Would Anyone Like To Explain What The Fuck This Is?!

[Guestyman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/10/jesus-ween-christian-halloween_n_1003395.html?1318270211

Okay. So let me get on the rant now.

I am a Pagan. And I for one find this to be bullshit.

Halloween is a sacred holiday. Pagan New Year, my friends. And this bullshit is what makes me hate America.

Let me tell you, I'm done defending the intelligence of this country if no one can follow our own Freedom of Religion bit. Fucking hell, I can't even think straight right now in regards to this. Someone, please post a better rant. I don't even have words. There ARE no words....

I know it's been said before, but it bears repeating.
Halloween has been a Christian Holiday since the 8th century, and certainly has been since 1556 when it was given the name "Halloween"

Hallow as in holy. Een as in Even as in Evening. Therefore Halloween as in "The Night Before All Saints Day" All Saints Day as in the Christian celebration.

It hasn't been purely non-Christian since the 8th century. It was/is the celtic harvest festival Samuin (Later re-named as Samhain) which is old Irish for "Summer's End" but it was strictly a secular gaelic harvest festival even then.

Halloween was only associated with Paganism as we understand the term today in the 19th century when the modern concept of Paganism actually arose with the occultic resurgance in Germany and the UK. This is a full eleven centuries after it became a Christian celebration. So you're coming a bit late to the party, I'm afraid.

If you're wiccan or Celtic Reconstructionist then you're even later as those didn't come about until the late 20th century. 12 centuries after the Secular harvest festival was co-opted by Christianity.

TL;DR Version: Paganism as a religious affiliation arose within the last 200 years depending on what you count as the Pagan religious affiliation. Halloween became Christian in the 8th century. Samuin/Samahain was always a secular celebration before neopagan co-option in the 1960s. Therefore complaining about Christians co-opting Samuin is
1) A bit late.
2) From the standpoint of an atheist British citizen of Celtic descent, highly amusing.

Just out of interest, and I do ask this out of genuine interest rather than facetiousness: Which form of Pagan are you? Are you Wiccan? Druidic? Celtic Reconstructionist?
Are you an Eclectic or Syncretic Pagan or do you follow a particular ethnocentric form of Paganism? Which one? Hellenic, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, or Other?

 

[xvbones]

Just out of interest, and I do ask this out of genuine interest rather than facetiousness: Which form of Pagan are you? Are you Wiccan? Druidic? Celtic Reconstructionist?
Are you an Eclectic or Syncretic Pagan or do you follow a particular ethnocentric form of Paganism? Which one? Hellenic, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, or Other?

See, you let them cheat when you give them the proper names they can google and copypaste from wikipedia.

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Have to agree with the first response, what they are doing IS freedom of religion. I don't LIKE what they are doing, but so long as they aren't telling people they MUST celebrate Halloween this way and no other way, they are not encroaching on freedom of religion, the OP is far closer to infringing on their rights.

 

[Queen Michael]

Halloween is a sacred holiday. Pagan New Year, my friends. And this bullshit is what makes me hate America.

Let me tell you, I'm done defending the intelligence of this country if no one can follow our own Freedom of Religion bit. Fucking hell, I can't even think straight right now in regards to this. Someone, please post a better rant. I don't even have words. There ARE no words....

1. They are following the freedom of religion bit. They're not stopping anyone from celebrating halloween. Please, no false accusations. And if this gets you mad, why not just laugh at these people instead? Why take them seriously?

2. Also, the original Halloween, Samhain, according to what Wikipedia tells me, wasn't Wiccan. It was not actually a religious celebration.

 

[Vrach]

I'm sorry, but they're calling it JesusWeen. I can't not approve. JesusWeen.

 

[ryanthemadman]

they could've at least came up with a better name for it. it sounds like they're weening people on Jesus or something. whatever you think of the holiday, it just sounds lame, and that is coming from a christian

 

[SAMURAJ]

Woho (World Osteopathic Health Organization), did you see that black chick holding the bible some fine piece of ass, shame she is not normal i mean look at her she is black, but i guess we can still rape her little black ass.......wait a sec what were we talking about, oh yea i love halloween.Every year i dress up in white tops to simbolise white power and if they put this new holiday i cant...weit a sec "white tops required" count me in !!!

P.S.
don't take this sirius

 

[Lord_Nemesis]

For fuck sake, 3 words:

Get. A. Grip.

