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Hallowe'en / Halloween (General / Compendium Thread)

A

ARRRRRRRRGH

Guest
Halloween origins, extensions and oddities.

Halloween is less than a month away, so I think it's time for Newbie posters, and the invocation of long dead threads...



Halloween Origins:
I bet most of the people have heard of the following...
1. A celebration of the Celtic new year.
2. Christian overlaying of all saints & all souls day on the
older pagan celebrations.

But are there any other contrarian theories about halloween origins?

This thread talks a little about Halloween origins,
It suggests parts of the halloween tradition have become part of guy fawkes hight (the burning of effigies).
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5636&highlight=halloween


Trick or treat.

This site gives 2 possible origins of trick or treat.
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001030/halloween.shtml

1. That the tradition evolved from a "lords of misrule" style day of
pranks, and then, as the article says...
The practice of going door-to-door for candy became widespread in the United States in the 1930s; this was a means of containing the night's traditional mischief and mayhem. Although this did not entirely squelch the toilet-papering of trees or egging of cars on this night, it did provide a new take on an old tradition that brings delight and sugar-highs to children throughout the country.
Click to expand...

2. This more pious origin..
Another early form of trick-or-treating dates from 9th century Europe, when beggars walked door to door begging for small "soul cakes" (baked especially for the occasion) on All Soul's Day. For every cake received while going "a-souling," a prayer was said for the dead relatives of the giver. It was thought that a soul's passage to heaven stayed in limbo for quite some time, and that all prayers, even those of a stranger, could ease a loved one's way into heaven. It was also bad form to appear stingy in front of all those visiting deceased relatives!
Click to expand...

Another link with guy fawkes night is suggested by this site:
http://www.123student.com/religion/3500.shtml

The date [5th of November] became
widely celebrated in England. Bands of revellers began to wear masks on that date
and visited local Catholics during the night demanding beer and cakes for their
celebration. This is the root of what has become known as "trick or treat!".
As French and Irish Catholics immigrated into the colonies, they began to inter-
marry. The combination of their traditions mixed with people of other
nationalities is what led to the current way we celebrate Halloween.
Click to expand...


Note that all the above are American origin,
So, here's something from the UK....
http://www.sorcerers-apprentice.co.uk/hallowee.htm

I find it interesting that the origins of the Halloween traditions are confused and conflicting.
Seems appropriate for a festival of tricks, pranks and restless spirits.

Any other interesting Halloween traditions and references, or annecdotes?
 
Well, there is the infamous anti-Halloween creation of Samhain, the Celtic God of the Dead, but this is usually used by religious types to try and convince worshippers of the evil traditions of Halloween.

The belief that Samhain is a Celtic God of the Dead is near universal among conservative Christian ministries, authors and web sites. They rarely cite references. This is unfortunate, because it would greatly simplify the job of tracing the myth of Samhain as a God:

In 1989, Johanna Michaelsen wrote a book opposing the New Age, Humanism and Wicca. It is titled "Your Child and the Occult" She writes:
"The Feast of Samhain was a fearsome night, a dreaded night, a night in which great bonfires were lit to Samana the Lord of Death, the dark Aryan god who was known as the Grim Reaper, the leader of the ancestral Ghosts."

The Watchman Fellowship Inc is a conservative Christian counter-cult group which attempts to raise public concern over religious groups whose theological teachings deviate from orthodox Christianity. Lately, they have also been expressing concern about the dangers of inter-religious dialog. They seem to imply that belief in Baal, a Middle Eastern deity, made it all the way into Celtic lands. They assert:
"It [Halloween] was at this time of the year that Baal, the Celtic god of Spring and Summer, ended his reign. It was also when the Lord of the Dead, Samhain, began his reign."

David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam serial killer, converted to conservative Christianity after his trial and incarceration. He has claimed that he was simply a lookout for an evil Satanic cult who actually performed the murders. He further states that "Sam" in "Son of Sam" comes from the name of the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain, which he pronounced "Sam-hane." His story is suspect because: He mispronounced Samhain. Samhain is not a Celtic God. Samhain is not a Satanic deity either. The police investigators are convinced that he was a lone killer, not a member of a group.

David Porter, author of "Hallowe'en: Treat or Trick?," comments:
"The Celtic New Year festival was known as the celebration of Samhain, the Lord of the Dead."

John Ankerbert & John Weldon have written a series of pamphlets that are among the best works by conservative Christian authors for the general public. They make extensive use of footnotes and exhibit careful research of their topic. Apparently they were faced with a conflict with respect to Samhain - whether: to follow the findings of historians and archaeologists, and admit that Samhain is simply the name of the festival, or to support previous Christian authors and refer to Samhain as the Druidic God of the Dead even though there is no archeological evidence to support that conclusion. They compromised by stating:

"...400 names of Celtic gods are known...'Samhain' as the specific name of the Lord of Death is uncertain, but it is possible that the Lord of Death was the chief druidic deity. We'll follow the lead of several other authors and call him Samhain."

This is a strange comment, because they must have been aware that there is no mention in the historical record of a major Celtic God called Samhain. Thus is it most improbable that Samhain would be the chief Druidic deity, and have gone so long undetected.

On the other hand there are conservative Christians who follow the lead of archeological and religious research. Richard Bucher from a Massachusetts congregation of the Lutheran church - Missouri Synod writes:
"Nothing in the extant literature or in the archaeological finds supports the notion that there ever existed a god of the dead known as Samam (sometimes spelled, 'Samhain,' pronounced 'sow -en'), though hundreds of gods' names are known. Rather, Saman or Samhain is the name of the festival itself. It means "summer's end" and merely referred to the end of one year and the beginning of the new.
Click to expand...

Link to Religious Tolerance

Also, there is a book called Santa Claus: Last Of The Wild Men that seems to think that Halloween, Christmas, and New Years are pieces and reminants of a singular ancient holiday tradition about the death of the old year and the birth of the new, that were split up over the years into seperate festivals but that the basic ancient version held important elements of all three....
 
