"Halloween is evil"

[Mooehey]

AIBU to be pissed off at my kids head teacher.

They go to a Catholic school because there are no other schools in the area that aren't in special measures. I went to the same school and apart from religion it's a good school.

My kids haven't been baptised and the school know this.

Even though it's a Catholic school there are Muslim kids, Jewish kids etc...

When it's a Muslim festival the kids come home with homework about Eid and Dwali.

Near Christmas they learn about hannuka.

They learn about all different religions.

But the head teacher told the kids they weren't to talk about Halloween because it's evil.

This was said in an assembly. Confirmed by 2 of my kids seperatly.

AIBU to think Halloween isn't evil. It's a Pagan festival and it should be respected the same as any other?

I am pagan and am really annoyed at what she said. We celebrate Samhain big time, not only with modern tradition such as trick or treating (no different to the modern mass market g of Christmas....that doesn't get banned!) And we also celebrate more traditionally with offerings and rituals.

I'm sad that my children 'aren't allowed' to tell their friends at school about our traditions or the fun things we have done this evening.

Would a Muslim child be told that their religion is evil? I seriously doubt it.

I just feel sad and have no where else to rant I guess :(

*its about raising the dead'.

Lazarus, anyone?

Maybe just stand with the Satanists in the playground at pick up time?

Wasn't he discussing Halloween, rather than the pagan festival Samhain? The name Halloween can't refer to a pagan festival can it, it's the evening of the feast of the saints. No saints in paganism.

But Halloween and Samhain are different things.

Samhain is a pagan religious festival and the school should indeed be respecting that (although arguably you did knowingly send your child to a Catholic school).

Halloween is a bastardisation of the various Catholic observances of All Hallows and All Souls Days - which I think Christians are entitled to find offensive.

Its not as if Samhain is celebrating genocide drowning an entire planet of human beings. Oh wait I think I have got the history religious books mixed up which religion did that?

I don't think it's evil, but at least in our part of the Uk it's a recent thing. Glad I live in a decent area with no beggars coming to our door

Welcome to Mumsnet, OP.

Glad I live in a decent area with no beggars coming to our door

Oh do give It a rest. Its not begging and the continued trotting out of that old chestmut is boring after the 2nd time never mind the 50th every year.
If you have decs out, pumpkins out and have bought sweets you are inviting kids to come to the door its pretty black and white.
Its a pretty old tradition in many areas of uk.

What do you mean by 'decent'? Are you inferring that huge swathes of the country are not 'decent'? Who the hell are you to judge the rest of us?
Actually decent people dont make snide comments about others who chose to celebrate ancient traditions. Just saying.

Can i just add, Diwali is a Hindu festival and has nothing to do with the Muslim religion...learn something new everyday!

Well there you go willow 

I don't think it's been evil, but at least in our part of the Uk it's a recent thing. Glad I live in a decent area with no beggars coming to our door
What the actual f**k!
Halloween has been in the UK since I have been alive 50 years ago and we dont 'beg'. Have you been smoking a few magic mushrooms?

Polo
You didnt answer my questions. Maybe you dont have reasonable answers?

Well there you go that well known escape route for people in a difficult conversation.

Christianity has always treated Paganism very badly and bulldozed its way through traditional pagan celebrations in order to persuade people to follow Christianity. Most of the Christian celebrations were originally pagan.

I blame Emperor Constantine.

Paganism is a legitimate religion and should be treated the same way as other religions.

People

The OP has made two threads, one about lesbian porn and this one.

A little suspicious, no?

Why is that suspicious? OP seems intelligent and interesting to me. That's what I like about MN.

We're all evil then 😂

FABULOUS

Because there's already a thread about how ridiculous Catholics are for claiming Halloween is evil.

Well, maybe that's because more than one person has encountered the attitude this week and thinks it is bloody ridiculous?

I don't trawl through pages of recent threads before I post, just in case someone's posted a similar one. I don't have the time.

I'm Catholic. Never have I ever heard Halloween is the work of devil from any other Catholic ever. And if you read the other thread, plenty of other Catholics have never heard it either.

The OP is full of shit.

My dd (7) goes to the same catholic primary school I attended in the 80's and they were allowed to go to school yesterday in Halloween outfits as they are every year.

I'm shocked that a HT would say this!

I'm from a large Catholic family (we're atheists) and I've never come across it either. I have heard some other batshit nonsense though, from the odd extremist (oddly it's usually in schools) so it's not much of a stretch for me to believe that there are such people dotted around in the Catholic schools of the UK. Particularly as there are many other fundamentalist Christian groups who believe Halloween is about devil worship.

Do you usually assume people are lying, if they describe an experience you haven't had yourself?

Nope, I don't assume people are lying because I haven't heard it myself. And sure, I've heard some crazy stuff from religious people. This particular craziness has never come from Catholics in my experience. It's always come from fundamentalist christian types.

There are fundie catholics though. Thankfully they're a tiny minority, but you do come across them.

We can never be sure, but OP doesn't come across as a liar to me.

No, we can't be sure. Perhaps she missed the other thread about a a teacher who screamed at a child for mentioning Halloween.