Shalloween Isn't Just Our Fault!

[Broderick]

What it use to be? You ask a few people I know and what it used to be was a day for devil worshipping, apparently they called it Devil's day (or something) and no one is forcing these women to wear the costumes!! They can make a costume for themselves for fuck sakes

Well im not exactly sure where your friends got that idea, it use to be a celtic holiday samhain, which was basicly a celebration of the end of harvest for the year. It was butchered some how along the way, some say it was christians who were trying to convert pagans, so they "stole" the holiday and made it their own, with their own spin. Not sure where the candy part came in, may have to do with the fact of giving the "spirits" offerings, these spirits being costumed children now a days.

 

[Madara XIII]

Let's all go back to the whole CELTIC DEMONS running amok and spilling the blood of innocents all over the grassy green hills..e__e I think i might need help

No, you're just trying to hard.

And ancient halloween wasn't about demons. It was about spirits coming back from the dead and wearing animal skins to trick them.

But from what I read they weren't exactly Friendly ghost spirits and considering the fact that Demons are best known as Malicious spirits. I'm just saying is all.

 

[imnot]

I know someone who dressed up a a prostitute once.

 

[TPiddy]

Actually, Halloween, or all hallow's eve, was a Pagan holiday in which you dressed like a spirit because they believed that the veil between the spirit world and the human world was thinnest on that night, so by dressing up like one of them they would think you were one of them and wouldn't take you back into the spirit world with them.

As for it being over-sexualized, you can thank the porn industry for that. They're the ones who gave us the cop porn, nurse porn, girl guide porn, etc... that led to the sexualized costumes.

 

[Legion]

What it used to be? About dressing yourself up silly and stuffing candy into your tummy till you feel sick. So it moved on from gluttony to lust, huge leap of faith indeed.

Halloween is one of the silliest hollidays ever, so there is no way it could become shallow.

Wrong. Like all major holidays in the Western world it was stolen by Christianity from Paganism and had it's meaning change. Then later it was stolen again by the shops in order to make money.

[link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain[/link]

 

[Cain_Zeros]

I'm more disturbed by the slutty costumes for little girls than the slutty costumes for people old enough to make their own decision about it...

 

[JIst00]

Halloween:

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".

The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

What it use to be? You ask a few people I know and what it used to be was a day for devil worshipping, apparently they called it Devil's day (or something) and no one is forcing these women to wear the costumes!! They can make a costume for themselves for fuck sakes

It was not a day for Devil Worship. Hallowe'en or Hallows Eve(I think that's it) is the day before all Saints Day. It is actually a pagan Celtic Festival of Samhain where they dressed up like Ghouls to scare the actual ghouls away. They also gave gifts to people and left offerings to the spirits outside their house and I forget what the bonfires were so don't quote me on this part but I think they were either to keep spirits away or to help them find their way back to the spirit world. No it was certainly not Devil Worship there was not real worship of these spirits Satanic or otherwise. The Jack o Lanturns were also originally turnips although that didn't come in until latter with the more Christian spin on it.

 

[JIst00]

Not sure where the candy part came in, may have to do with the fact of giving the "spirits" offerings, these spirits being costumed children now a days.

Something to do with divination. Somethigng similar to Tasseomancy, the reading of Tea Leaves or Gastromancy, contents of the stomach.

 

[F'Angus]

Don't worry the fear will be back when the dead rise from their graves and feast on the brains of the living.

 

[Dr.A]

Speaking as a girl with no skill in (and also no desire to spend money for) sewing, I pretty much need to buy a costume. In the past couple years, I went with the same generic black-robe-and-cape costume. It made me pretty much invisible, which was rather cool, because from temporary invisibility comes an easy scare. As I searched for a new costume this year, however, I was appalled at the amount of crotch I could see in the photos. Having tried and failed to find an already-made orange jumpsuit for my intended Chell costume, I was reverted to buying the costume with the longest skirt I could find.

This year I am a gypsy. That's...probably not the best example of sensible female costumes, but it fulfills a silly childish fantasy I had as a girl, and, again, the skirt surpasses my thighs. I also know that this isn't scary, but I don't intend to be scary on Halloween. I intend to be scared on Halloween.

...As for who's to blame for the stupid female costumes, I blame the media for sexualizing everything and I blame everyone on earth who bought into it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I don't agree with her saying that this is the fault of men.

How would it be the fault of men? The men are usually wearing the Vampire/Werewolf costumes if they're after women or the Slutty Nurses if they're after other men.

/tongue_in_cheek

It's the girls wearing them. They want to look like that.

Seriously, if you're going to start blaming men, at least blame the "men in charge of commercialising all holidays" - the rest of us don't really have a lot to do with it.

Even if EVIL men are making women dress like sluts for Halloween though, I think they might just get their own back on Valentines Day though. Have you see how much a dozen red roses cost?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

We could all convert to the Spanish way of celebrating Halloween and celebrate it in the late spring instead. Who's up for a Cinco de Mayo party?

OT: Woman are capable of dressing up in the same outfits that men can. It's also not that difficult to create your own costume. Heck, just mixing and matching certain costumes can lead to interesting results.

It's not the fault of men that these costumes are all the rage now, but rather the fault of the consumer in general. If you buy the product that creates a stereotype about your race, religion or gender then you have no right to complain about it.

 

[Tanto-chan]

the origninal reason for dressing up on halloween (or all hallow's eve) was because crazy peasants thought that if you didn't look like someone or something else evil spirits would fuck with you all night since it's the one night a year that the spirits of the dead can cut through the veil between our worlds, since the next day was all saint's day, a completely christian holiday that no longer has very much standing in the world. have to wonder why one stayed and the other didn't...

EDIT: I forgot to say that dressing like a skank probably wouldn't keep evil ghostys from eating your face <3

 

[bloodychimp]

Halloween is pretty much the only time I'll go to a sorority party.

Its like trick or treating when you were a kid, but instead of candy you get chicks with daddy issues!

 

[Daxter343]

It's the same reason that women wear shirts with funny messages on them. The messages are located right across their breasts. What I DON'T understand is why some women will glare at me for reading the shirt... yes, I actually read it.

 

[oppp7]

My sister was planning to go to that Keeping Fear Alive rally dressed as slutty Osama. I don't think my opinion is unbiased.

 

[SuccessAndBiscuts]

Has Halloween become too sexualized? Wait, don't answer that, I already know it has. Whose fault is it then? And how can we get the scary back?

I think more or less EVERYTHING has become over-sexualised so no big surprise there then. As for fault I'm inclined to blame consumer culture firstly, and human nature second. In all honesty I think Halloween has gone much the same way as Christmas in becoming over commercialised.

Heh, feel kinda awkward now. Guess accusations like this are what result of guys like me asking my girlfriend to "Slut it up a bit" XD

(In my defence it was part of a confidence building thing)

Edit:

Not sure where the candy part came in, may have to do with the fact of giving the "spirits" offerings, these spirits being costumed children now a days.

Something to do with divination. Somethigng similar to Tasseomancy, the reading of Tea Leaves or Gastromancy, contents of the stomach.

Actually it comes form the celtic traditions...

Guisers ? men in disguise, were prevalent in 16th century in the Scottish countryside. Children going door to door "guising" (or "Galoshin" on the south bank of the lower Clyde) in costumes and masks carrying turnip lanterns, offering entertainment of various sorts in return for food or coins, was traditional in 19th century, and continued well into 20th century.[19] At the time of mass transatlantic Irish and Scottish immigration that popularized Halloween in North America, Halloween in Ireland and Scotland had a strong tradition of guising and pranks.[20]

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain )

Its a reason I hate the expression "Trick or treat" lots of kids in Scotland (which included me) needed to display some kind of skill to earn sweets.

 

[Exterminas]

What it used to be? About dressing yourself up silly and stuffing candy into your tummy till you feel sick. So it moved on from gluttony to lust, huge leap of faith indeed.

Halloween is one of the silliest hollidays ever, so there is no way it could become shallow.

Wrong. Like all major holidays in the Western world it was stolen by Christianity from Paganism and had it's meaning change. Then later it was stolen again by the shops in order to make money.

[link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain[/link]

Was Halloween, the fest in the USA, ever about that stuff in the article? No, it wasn't. Just because a holiday derives from something else during the times, it doens't carry on it's meaning. If it would, christmas would be a roman-sun-god-festival. For 99% of all people that celebrate the holiday, halloween hasn't been about anything more than costumes and sweets.

Meaning is asigned through people, not through wikipedia.