Well the confusion of Halloween with the 5th November seems to have happened over here in some places as well. Certainly, where I grew up in Southport, kids celebrated Mischief Night on the 4th November - the eve of Bonfire Night.

This was the night to take gates off their hinges and post dog poo through letterboxes and knock on doors and run away.

The treat would be a sound thrashing, if caught.

Not that I ever could manage to take a gate off its hinges. :p
 
The custom of dressing-up or wearing costumes on Hallowe'en:

From British Folk Customs by Christina Hole, 1976

Hallowe'en was and still is in some places, a time when mischievous pranks of many kinds are played and tolerated.
It was also one of the anniversaries* on which the Guisers appeared.
Click to expand...

p90

and on Trick and Treaters with lighted, hollowed-out turnips/ pumpkins on sticks...

[...] the origin of their custom, like that of the Hallowe'en Guisers, was the impersonation of the returning dead and still stranger spirits then abroad, and by that impersonation, the protection of themselves and others from the power of these spectres.
Click to expand...

p91

*Guisers also appeared at other festivals throughout the year such as Christmas

Guisers at World Wide Words

GUISER
A masquerader, a mummer.

It’s obvious enough that a guiser is somebody who adopts a guise, who takes on a different form or appearance (disguise comes from the same root). It’s the usual name for the participants in local customs in Britain that involve dressing up and performing an entertainment, such as a mummers’ play.
[...]



It has survived most actively in Scotland. After this piece first appeared in the newsletter, subscriber Jane Brown wrote: “I lived in an Aberdeenshire village some 20 years ago and I remember the guisers who came round on Halloween night. They were the local youngsters, dressed up in ghoulish attire, who performed a song, dance or told a joke in exchange for sweets or a small amount of money. Before I left the area, the custom had begun to be taken over by the American Trick or Treat, which was not as popular with the residents”.

And Chris Smith wrote: “In Shetland it’s always guizer. Children go guizing at Hallowe’en, but the most important guizing takes place at Up-Helly-A’ in late January. The torch-lit parade is led by the Guizer Jarl’s squad (who get to grow enormous beards and dress up as Vikings), followed by other squads of just plain guizers”.
The word has had other forms, such as guisard and another Scots form, gyser. A further dialect form, geezer, has become a common term for a man, as in diamond geezer, a London term of affection and admiration.
Click to expand...


Divination used to be carried out at Hallowe'en, one surviving custom that I can remember carrying out at parties as a child is the old favourite- apple bobbing (which I know still goes on) but I can remember also trying to peel the caught apple skin in one go (so that I would have a long strip of skin) this would then be thrown over the shoulder and it should land in the shape of a letter, this letter then denotes the initial of your husband/wife-to-be's name. I recall too that apple pips also figure in some of the rites.
 
I was about to confirm the suggestion that many aspects of Bonfire Night are derived from older Samhain traditions (particularly the burning of effigies - ie the Guy - on the bonfire)..... Until I realsised I was the one who made the point in the older thread in the first place! :rolleyes:

Here's some more info about Samhain:

Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.

Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means “summer's end.” In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.

As at all the turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near to Earth at Samhain, so many sacrifices and gifts were offered up in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be healed were cast into the fire, and at the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane. As they received the flame that marked this time of beginnings, people surely felt a sense of the kindling of new dreams, projects and hopes for the year to come.

The Samhain fires continued to blaze down the centuries. In the 1860s the Halloween bonfires were still so popular in Scotland that one traveler reported seeing thirty fires lighting up the hillsides all on one night, each surrounded by rings of dancing figures, a practice which continued up to the first World War. Young people and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterwards, ashes from the fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the winter months -- and of course, they also improved the soil. The bonfire provided an island of light within the oncoming tide of winter darkness, keeping away cold, discomfort, and evil spirits long before electricity illumined our nights. When the last flame sank down, it was time to run as fast as you could for home, raising the cry, “The black sow without a tail take the hindmost!”
Click to expand...

http://www.celticspirit.org/samhain.htm
 
My hypothesis on Hallow'een is that it was just about ready to disappear into the archive of quaint old English customs like wassailing and oak apple day and maypole dancing: when it was suddenly resuscitated by the movie E.T .
 
Nowt creepy from me here so tough!;)
However I was wondering, what with Hallowe'en just around the corner , if anyone has any good stories / experiences connected with the event? A bit of a begging post this I suppose but I reckon that I'm probably in the right place for some decent creepy stuff!
Cheers people,

Nick.


PS: Are there any decent web-sites detailing the history/significance of the festival?
 
hi

as far as i can see this is written in non-ironic mode
MF

source:
------------------------------
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art13725.asp


quote:
--------------------------------
Christians and Halloween

Jenna Robinson



I have been asked whether I am against Halloween. My response is that I am. I of course have no aversion to candy...or dressing up in a ridiculous costume to be funny. I have children so we always have viewed Halloween as a time to be funny and get a chocolate rush. One year our family put on white trash bags filled with newspaper and went to our friends house dressed as “white trash” it was incredibly funny! Now we skip it. All it took was one Christian friend to show me that what I thought was harmless and fun-filled was dangerous for my family. So, now, my opinion has changed and I AM against a holiday which worships the devil.

Halloween is also refered to as Samhain( pronounced sow-wine most of the time), and is still celebrated as an ancient pagan festival of the dead by wiccans and pagans all over the world. Unfortunately, just giving the date a "holy" name like All Hallows' Eve or All Saints' Eve cannot change its grisly character. Halloween is an occasion when the ancient gods (actually demons) were worshiped with human sacrifice by the ancient Druids. The apostle Paul warns us: "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils" (1 Cor. 10:20).


Halloween is filled with all sorts of pagan characters and customs that Christians need to avoid. The black cat, for example, was believed by the Druids to be evil spirit friends of witches, and even witches themselves. These cats were often kept in wicker cages and burned in animal sacrifices. Some witches are worshipers of Satan, and some worship the "spirits of the earth" They believe that the whole earth is the giver of life and has power to give and take away life from humans; think about the ancient beliefs of the Romans. Either way, God does not condone the worship of "earth-spirits" or Satan. Why would a God-fearing Christian want to dress-up their child like something that God hates? Scary masks were worn by the Celts to scare away evil spirits. The jack-o-lantern was used for the same purpose, although a turnip was originally used. What the world thinks of as "ghosts" are not the spirits of dead people, but rather EVIL spirits which we are warned about in the Bible (Lev. 19:31; 20:27; II Kgs. 23:24; Mat. 10:1; Mar. 3:11; Acts 8:7; Rev. 16:13). Why would a Christian want to decorate their home with such wickedness? Does God want you to dress your child up like an evil spirit?


Even the orange and black colors of Halloween have a wicked origin. At the Druid Festival of Death for Samhain huge bon fires were used for offering human and animal sacrifices. So the colors of the night were orange flames glowing in the dark. Trick-or-treating finds it's origin in the custom of peasants going house to house begging for money to purchase necessities for a feast for Muck Olla, the Druid sun god. A blessing was promised to generous givers, while threats were often made to those who were stingy.
Apple bobbing probably comes from the Roman festival of Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. This festival was merged with the festival of Samhain after Rome conquered Britain. In honor of Samhain, subjects were forced to bob for apples in boiling hot water. Those who lived through this ordeal were set free.


Beloved, Halloween is Satanic! You may pretend that it's a harmless game for kids, but in reality it represents paganism, Satanism, human sacrifice, torture, rape, murder, idolatry, witchcraft, and spiritualism! Did you know that October 31st is considered by Satanists to be their most important day of the year? Beloved, WAKE UP! Don't honor the Devil! Honor God instead by refusing to observe Halloween this year. The Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't dress innocent children up like the devils of Hell and march them around town, so why should you? Are you a TRUE follower of Jesus Christ? Then SKIP Halloween this year and tell others to do likewise!

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph. 5:11)
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." (Rom. 13:12)

---------------------------------------
endquote

Mal F
 
How does she know all this stuff went on? I thought that very little was known about what Pagans and Druids did originally? Someone has to be making it all up and feeding it to Christians.
 
this is something i posted several months ago on another thread:

when i was about 15 and my brother was about nine, we lived in an isolated desert town in southern New Mexico. my brother really stood out in the largely hispanic community because he had straight white hair and pale skin, almost albino-looking at that time. it was halloween. he was going as a vampire. he and my mother were in the bathroom, where she was putting on his makeup. i stood watching in the doorway. we were chatting and laughing. someone knocks at the front door. i leave the bathroom, go approximately ten steps to the door. turn on the porch light and open the door, expecting a trick or treater. there is my brother, standing, not on the porch, but at the bottom of the steps, dressed in his black cape. nothing on his head. his signature white hair. he looks terrified. my mind is struggling with the impossible logistics of the situation. i ask how he got out there. I ask what's wrong? he runs into the dark. i return to the bathroom to tell my mom. there they both are, just as i left them.
this was a very small, one story house. probably less than 1,000 square feet. the bathroom was just a few steps from the front door. the bathroom had a window, but it was high, almost to the ceiling, and very small. if my mother had been able to stuff him through, he would have dropped six feet on the other side, then would have had to run around the house to get to the front door. logistically, it would have been impossible to pull off.

Throughout the years, I've asked my brother about this and he doesn't even remember it. He just gives me the same puzzled and confused look he and my mother gave me that night.



__________________
 
Oh not them again! I am a Christian, but these fundies give us ' normal ' ones a bad name, and when they panned Lord of the Rings, I almost blew a fuse. But I'm not sure if they can be ' real ', I still think it may be a huge wind up. At least I hope so! :(
 
The question that Mal's last post raises with me is how come this Jenna Robinson person knows so much about druids? I reckon she's some kind of crazy druid sympathiser and trying to keep it quiet...
 
Here is some of the stupidity we gotta deal with here:

Sunday Halloween Irks Some in Bible Belt

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer

NEWNAN, Ga. - Across the Bible Belt this Halloween, some little ghosts and goblins might get shooed away by the neighbors — and some youngsters will not be allowed to go trick-or-treating at all — because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year. "It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil," said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath. Others insist the holiday should be celebrated on Oct. 31 no matter what. "Moving it, that's like celebrating Christmas a week early," said Veronica Wright, who bought a Power Rangers costume for her son in Newnan. "It's just a kid thing. It's not for real."

It is an especially sensitive issue for authorities in the Bible Belt across the South. "You just don't do it on Sunday," said Sandra Hulsey of Greenville, Ga. "That's Christ's day. You go to church on Sunday, you don't go out and celebrate the devil. That'll confuse a child."

In Newnan, a suburb south of Atlanta, the City Council decided to go ahead with trick-or-treating on Sunday. In 1999, the last time Oct. 31 fell on a Sunday, the city moved up trick-or-treating to Saturday, which brought howls of protest. "We don't need to confuse people with this," Councilman George Alexander said.

In Vestavia Hills, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham, a furor erupts every time Halloween falls on Sunday. Local officials decided not to take a stand this time. "About 15 years ago, we decided to have Halloween on Saturday instead. People went crazy. We said, `Never again,'" recalled Starr Burbic, longtime secretary to the mayor. "It messed everybody up to move Halloween. Some people don't like having it on a Sunday, but we just couldn't find a way to make everyone happy."

The patchwork of trick-or-treat zones could work to children's advantage: Some might go out on both nights to get all the treats they can. With so many towns split over when Halloween should be celebrated, many are going with a porch-light compromise: If people do not want trick-or-treaters, they simply turn off their lights, and parents are asked not to have kids knock there.

"Most people don't have a problem with it. It's a pretty universal compromise, so that's what we go with," said Grand Rapids, Mich., police Lt. Douglas Brinkley.
Click to expand...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...20041015/ap_on_re_us/halloween_on_the_sabbath
 
Its not like Halloween hasn't happened before!!

Sunday Halloween Irks Some in Bible Belt

Fri Oct 15, 2:42 PM ET

Top Stories - AP

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer

NEWNAN, Ga. - Across the Bible Belt this Halloween, some little ghosts and goblins might get shooed away by the neighbors — and some youngsters will not be allowed to go trick-or-treating at all — because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.

"It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil," said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath. Others insist the holiday should be celebrated on Oct. 31 no matter what.

"Moving it, that's like celebrating Christmas a week early," said Veronica Wright, who bought a Power Rangers costume for her son in Newnan. "It's just a kid thing. It's not for real."

It is an especially sensitive issue for authorities in the Bible Belt across the South.

"You just don't do it on Sunday," said Sandra Hulsey of Greenville, Ga. "That's Christ's day. You go to church on Sunday, you don't go out and celebrate the devil. That'll confuse a child."

In Newnan, a suburb south of Atlanta, the City Council decided to go ahead with trick-or-treating on Sunday. In 1999, the last time Oct. 31 fell on a Sunday, the city moved up trick-or-treating to Saturday, which brought howls of protest.

"We don't need to confuse people with this," Councilman George Alexander said.

In Vestavia Hills, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham, a furor erupts every time Halloween falls on Sunday. Local officials decided not to take a stand this time.

"About 15 years ago, we decided to have Halloween on Saturday instead. People went crazy. We said, `Never again,'" recalled Starr Burbic, longtime secretary to the mayor. "It messed everybody up to move Halloween. Some people don't like having it on a Sunday, but we just couldn't find a way to make everyone happy."

The patchwork of trick-or-treat zones could work to children's advantage: Some might go out on both nights to get all the treats they can.

With so many towns split over when Halloween should be celebrated, many are going with a porch-light compromise: If people do not want trick-or-treaters, they simply turn off their lights, and parents are asked not to have kids knock there.

"Most people don't have a problem with it. It's a pretty universal compromise, so that's what we go with," said Grand Rapids, Mich., police Lt. Douglas Brinkley.
Click to expand...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...20041015/ap_on_re_us/halloween_on_the_sabbath
 
Baker officials hope to ban 'satanic' holiday

Hi

more halloween madness ..

source:
----------------------

http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/101604/new_mask001.shtml

quote:
--------------------------

Baker officials hope to ban 'satanic' holiday

By CHUCK HUSTMYRE
Special to The Advocate


Ghosts and goblins, costumed superheroes, even little girls dressed up like Cinderella -- none may be welcome on the streets of Baker next year if some city officials get their way and drive Halloween out of town."We're going to introduce an ordinance to stop Halloween -- period," City
Councilman Fred Russell said.

During this week's City Council meeting, Russell announced that he was in favor
of eliminating Halloween beginning in 2005.

Russell is not alone in taking this stance because throughout the Bible Belt this October, others are speaking out on religious grounds against celebrating Halloween on Oct. 31 since it falls on a Sunday.

Russell told council members he hears from 10 to 15 people each year asking him to ban Baker's Halloween celebration. "People don't like it," he said.

What disturbs some people about Halloween, particularly church leaders, is its association with witchcraft and anti-Christian values, Russell said.

At the council meeting, Russell declared, "We are a Christian city. Jesus is lord over Baker."

However, Russell acknowledged that any ordinance aimed at banning Halloween would need council approval.

Mayor Harold Rideau said he, too, supports the idea of ditching Halloween.

"That's one day I don't support," Rideau said. "It's not really a day you want to celebrate as a Christian."

Halloween started as a Celtic New Year celebration in honor of the dead. It
began long before the foundation of Christianity and continued after the Roman conquest of what is now Britain in A.D. 43. Halloween was first observed in the United States in the 1840s.

Because Oct. 31 falls on a Sunday this year -- a day of worship for many
Christians --Mayor Rideau said a lot of people in Baker felt it is an
inappropriate day on which to celebrate Halloween.

"It's also a safety issue," Rideau explained Friday. He said it is dangerous to have excited children running around on the streets after dark.

The council voted Tuesday to change this year's trick-or-treating in Baker from Sunday, Oct. 31, to Thursday, Oct. 28, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Councilman Charles Vincent is adamant in his desire to see Baker give Halloween the brush off. "I would like to see us eliminate it entirely," he said.

Vincent described Halloween as a satanic celebration and said that honoring it on any day of the week is wrong.

Police Chief Sid Gautreaux said that although it might disappoint his
grandchildren, he is not a fan of Halloween.

Trick-or-treating requires Gautreaux to put three times the normal number of
patrol cars out on the street. It also eats up a big chunk of his overtime
budget. "It wouldn't hurt my feelings in the least bit if they cut it out," he
said.

Yet, despite some support from city officials for striking the celebration of
Halloween from Baker's calendar, children don't need to toss out their
trick-or-treat bags just yet.

Three of the five members of the City Council said they oppose doing away with Halloween. Councilmen Jimmy Pourciau, A.J. Walls and Trae Welch all said they would oppose any move to get rid of the annual costume and candy fest.

"I don't have no problem with Halloween," Walls said. "I always enjoyed it when I was a kid." He said it is one of the few times of the year when people actually get out and meet their neighbors. "I don't think it has nothing to do with witchcraft," Walls added.

Councilman Trae Welch, who is also a lawyer, said any proposed ordinance to ban Halloween would almost certainly run into immediate legal problems. He said the City Council cannot enact an ordinance barring someone from dressing up in a costume and knocking on a neighbor's door, either on Halloween or any other day.

Welch said the council doesn't have the authority to tell people what they can
and cannot celebrate. If the issue of banning Halloween does come up for a vote, Welsh said he has already made his decision. "I know I wouldn't vote for it," he said.

Other city officials encourage safe trick-or-treating. Fire Chief Danny Edwards said firefighters will hand out candy at the fire station on Oct. 28.

No messing with holiday

East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Bobby Simpson said Friday after he announced trick-or-treating would fall on Sunday, the traditional Halloween day, "I didn't get one phone call."

"I did get an e-mail from a lady in Baker, but Baker is going to do its own
thing," he said.

The one piece of advice former Mayor-President Tom Ed McHugh gave him when he took over the Mayor's Office nearly four years ago was not to mess with Halloween, Simpson said.

In 1993, McHugh moved it off of a Sunday night to the preceding Friday night and suffered a lot of criticism over it. In 1999, McHugh suggested moving the hours from the usual 6 p.m.-8 p.m. to 4 p.m.-6 p.m., because there are more police on that shift. Again, he was haunted by critics of that decision, too.

Zachary follows neighbors

Mayor Charlene Smith of Zachary, who was asked Friday if any opposition had
surfaced to Zachary's plans to observe Halloween on Oct. 31, replied, "We
haven't heard any complaints about it."

She added, "We usually follow whatever Baker and East Baton Rouge do."

Told that the Baker City Council on Tuesday night switched Baker's
trick-or-treat hours from Oct. 31 to Oct. 28, Smith replied, "We haven't heard
about it."
---------------------

Endquote

Mal F
 
Now you will notice that this did not go on when I was a kid.

people used to go to church and have more family values too.
 
Origins of symbols and holidays

Hi

a more objective view of halloween:

source:
------------------------------

October 18, 2004

http://www.delphosherald.com/print.php?story=4918

quote:
------------------------------
Origins of symbols and holidays

by Pastor Dave Howell

Many cultures around the world have celebrated a major festival around the end of the harvest and the beginning of the winter season. Among Celtic people, this celebration was known as Samhain. Samhain literally means “summer’s end.”

In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oìche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter’s calend, or first.

Irish people called this their new year and observed it on Oct. 31. The Celtic year is divided into two sections. Samhain marks one of the two doorways into the two seasons of light and dark. Beltane, on May 1, began the season of light and Samhain on Nov. 1, the season of dark. (Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle. Celtic people believed their day began at night.)

It was understood that in dark there is the faint beginning of life as the stirring of seed below the ground. Therefore the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of Oct. 31, known today of course, as Halloween. Beltane welcomed in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn.

In the country, Samhain marked the first day of winter when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter would be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms. Those destined for the table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods in pagan times.

All the harvest must be gathered in — barley, oats, wheat, turnips, and apples — for come November, the faeries would blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth.

Everyone in the family would gather to help with the harvest chores. It was a time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come. Everyone began to center their activities close to home and warmth of the hearth.

In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year. The greatest assembly was the “Feast of Tara,” focusing on the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the point of conception for the new year.

In every household throughout the country, hearth-fires were extinguished. All waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year — not at Tara, but at Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith, who may once have been considered a goddess in her own right in a former age.

It was believed that at the two turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near to Earth so at Samhain many sacrifices and gifts were offered up in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be healed were cast into the fire and at the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane.

Throughout the years, the tradition of lighting bonfires and dancing around them to celebrate the New Year continued. (Sounds like Times Square to me.) Young people and servants lit brands from the fire and ran around the fields and hedges of house and farm, while community leaders surrounded parish boundaries with a magic circle of light. Afterwards, ashes from the fires were sprinkled over the fields to protect them during the winter months, and of course this also improved the soil.

With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints’ Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. Nov. 2 became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven.

Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs became intertwined from Oct. 31 through Nov. 5. The latter date is observed in many areas of Britain and called Guy Fawkes Day. It commemorates an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in the 17th century by Guy Fawkes.

Look again for Pastor Dave’s column in Thursday’s Herald. He welcomes suggestions and comments and can be contacted by calling 419-695-2611 or e-mailing [email protected].

----------------------
Endquote

Mal F
 
And sometimes unwise Haloween fancy dress comes back to haunt you:

Judge's costume case hits La. high court

Blackface incident isolated, defense says

Wednesday, October 20, 2004
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer

Before a packed audience, the Louisiana Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of a Houma district judge charged with misconduct for attending a Halloween party last year in blackface, an Afro wig and an orange jail jumpsuit.

Several justices sharply questioned the defense of Judge Timothy Ellender, whose attorney said the high court cannot fairly discipline the judge for misbehaving only once, given the state Constitution's stipulation that punishable misbehavior must be "persistent and public."

"We definitely know this was one isolated incident on a Halloween night," attorney Bill Bordelon said in arguing Tuesday that Ellender should not be disciplined. "We have Judge Ellender before you with a 22-year unblemished career."

Ellender has admitted he wore the racially charged get-up last Halloween at a Houma seafood restaurant, but insists he meant no harm. The longtime Terrebonne Parish judge had asked that his punishment be limited to public censure, while the state Judiciary Commission recommended suspension for one year and one day without pay.

But on Tuesday, citing other cases in which judges who made racist comments were not sanctioned, Ellender's attorneys said that if the justices follow the Constitution word for word, they cannot discipline him at all.

Sitting in for Justice Bernette Johnson, 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Ed Lombard seemed unpersuaded: "Louisiana should follow these examples . . . and again become the laughingstock of the nation?" he asked. "In Louisiana, can't we do better than that?"

Substitutes for 2 judges

Johnson did not hear the case because she wrote a complaint to the commission after Ellender's costume made the news, and neither did Justice John Weimer, because he used to be a judge in neighboring Lafourche Parish. sat in for Weimer in the Ellender case.

Lombard, like Johnson, is black; the rest of the justices who heard Ellender's case Tuesday are white, as is Weimer.

The court did not indicate when it will rule. Ellender could face a range of penalties, up to removal from office.

Tough questions posed

Ellender's defense, hinging on the argument that his misbehavior was not "persistent and public," was met with questionable and at times heated responses from the court. Other details that emerged during Ellender's defense prompted justices to interrupt Bordelon.

When Bordelon said the judge's wig was really a "black clown wig" and that he went to the party as a "white convict," Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll cut in.

"Are you saying today that he went dressed as a white convict?" Knoll asked. "He wanted to convey a white convict?"

Bordelon said he didn't know exactly what Ellender wanted to convey.

The wig disparity, which flies in the face of the legal stipulation Ellender signed off on -- that the wig was an Afro -- drew fire from Lombard.

When pressed, Bordelon said Ellender had agreed it was an Afro wig, and that the judge admitted he violated two provisions of the judicial canon.

"He never stipulated he violated the Constitution," Bordelon said.

