got fed up with children one year *demanding* money rather than

the fruit or sweets that I offered, so decided there and then that no trick or

treaters will be welcomed here again. Where *do* they get their ideas from?

Alison

P.S. I did do a pumpkin and Tim had the boys bobbing for apples, which resulted

in three very wet boys and a kitchen floor which could double as a paddling

pool.

I had of course forgotten that it was Halloween today.

I've had 5 groups of children at the door so far this evening - all

ringing the doorbell loudly. They seem monumentally unimpressed with

the tangerines I've been giving them! Wish I had the moral fibre to

tell them that I don't 'do Halloween'

Its not as if I recognise any of the children so far!

--

October 31, 2000

wrote:

>I was wondering what reaction to have since I am a Christian and to

>celebrate Halloween (All Soul's Day) is to support the Dark side.

Interesting point.

I am not religious at all and was disappointed to read in our local

paper someone's letter complaining about the number of fireworks going

off over the past few days in Nottingham, given that Diwali is being

celebrated and this is a festival of light etc and equivalent to Xmas/NY

in 'our' calendar. Equally, I was delighted that Steffi celebrated

Diwali with her classmates thanks to the input of parents who were

prepared to visit the school and explain the festival to the children.

I was actually quite sad that Hallowe'en was passed over as a result!

The way I look at it, the more things our children can learn about the

world around them and the different cultures the better, whether it be

pagan, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Mormom, whatever. I don't pretend to

understand them all but I'd like for my child to have a better

understanding.

And what did I do? Switch all the lights off and pretend to be out of

course! I don't mind carollers but I do make them perform but I have no

time for kids turning up at my doorstep demanding money with menaces.

The sooner some 'proper' US system of pumpkins-on-doorsteps and tolerant

households/attendant parents is introduced the better IMHO. Got to be

better than the current lack-of-system we have!

--

Sue

October 31, 2000

I also had one of those which said " No trick or treaters as baby asleep and VERY

LOUD DOG " which also kept us free from the little blighters. Was about to print

another one out tonight until I remembered that we no longer have a dog and most

of the children round here probably know!

Alison

I picked up a tip from another mum in the playground today and have a notice

on my door saying " No Trick or Treat Please - Children Sleeping " It seems to

have done the trick so far.

Cerys

October 31, 2000

Sue W wrote

> The sooner some 'proper' US system of pumpkins-on-doorsteps and tolerant

> households/attendant parents is introduced the better IMHO. Got to be

> better than the current lack-of-system we have!

Someone was telling me that where they used to live the local schools set up

rotas of houses that Trick or Treaters could go to and the children all met

at the school and were accompanied by an adult to the houses on their list -

generally parents of the children in the group. I think this would be a

great idea as then at least you'd know who was coming.

Cerys

November 1, 2000

D'ya know, we live on a main road and this time of year really pigs me off. We

get about 2 dozen trick or treat groups, followed sharply by 'Penny for the

Guy', followed by carollers.

DH really got into it this year wearing a scary mask to frighten the little

ones, and impress the older ones, and Emma enjoyed handing out the sweets and

eating the leftovers (me too).

We gave up ignoring them last year - too annoying as between 6 and 8 the

doorbell goes every 5 minutes.

I now go with the flow, and wish them Happy Halloween.

BUT Emma will never go out trick or treating - way too scary. But I was

impressed this year by the effort some of the parents had put into dressing

their children up. Better than the two teenagers who came last year to sing

carols and didn't get anything for their one verse of Away in

a Manger. Or the ones who dropped by a week early for Halloween just in their

normal clothes and were told to get lost.

Sue H.

November 1, 2000

On Tue, 31 Oct 2000 22:17:59 -0000, " The s "

wrote:

>I was wondering what reaction to have since I am a Christian and to

>celebrate Halloween (All Soul's Day) is to support the Dark side.

Um, what's this about sides ? It's not a football match you know !

Tonight is a day celebrated by many people around the world, and

99.9% of them are not devil worshipers - quite the opposite.

Samhain (Halloween) is a Pagan festival. I am Pagan. I celebrate

Samhain in a very quiet, personal way, on my own. This night is not

bad or " Dark " . It is a time that Pagans (and Wiccans, and others)

meditate, practice divination, perform rituals, have a party, spend

quiet time in contemplation of the meaning of the festival and its

history, or whatever else feels right to the person celebrating.

For the record, I can't stand trick or treating either, and always

pretend to be out (although, every once in a while, I am tempted to

put on my robes, get my athame out, paint a pentagram on my

forehead, and scare the living daylights out of them). :-) I can't

abide the attitude that money is the only acceptable treat ! When

did *that* come about ?!

I agree with Sue Woollett's post completely - we should all be far

more open and better informed about other religions and their

festivals... Don't we all get Christmas rammed down our throats ?

Easter (the christian version anyway) ?

You might like to read these:

http://www.witchvox.com/holidays/samhain/1031_samhain_history.html

http://www.witchvox.com/holidays/samhain/1031_realorigins.html

Blessed Samhain and Beltaine.

--

Clare Lusher.

SAHM to Ruairí (24.10.99).

NCT Member Derby & District.

www.yum.org/clare

November 1, 2000

Sue W said

>The sooner some 'proper' US system of pumpkins-on-doorsteps and tolerant

>households/attendant parents is introduced the better IMHO. Got to be

>better than the current lack-of-system we have!

