Must be around Halloween...

[Talitha Cumi]

I encountered my first real-life Chick tract the other day, and I was kind of excited. It was just a boring "you're going to hell if you're not saved" one, though. I prefer the ones about demons or the homosexuals. Much more entertaining.

It's not a Chick tract if there's no HAW HAW HAW!

[keen23]

When I was a child, and Catholic, I remember wearing costumes to CCD the week of Halloween. For a party. And the Nuns gave us candy.

[Rescinded and Mended]

When I was a child, and Catholic, I remember wearing costumes to CCD the week of Halloween. For a party. And the Nuns gave us candy.

Same here, we were allowed to wear costumes in Catholic school, and we were also given candy by the nuns. Heck, the school was even decorated for the holiday,a nd we had class parties.

My childhood Catholic school is only about 15 miles from where I currently live (in a southern state), and I am still trying to figure out when it became such an issue to celebrate Halloween in public schools down here.

[Patsy]

It's not a Chick tract if there's no HAW HAW HAW!

[paganhomeschooler]

I was allowed to wear costumes when I went to Catholic school, too. My kids weren't allowed to at their old elementary. There were several JWs, and they threw a fit, so everyone had to suffer. :-( All of the other elementaries in the district were allowed. It really sucked for my oldest. Her birthday is today, and she always wanted to wear her costume to school.

We're in Ohio, and as PP said, we always do ours the Sunday before from 3-5. It really sucks! It's been like that for most of my life. I can vaguely remember a couple of times when I was a small child it being dark when people were coming to the door, but it gets dark pretty early here, so it could have been that. A few communities here and there have it on Halloween at night, but it's random and more neighborhood-wide than city-wide.

[lagenialester]

Fundie alert! My cousin's wife (from the non-Jewish side) has been bordering on fundie lite for the past few years. This year she is up in arms against the persecution of Christians who choose not to celebrate Halloween. She claims it's not fair that her son had to listen to a Halloween book during storytime at the library when they have to censor themselves around Christmas.

Here's the kicker: she's now advocating that Christians instead celebrate Purim, because it's just like Halloween, but without satan.

As a Jew, I am LIVID! I will be so done with her if she compares my family's celebration of a sacred Jewish holiday passed down by our (heavily persecuted) ancestors to some "fun Christian Halloween".

[Nothing2CHere]

So, my son did not get a Chick Tract tonight, but he got a Jesus token! The one neighbor, who my husband's known this family for years and years and we never got a Crazy Jesus People vibe from them (I think they're Lutheran), had that along with a piece of paper encouraging us to watch some Billy Graham special that's going to be on TV soon in the little treat bag of candy she handed our son tonight.

The tokens were from Oriental Trading Company - I couldn't find them online, but these pins are pretty close to the design of the Jesus token: http://www.orientaltrading.com/christia ... %20pumpkin

[Minerva]

This came up at work today: is Halloween technically a religious holiday? I know it has religious roots, and I know certain religious groups are opposed to it. But what is it, exactly? Besides the best day of the year, in my opinion. (I'm totally not doing my homework in costume right now. Totally not.)

[GeoBQn]

Fundie alert! My cousin's wife (from the non-Jewish side) has been bordering on fundie lite for the past few years. This year she is up in arms against the persecution of Christians who choose not to celebrate Halloween. She claims it's not fair that her son had to listen to a Halloween book during storytime at the library when they have to censor themselves around Christmas.

Here's the kicker: she's now advocating that Christians instead celebrate Purim, because it's just like Halloween, but without satan.

As a Jew, I am LIVID! I will be so done with her if she compares my family's celebration of a sacred Jewish holiday passed down by our (heavily persecuted) ancestors to some "fun Christian Halloween".

Is your cousin's wife aware of the alcohol aspect, or does she think that we "get to the point of not letting good from evil" by getting drunk on grape juice? When I was studying abroad in Israel, a Christian friend made a comment on how he thought Jews "copied" the costume part from Halloween. I told him that the costumes were influenced by 16th Century Italian commedia dell'arte troupes.

When my dad was an assistant principal, he had to deal with one parent every year who demanded that the school's Halloween festivities be cancelled. He always responded, "We are not changing the entire school's plans just for one child. Your daughter will not be penalized if you take her out of school that day."

[Arete]

Fundie alert! My cousin's wife (from the non-Jewish side) has been bordering on fundie lite for the past few years. This year she is up in arms against the persecution of Christians who choose not to celebrate Halloween. She claims it's not fair that her son had to listen to a Halloween book during storytime at the library when they have to censor themselves around Christmas.

Here's the kicker: she's now advocating that Christians instead celebrate Purim, because it's just like Halloween, but without satan.

As a Jew, I am LIVID! I will be so done with her if she compares my family's celebration of a sacred Jewish holiday passed down by our (heavily persecuted) ancestors to some "fun Christian Halloween".

If she wants costumes without Satan, she can celebrate Mardi Gras as the run up before Lenten austerity. Technically it is not a religious holiday and both the Catholic and Orthodox church wish their people would knock off the excesses already, but it is basically a time to dress up in costume, have parades, and party. Wild sex and excessive drinking strictly optional and according to local custom. No scary costumes and you can even dress up as a Pope or a prophet.

This woman is what happens when people have no culture and just a book.

[PennySycamore]

I just got back from my daughter's house. The neighborhood they live in used to have quite a few fundies/Bob Jones types, but I wonder if they still do. This neighborhood really goes all out for Halloween. All the kids go trick-or-treating and get tons of candy. People decorate their houses. There are even a few that play appropriate music and one family shows horror movies on the front of their house.