Knoll said it was "unimaginable" that the state Constitution would not let the justices sanction a judge simply because he did not do something inappropriate more than once. What is persistent, she said, is the harm caused to the judiciary by Ellender.

"The harm continues," Knoll told Bordelon, whose client sat with other attorneys and his son, who shares his father's name. "There will be harm because of his racially charged conduct. The harm could be taking the place of persistency."

Ellender did tell the state Judiciary Commission at an earlier closed-door hearing that he would not have worn the blackface paint to a party where he would have expected the guest list to include black people. The orange jumpsuit, yes, he said, but not the paint because it would have been offensive.

About 15 guests, mostly white people, attended the Houma party.

'A taint on the judiciary'

Ellender's get-up drew national attention that cast Louisiana's judicial system in disrepute, the commission said.

"He has created the perception that he is racially biased," Steve Scheckman, special counsel for the Judiciary Commission, told the court. "And perception, frankly, is reality. He has created a taint on the judiciary . . . created the perception that maybe our judicial system is racially biased."

Ellender, who did not address the justices Tuesday and who wouldn't talked to reporters as he left the Royal Street courthouse, attended the Halloween party with his wife, who dressed as a police officer. He has testified that he put on blackface paint only after he arrived at the party, where his wife's relative -- who dressed as Buckwheat from the old "Little Rascals" series -- suggested it would help the judge's inmate parody generate more laughs.

Whatever his intent, Ellender made an egregious mistake that deserves "firm and decisive action" by the high court, Scheckman said Tuesday.

"He certainly was stereotyping people who come before him in court, people he comes in contact with every day, people in this room," Scheckman said. "There are a million costumes out there. He chose the one costume that demeaned and insulted an entire race of people. That's hard to do."

Witnesses

In response to Ellender's defense, Scheckman offered a list of cases in which judges were sanctioned for violating the canon of judicial ethics, even though their behavior was not unconstitutional.

The Terrebonne Parish chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wants Ellender ousted. But Ellender supporters also were present in the courtroom. During the arguments one man in the second row murmured support for the judge to a companion, calling the proceeding a "witch hunt" and criticizing the justices who asked tough questions.

Bordelon reminded the justices that four people who work in Ellender's court, all African-Americans, testified before the commission that the judge is fair and unbiased when handling cases.

Lombard interjected that those witnesses worked in the court system, not in the community. "It's ridiculous for you to make that argument to this court," he said, adding that not a single black witness came forward to say Ellender is a "great guy."

Bordelon replied, "I don't know if you have to be a great guy" to be a judge. "You just have to be a fair guy."
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http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1098253620150260.xml

Court to rule on judge's costume

Blackface incident could bring removal
Monday, October 18, 2004
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer

Last Halloween, a judge from Houma went to a costume party dressed as a prisoner. He wore something borrowed -- an orange inmate jumpsuit courtesy of the local sheriff -- and something new -- a black Afro-type wig.

But when he arrived at the party, Judge Timothy Ellender felt his get-up wasn't much of a hit. His brother-in-law, dressed as Buckwheat from the old "Little Rascals" series, had an idea.

He offered the judge some of his own black face paint. Ellender, who is white, accepted. But parading around in blackface and jailhouse shackles for one night may cost him dearly. On Tuesday , the Louisiana Supreme Court will hear arguments in Ellender's disciplinary case. The penalty could range from a censure to suspension or removal from office.

The longtime Terrebonne Parish district court judge has apologized to Houma's black leaders for the costume and blamed his conduct on "mere stupidity and ignorance." Any insult to the black community, Ellender said, was an accident, and he denies that his stunt calls into question his ability to fairly preside over black people in his courtroom.

Ellender also said he would accept a public censure. But the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, which formally charged him with misconduct in March, disagreed and wants the high court to suspend him for a year and a day without pay, and charge him the ,100 it spent on the investigation.

"Judge Ellender engaged in public conduct which brought the judicial office into disrepute," the commission concluded. His "integrity and his ability to be fair and impartial towards African-Americans who appear before his court as defendants in criminal and other proceedings will be forever in doubt."

Ellender was first elected to the bench in 1983 and has won re-election four times, most recently in October 2002. This is the first time he has faced either private or public discipline during a lengthy career, the commission said.

At his closed-door hearing before the commission in June, Ellender called four witnesses, all black, who testified that he is fair and impartial. The judge had apologized to all four, including State Trooper Gary Williams and lawyer Kevin Thompson, and all said they took him at his word.

Thompson told the commission that the costume did not offend him, though he deemed it "stupid" and "disappointing."

As for his take on how the black community in Houma reacted, Thompson said, "The apology came out, you know, we pretty much just let it alone at that."

Not everyone in the community agrees. The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wants Ellender removed from office.

"Judges are held to higher standards," said Jerome Boykin, president of the Terrebonne Parish NAACP, under questioning by Ellender's attorney at the commission hearing. "We're talking about someone who makes decisions on people's lives, and that's the difference."

Behind the makeup

At the June hearing, the commission heard from Felipe Smith, an English professor at Tulane University, who discussed the significance of black-face minstrelsy in contemporary American society.

Smith, a founder of Tulane's African and African Diaspora Studies, said that a white man putting on black face makeup and an inmate's clothes suggests "an intent to connect blackness as a racial characteristic with criminal behavior or being a part of the criminal population."

Even the historic Zulu parade of Mardi Gras was brought up during the hearing. The Carnival krewe, which has both black and white members, features blackface makeup each year as part of the satirical spirit of Mardi Gras.

But Smith said there is a "definite difference" between the Zulu Carnival group performing in blackface and a white person doing the same.

It's the question of being "an insider in an ethnic group," he said, and people who "can wipe off the paint and who can move away . . . who don't bear any kind of consequences for the performances."

It was unclear how premeditated the judge's blackface performance was. But the commission concluded that the judge certainly appeared with it in public.

Ellender explained that this was his regular Halloween party, one he had been going to for a decade, at the 1921 Seafood restaurant, owned by his brother-in-law, and that arrived wearing just the inmate costume -- no makeup. Other than those invited to the party, the only people in the restaurant were the employees and about five people eating dinner.