What is actually required and ridiculously overdue is a appreciation of

something a bit closer to home.

The English media are to blame IMO because they never mentioned Hallow'een

until fairly recently and then took up an American View but despite their

attempts Hallow'een is alive and " dead " in Scotland. At least up here. WE

(that is part of the UK) have a tradition of dressing up and going out

" guising. " The verb guising is very much alive and " your Halloween " is what

you put in your bag but only after you have performed with some party piece.

Joke. Dance, Son.

It is almost as exciting as Xmas, sometimes adults dress up. Tonight my

kids were a Clown, a Vampire and Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. It took almost

2 hours to dress them and that was with everything ready!

A very fine pair of Ruby Slippers (4 days work and I could hardly sleep

after creating them) far before any Trick or Treat - whatever that might

mean!!

I have had a wonderful Halloween -and not a trick or treat in sight just

lots of guisers with jokes and songs. And a pumpkin on a doorstep!

My children are doing what I did, what my parents did and so on and yet we

have to listen to this pathetic debate every year about trick or treat.

Why do none of the TV companies come to Scotland?

Fiona

November 1, 2000

>Why do none of the TV companies come to Scotland?

Fiona, it sounds fantastic - I'm surprised you haven't dragged them up

there yourself! ;-)) Wish we'd had this conversation a week ago then

we could have mounted a campaign on the BBC/GMTV etc to get them up

there doing a piece.

I love the idea of kids dressing up and doing something for all these

festivals. I have nothing against Penny for the Guy or Carollers either

but I just loathe that feeling of opening the door and seeing a couple

of teenagers with their hands out for money! But good effort deserves

reward and those who put in the time and effort to make a proper guy etc

should IMHO learn that they will be rewarded whereas those who do a

shoddy job should learn they won't!

JMHO.

--

Sue

November 1, 2000

>I was wondering what reaction to have since I am a Christian and to

>celebrate Halloween (All Soul's Day) is to support the Dark side.

Well, from what I have read, the tradition of Hallowe'en is that the

'evil' is out there, since it is trying to take over in the last minute

before all the saints come out on Nov 1st. They might get you UNLESS you

dress up and run around in the streets to confuse the evil spirits as to

who you are and where you live. So it IS Christian (specifically Catholic

and C of E, since I grew up Methodist and had never even heard of All

Saints' Day except as the day after Halloween until I lived in France

where their separation of church and state goes so far as to give them 2

weeks off school for this and every other vaguely religious holiday) and

NOT an attempt to worship the devil. It served the same purpose as putting

gargoyles on churches.

Oh, and All Soul's Day/Day of the Dead is the 2nd (or 3rd?). I'd love to

hear the reaction to the Mexican celebration, where they dress up as

skeletons and go for picnics in graveyards and such to commune with their

dead loved ones.

>Um, what's this about sides ? It's not a football match you know !

>Tonight is a day celebrated by many people around the world, and

>99.9% of them are not devil worshipers - quite the opposite.

In fact, most of my friends were Christian as I grew up and most dressed

up and went trick or treating. It was only in the past few years that I

have heard of a few groups saying it comes from the devil.

Someone mentioned the kids all gathering at the school and going to

approved houses only - that's more of a hedge against the few nasty cases

every year in the US where some psychopath puts razor blades, poison or

drugs in the candy they hand out. But it also keeps the handful of

miscreants from throwing eggs at people's houses, at least until later,

when it's the bigger kids who do it...

In my home town, there is a single day set by the city - usually a Friday

and not necessarily on the 31st - that is Trick or Treat night. We always

had tons and tons of kids come by and it was a lot of fun.

I figured we wouldn't have anyone here, but had one group and my husband

went out and said in his Frrainch acSENNNNT that we didn't have anything.

Oh, and another group on the 30th, which isn't even the right night.

Phyllis (token American)

__________________________________________________

November 1, 2000

Agree with you, Fiona. Children have been guising at our door each 31st Oct

ever since we moved to Scotland over 20 yrs ago. Last night there were some

magnificent costumes and all the children told jokes, sang a song, or

recited a poem.

Having said that, I don't like the tradition, I find it intrusive when I am

trying to have my dinner and generally recover from the day! Thank

goodness, DD1 is too old for it and DD2 hasn't yet demanded to go out,

although she was high as a kite because it was Hallowen..even though she

hadn't a clue what it is!!

Lesley

---------------

Fiona said......What is actually required and ridiculously overdue is a

appreciation of

something a bit closer to home.

hours to dress them and that was with everything ready!

I have had a wonderful Halloween -and not a trick or treat in sight just

lots of guisers with jokes and songs. And a pumpkin on a

doorstep!......and......My children are doing what I did, what my parents

did and so on and yet we

have to listen to this pathetic debate every year about trick or treat.

Why do none of the TV companies come to Scotland?

Live chat /chat/nct-coffee

Have you found out about all the other groups for the NCT online?

November 1, 2000

Clare, I can't decide whether this is for real or if you're getting confused

with April Fools Day.

Lynda

SAHM to (7), (5), Fraser (3), Callum (15/5/00)

Newsletter editor, Mid-Northumberland Branch

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=762789

Clare Lusher wrote: