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AIBU?

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Original poster

To ask why people celebrate Halloween

310 replies

Flippetydip · 30/10/2017 14:38

This is absolutely not a goady post but I just don't get Halloween at all. It seems like a celebration of everything that is horrible. Why do people do it?

OP posts:
BernardBlacksHangover · 31/10/2017 08:01

PPS some posters really don't get Nov 5th.

It marks the fact that the plot to bomb Parliament was defeated, not to celebrate the death of the plotters.

It was a made up holiday, made law by the King (look up Thanksgiving Act). The same King under whom Catholics had been routinely tortured and executed in especially brutal ways. Oh yes, what a relief that lovely fella survived Hmm. It was law that the 5th November had to be observed in England until the 19th century when the act was repealed. If it wasn't for them being forced into observing the day, I seriously doubt the 5th November would be celebrated today. Ironic really, as so many fuckwits ignorant people don't realise the importance of All Hallows' Eve in some Christian countries and say it's a "made up, Clinton Card holiday imported from America". Nope! Wrong.

The 'penny for the Guy' tradition where children used to make an effigy to be burnt on the bonfire is a pretty obvious indicator of what the lovely 'celebrations' we're intended for. I find the whole event a 'made up' holiday at best, if not gruesome and ghoulish. I'm sure that's hard for some to wrap their heads round, but as an outsider (not English), a practising Christian, with a better than average (I hope) grasp of history and politics, (due to my degree), that's exactly how bonfire night seems.

Venusflytwat · 31/10/2017 08:04

Nah, Halloween doesn’t happen here, I’m not into celebrating darkness and vampires and blood and gore ta very much.

I’d happily have an Autumn/Harvest party with Apple bobbing etc and then I love a mid term fireworks night before getting onto Advent and Christmas, that’s plenty for me :)

whiskyowl · 31/10/2017 08:04

But I don't see it as a celebration of the gruesome but as a defiance of it. The hinge turns on the seasons, autumn becomes winter, and we celebrate our warmth and togetherness with fire, mockery and mimicking of all things deathly to ward the darkness and coldness away.

Slimthistime · 31/10/2017 08:12

I see all hlodays as "made up". How could they be anything else?

I find the burning effigy odd, yes. Not much of a threat to democracy when they didn't really have it. But fair enough, I forget about the religious aspect. I tend to think of religion as just being a tool to torture with generally.

Btw how does Bernard ever get a break from booze to have hangovers?!

Raisedbyguineapigs · 31/10/2017 08:13

Why are people burning effigies on a bonfire if its nothing to do with guy fawkes being executed?

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 31/10/2017 08:14

Exactly elfin. Nobody mentions Parliament on Bonfire night! It's all about burning G Fawkes over and over again. The events were real life gore, not pretend. I wonder how British catholics feel about Bonfire night is there a moany thread??

CamperVamp · 31/10/2017 08:15

But I don't see it as a celebration of the gruesome but as a defiance of it

This, exactly.

I think I’m out sanitised, overprotective prim and unimaginative world people can only think on one level. Sex Education in Schools? Can only be a ‘how to do it’ training and therefore bad. To Kill A Mockingbird on the Curriculum? Can only be for the purpose of glorifying racist language, therefore bad.

Etc etc.

NotTheDuchessOfCambridge · 31/10/2017 08:18

I love Halloween, I love the tacky costumes, the funny costumes, the gory costumes. I love seeing children on the estate trick or treating in groups. You don’t have to “get it”, there’s nothing to get. I don’t get religion, praying to a pretend man in the sky. Going every Sunday to a church to hear some fairytales from a made up book. I don’t have to “get it” though. It’s down to the individual, whatever floats their boat.

Raisedbyguineapigs · 31/10/2017 08:21

I went to quite a strict Catholic school and was told it was a celebration of the murder of Catholics! If you are burning an effigy called after a real historical figure who committed a terrorist act after being victims of horrific religious persecution, there is no nuance. That is exactly the purpose of the celebration.

Raisedbyguineapigs · 31/10/2017 08:22

Sorry I completely misread what you were saying camper ill stop texting now and slink off...

IAmNotAWitch · 31/10/2017 08:32

I think it is fun.

I have spent the evening dressed up handing out sweets to kids who have all been very well behaved and mannered and have put quite some effort into their outfits.

It is growing here (Oz) and I approve.