Ellender was with his wife, and their costumes had a theme. The judge's wife dressed as a police officer, and the intended image, Ellender said, was that she "had her husband under control."

A week later, the Houma newspaper reported Ellender's costume, and a national media blitz ensued. Within days of the news reports, the commission received six written complaints, including letters from Justice Bernette Johnson and the Terrebonne NAACP, along with one from 32nd Judicial District Judges George Larke, John Walker, David Arceneaux and Randall Bethancourt.

'A disgrace'

Rob Robertson, a high school teacher in suburban Chicago, said that when he read a news story about Ellender's costume to his class, they were stunned. "They thought I was making it up," Robertson wrote in a complaint to the commission, dated Nov. 11, 2003. "What a sad, sad day. . . . A person given this kind of public trust cannot afford to make these kinds of 'stupid' mistakes."

Maria Ludwick of New Orleans also wrote to the commission, calling Ellender's costume choice disgraceful.

"He should be removed from office," Ludwick wrote. "He has brought disgrace to an already tainted system full of corruption and questionable practices."

Roderick Johnson, a black inmate who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine last year, was infuriated at the news of the judge's costume.

"How can a man judge me, and then go back and mock me?" wrote Johnson, who was sentenced to 16 years by Ellender. "It was a disgrace to me and everyone that he's ever sentenced. When he put on that costume, that's exactly how he sees black people in his eyes."

Ellender defended himself, saying his garb did not perpetuate the notion that black people are criminals. And he testified, without any contradiction, that he wiped off the black paint before leaving the restaurant.

He said he would have worn the inmate costume to a party that was not all-white but not the blackface, "because it could offend somebody." About 15 people, white people and "one Indian fellow," Ellender said, were at the party, yet the Houma restaurant was open for take-out orders. One of the restaurant employees present was a black woman.

Ready for consequences

The makeup did get laughs, Ellender told the commission.

"It was more humorous, yes," he said. He added that it would have been even funnier had he applied blue paint, because anytime one adds "coloration" to a costume, "it's going to accentuate the humorous nature of it."

In its report, the commission called that explanation "incredulous, disingenuous and nonsensical."

At the hearing, the commission asked Ellender, who called the media attention a "tempest in a teapot," how he was faring. "Don't feel sorry for me," he said. "I did what I did, and I'm ready to suffer the consequences."
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http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1098080828298600.xml
 
Halloween display seen as symbol of hate

Uhuru Movement members destroy the display outside a home. The owner says it never occurred to her it would be offend anyone.

By LAUREN BAYNE ANDERSON and LEANORA MINAI
Published October 20, 2004



It had the face of Frankenstein and the hands of a werewolf.

Outfitted in jeans and flannel shirt, the creature - stuffed with crumpled newspaper - hung by the neck on a homemade gallows outside a home in the Allendale neighborhood.

To its owner, "Bob" was a Halloween decoration. But to Omali Yeshitela, it was a racially charged symbol of hate.

On Tuesday, as police officers on the scene scrambled to contact the homeowner at work, Yeshitela and others from the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement tore the dummy down.

"There is no history of hanging ghouls in this country but there is a history of hanging African people," said Yeshitela, leader of the St. Petersburg-based group.

Colleen Watson was surprised and upset when police called her at work to say the display her 15-year-old son had spent two days creating had been torn down. She said it had never occurred to her it would offend anyone.

"We are not those kind of people, we are not like that," Watson said. "This really opened my eyes, I just didn't see it this way."

Last year for Halloween, the family beheaded "Bob," replicating a guillotine. The year before, "Bob" lay in a casket. But on Tuesday, "Bob's" latest incarnation sparked anger.

Yeshitela said he got a call from a local high school student, who saw the hanging dummy from her school bus window on her morning commute. Post-slavery, lynchings were used to terrorize African-Americans and remain a painful memory for many today, Yeshitela said.

"She called because she couldn't believe what she had seen," he said.

Yeshitela, who tore down a mural in St. Petersburg City Hall that he found racially offensive in the 1960s, went to see the display.

Despite the Halloween decor - a synthetic spider web that spanned half the width of the gray house and an arrangement of plastic skulls and bones - Yeshitela said he saw something more sinister: a black man hanging from a noose.

Some passers-by agreed.

Sandra Albanese stopped and called police after she spotted the hanging monster. "I drove by, saw it and came back around again," said Albanese, a real estate agent. "It looked like a black man hanging."

As a small crowd of passers-by and Uhuru members gathered Tuesday afternoon, Patty Melnick also drove by with her 9-year-old daughter, Lindsay.

"My daughter told me this morning there was someone hanging out here and right away I said, I bet you it's black," Melnick said. "I think it's horrendous, it's a hate crime."

As the crowd looked on, Yeshitela said he wouldn't wait any longer for the gallows and hanging dummy to be removed.

"It's coming down," he said and opened the chain-link gate around the yard. Yeshitela walked up to the dummy and ripped it down. Uhuru supporters followed, dismantling the gallows and tearing apart the dummy's head and limbs and leaving the newspaper stuffing strewn across the yard.

As the Uhuru members left the property, St. Petersburg police Sgt. Glenn Stofer approached them and took their names, but did not arrest anyone.

Stofer said he arrived shortly before Yeshitela tore down the dummy and was trying to contact Watson, who was at work.

"They were rightfully upset," Stofer said of the Uhuru members. "I was in the car trying to get information and while I was doing that, they decided to tear it down themselves."

In some misdemeanor incidents - in this case, criminal mischief - police usually interview alleged victims before making an arrest to determine whether they want to prosecute, said Lt. Joe Jesiolkiewic.

"Without a victim, we don't have a crime," he said. "How do we know that they don't know the people, that this isn't some kind of set up? There's an infinite number of things that could play into it, and the prudent thing to do is make sure you've got a victim."

Yeshitela said he would do it all again, even if it meant going onto private property. "The issue of private property holds no special mystique," he said. "We have been private property as a people."

Watson told police she did not want to prosecute anyone. On Tuesday, she called Yeshitela and apologized. He accepted.

"If we hurt someone's feelings, let's take it down now," Watson said from her garage as she cleared up "Bob's" remains.

Florence Whipple, who lives with the Watsons agreed, "Bob is officially retired."

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[Last modified October 20, 2004, 00:16:16]
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http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/20/Southpinellas/Halloween_display_see.shtml

Do members of the Uhuru Movement wear Xmas decorations in the earholes?
 
I just found out that the principle of my old high school is trying to make the school observe Career'een rather than Halloween, and is requesting that kids not dress up as anything scary, but rather as professions they might want to explore, in a effort to keep things positive....:mad:
 
<scratches unkempt head>

"What do `attempting to retire` people wear??"

<Her father says in the background "youve got to do `something` before you retire">
 
Halloween is Disrespectful to Witches?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=184701&page=1

PUYALLUP, Wash., Oct. 21, 2004 --

excerpt ----------------------------------------------------------------

A letter sent home to parents Wednesday said there will be no observance of Halloween in any of the district's schools.


"We really want to make sure we're using all of our time in the best interest of our students," Puyallup School District spokeswoman Karen Hansen said.


The superintendent made the decision for three primary reasons, Hansen said. First, Halloween parties and parades waste valuable classroom time. Second, some families can't afford costumes and the celebrations thus can create embarrassment for children.


Both of those reasons seemed sensible to the parents who spoke to ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle. But the district's third reason left some Puyallup parents shaking their heads.


The district said Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.


"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," Hansen said.


The Wiccan, or Pagan, religion is said to be growing in the United States and there are Wiccan groups in Puyallup.


On the district's list of guidelines related to holidays and celebrations is an item that reads: "Use of derogatory stereotypes is prohibited, such as the traditional image of a witch, which is offensive to members of the Wiccan religion."


"I do lots of things that are not revolving around wearing a black outfit and stirring a cauldron," Wiccan priestess Cheryl Sulyma-Masson said in an interview with ABC News in which she explained that Wiccans, or Pagan Clergy, celebrate nature.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpt - more at the link
 
School District Bans Halloween Festivities


Oct 22, 10:02 AM (ET)

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Washington state school district has banned Halloween parties during the school day because it says children dressed up as goblins and witches take time away from learning, officials said on Thursday.

"Our number one priority is protecting the instructional day," said Puyallup School District Superintendent Tony Apostle after the district canceled observance of the Oct. 31 celebration.

Apostle said the 20,000-student district, located about 30 miles south of Seattle, doesn't have enough time in the day as it is to teach students everything they need to know.

District spokeswoman Karen Hansen said most Puyallup schools haven't had Halloween celebrations or observations for years.

Schools that want to have Halloween parties are welcome to have them, she said, but only after the school day ends.

Other U.S. schools have banned Halloween festivities because some families don't celebrate it for religious reasons and other cannot afford costumes.
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http://reuters.myway.com/article/20...N21681874_RTRIDST_0_ODD-ODD-HALLOWEEN-DC.html
 
We used to have great halloween parties at Brownies and Guides.

Everyone used to go dressed up as a witch, a ghost or a cat, it was so uncool.

I was the only one with an original costume. One year I was a mummy in bandages and loads of faux egyptian jewelry, the next an owl, and the third a pumpkin.

Dont dress as a pumpkin if you dislike combersome costumes...
 
Something important to remember:

Sun. Oct. 24 2004 11:25 PM ET
Canadian

Avoid Hallowe'en polar bears, Manitoba kids told

Canadian Press

CHURCHILL, Man. — There are likely not a lot of children anywhere in Canada begging their parents to dress up like polar bears or seals this Halloween.

But costume selection takes on unique significance in this northern Manitoba town, where the predator and prey disguises are definite no-nos in the midst of the Western Hudson Bay polar bear population's annual migration to the ice.

"Bears' natural source of food on the pack ice is seals," said Richard Romaniuk, district supervisor for Manitoba Conservation.

"To be honest with you, I've never seen a kid dressed up as a seal - but the message would be don't dress up as a polar bear or a seal," he added with a laugh.

Nonetheless, the very real threat of the mammoth creatures stumbling upon young trick-or-treaters as they go door-to-door means Manitoba Conservation is once again gearing up for its annual Halloween Polar Alert.

The special patrol, carried out for more than 20 years with help from RCMP, Parks Canada, local ambulance and fire officials and the Canadian Rangers, includes a strategic perimeter around the town of 1,000.

About a dozen fire trucks, ambulances and other vehicles either park with their engines idling and spotlights shining or cruise the streets to give children about an eight-hour window to satisfy their sweet tooth.

Another crew armed with immobilizing darts circles the community in a helicopter donated by a local tour company.

"It's a bit of an undertaking," admitted Romaniuk. "Basically what we're trying to do is create enough vehicular traffic and activity on the outskirts of town that it discourages the bears from coming into town."

Bears are reported in the community from early summer to the end of November, depending on ice conditions, because of the town's proximity to the world's largest denning area.

Keeping them out of town is serious business. The last deadly attack was in 1983 when a resident who scavenged packages of ground beef from a burned out hotel ran into a bear in a dark alley.

That incident has been a fixture in the back of Dany Allard's mind ever since she moved to Churchill to work at the town office just a few weeks before the attack.

Now the mother of a 12-year-old boy, Allard said she's grateful the Halloween bear patrol allows her son to celebrate the same way kids do elsewhere in Canada.

"It's actually one of the safest nights in town for kids," said Allard.

"If there wasn't this patrol I'd probably just take him in the truck and only let him do a couple of streets."

For those animals not easily deterred by trucks and lights, conservation officers use firecracker shells throughout bear season that set off loud, high-pitched screams and whistles.

Last resorts include rubber slugs and the immobilizing darts.

Those repeat-offender bears who can't stay away day after day are corralled into a bear jail of sorts, a holding compound with 23 individual cells.

The bears are usually kept about a month, which conservation experts believe is enough time to isolate them and break them of their pattern of wandering into town.

Romaniuk said 176 bears were caught last year, with 151 flown out by helicopter because the compound was full.
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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1098655185981_2/?hub=Canada
 
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