Obviously we have it better organised with a nice warm long evening. Halloween Grin

NotTheDuchessOfCambridge · 31/10/2017 08:34

Ah no iamnotawitch that just wouldn’t feel right to ya Brits! That would be like having Christmas in the summer! Grin

Willow2017 · 31/10/2017 08:39

Cant get my head around the whole " watching a man burn to death on a bonfire" is so much 'nicer' than "dressing up to ward off the spirits and the darkness of winter. And a celebration of friends and family."

LoniceraJaponica · 31/10/2017 08:52

Most people don't even think about the symbolism of it Willow

Nancy91 · 31/10/2017 08:56

I celebrate it because it's fun and you can never have too much fun Smile

BernardBlacksHangover · 31/10/2017 08:57

@slim

Yes, all holidays are 'made up'. that was a reference to the comments I hear sometimes, even from people at my church, that Halloween is a made up, modern import and a bit immoral, but oh yes we celebrate bonfire night Confused. Bonfire night is far worse imo in terms of morality and is a much more modern 'holiday' than Halloween is!

GetAHaircutCarl · 31/10/2017 08:59

I celebrated anything and everything with my DC.

Life is short and provided they were not harming anyone/anything/ themselves I actively encouraged fun, irreverence and general bachanalia.

hackmum · 31/10/2017 09:01

Gruesomeness and anti-Catholic sentiment aside, I think there are two things to be said in favour of November 5 celebrations. One is that it's an exclusively British celebration, and you don't get many of those. In fact, I think it's probably the only one. So as a piece of cultural idiosyncrasy, it's quite nice, though as I said you have to suppress your queasiness about the underlying anti-Catholic origins.

The other is that - firework providers aside - it's hard for businesses to make cash out of it. It's all baked potatoes, home made toffee apples etc. I like that. But I think that's why it's been more or less obliterated by Hallowe'en in recent years - Hallowe'en is a huge money-making opportunity for retailers in a way that it wasn't when I was a kid, when it was all carving turnips and bobbing apples. #oldgimmeralert

IAmNotAWitch · 31/10/2017 09:08

Yes, we are also nondiscriminatory celebrators.

I don't go in for religion much, but if there is food/a party involved I am there.

Orangealien · 31/10/2017 09:19

It's just a big party. Kids dress up and trick or treat for sweets and have fun. The theme is just a theme to most, completely meaningless. Most people with kids join in because others do it, to have a bit of fun.

Mind you, most festivals have become pretty meaningless anyway. Christmas is a consumer-fest and environmentally tragic. Easter is about chocolate eggs. Bonfire night is about fireworks.

BernardBlacksHangover · 31/10/2017 09:36

Christmas is a consumer-fest and environmentally tragic

Couldn't agree more! I hate this side to any holiday, but participation isn't required. That's why it's irritating when people think they're being very moral and superior by shunning Halloween while simultaneously buying out plastic, useless gifts on Amazon, which just end up in landfill.

BernardBlacksHangover · 31/10/2017 09:38

@slim

There's an episode of Black Books where Bernard has a terrible hangover (surprising he's ever sober enough yes Grin) and for some reason it sprang into my head when I was choosing a username! It's one of my favourite episodes.

Weedsnseeds1 · 31/10/2017 09:47

I quite like Halloween, although I'm not so keen on trick or treating. I prefer apple bobbing, eating apples off a string, the game with a coin and a basin of flour etc.
I like pumpkin carving ( a lot easier than mangel worzels which are a guaranteed way of hacking your fingers to bits)

Guy Fawkes night is massive here in Somerset, not just bonfires and fireworks, but carnival and squibbing too.
If you haven't been to Bridgwater carnival ( or one of the others on the circuit) I highly recommend going at least once. It's one of the biggest illuminated parades in the world and most people in the UK have never heard of it, although there seem to be coach tours from Germany and the Netherlands to see it every year!

Littledrummergirl · 31/10/2017 09:47

When my dc were little we used to take them out for Halloween. They loved it and we met loads of our neighbours who were also out and about.
As they have got older we have started to stay home and decorate the garden, the dc love seeing the joy on the faces of our visitors and handing out sweets. It's become a bit of a tradition in our family. Halloween Grin

Weedsnseeds1 · 31/10/2017 09:54

The conspirators in the gunpowder plot weren't burned at the stake, by the way, they were hanged, drawn and quartered ( not that that's any nicer), apart from a couple who were shot escaping after the plot was discovered. Guy Fawkes wasn't in charge though. That was Robert Catesby.