I shudder at the thought of this worlds future.

 

[ejb626]

Halloween is a sacred holiday. Pagan New Year, my friends. And this bullshit is what makes me hate America.

Let me tell you, I'm done defending the intelligence of this country if no one can follow our own Freedom of Religion bit. Fucking hell, I can't even think straight right now in regards to this. Someone, please post a better rant. I don't even have words. There ARE no words....

I think you're being a bit drastic, the actions of one Christian don't really mean everyone in America is an idiot. I'm kind of sick of seeing people write off an entire country as "stupid" because of a few people. I still think this is stupid and they probably could have come with a better sounding name than Jesus-ween.

 

[Actual]

I'm with the OP on this. What happens when they decide to do Christian Divali, run around during the festival of lights wearing white gowns handing out bibles and telling hindus to consider their immortal soul.

Or any other religion's holidays.

I realise this is a tiny niche group of christians, but still, they need to gtfo.

 

[Guestyman]

Just out of interest, and I do ask this out of genuine interest rather than facetiousness: Which form of Pagan are you? Are you Wiccan? Druidic? Celtic Reconstructionist?
Are you an Eclectic or Syncretic Pagan or do you follow a particular ethnocentric form of Paganism? Which one? Hellenic, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, or Other?

See, you let them cheat when you give them the proper names they can google and copypaste from wikipedia.

Eh. If people want to "Cheat" That's their business. I'm not trying to "catch anyone out" or anything. It's just Pagan is a *very* big umbrella term. If we're going to be honest, (Considering the religious groups you could belong to and call yourself Pagan are as wide reaching as the Ancient Roman pantheon, Ancient Greek gods, Nordic gods (Wotan, Thor etc.), Druidic nature worship and all manner of other things I'm neglecting to mention) the most meaningful definition one can give "Pagan" is "Religious, but not Asiatic, Abrahamic or Hindu".

I'm assuming the OP follows some kind of Celtic nature worship form of Paganism considering the focus on Samuin/Samhain/Halloween, but with modern American Neopaganism and Wicca and worship of "The Goddess" (Whoever *she* may be) one can never be certain.

You'll have to forgive my pedantry. I took Classics at university while I was still there. Pre-Renaisance Religious history and Pre-Renaisance European history are two subjects I find really fascinating, and so the modern resurgance of religions from Classical Antiquity is a phenomenon I really like reading about.

 

[MercurySteam]

Come to Australia mate, we don't even do Halloween properly.

Really? What do you do?

We have kids roaming around and are usually greeted with "We don't do Halloween" when they approach someone's door. Whenever we stock lollies for Halloween, I usually end up eating them all as nobody comes to the door. Halloween parties do still happen but can be pretty rare. I guess it depends on your street.

 

[Vkmies]

Chirstmas, easter and if I recall correctly, multiple other VERY "TRADITIONAL" christian holidays are originally stolen from old pagan holidays. Chirstmas tree? Originally Pagans did it. Christians just put their holidays on top of the pagan holidays, so they could convert people more easily, and it is still going on. Damn. Well, I dont care, I hate Halloween too. Being a FINNISH pagan, we had our own little holiday before Chirstians had one and before there was Halloween here. Now that America is the "big thing" nobody seems to even know about this holiday we used to have.

 

[Petromir]

Haloween is the Christian celebration designed to help replace the simiarly timed pagan event. In more rrecent times its fallen out of favour with the church as its been more comercialised and unlike Easter (which may have absorb elements of pagan festivals but is timed around passover, or was till they started using a different calander) or Christmas isn't about a main tenant of belief. Some groups likely left it earlier as seeing it as a tenant of Roman Catholosism. THis group may have belonged to the latter (and therefore believe it to be unchristian full stop), decided to give up the name halloween for good and reclaim it under a different name or as said just be plain ignorant.

I'm fine with all and sundry trying to convert others to their beliefs, including all religious groups, and atheisists (Agnosticism is about the only thing you can't convert someone to really). But it should be done in respectful thoughtful way. Which the people you notice doing it most don't, the most offensive of which are the militant fundamentalist evanjelical christains and militant fundamentalist evanjelical atheists (seriously Richard Dawkins very intelligent guy, massive jerk.

Religions and polotics, both proof that whenever people get together you tend to get a heady mix of intoxicating ideas that produce an unpredictible mix of evil and good of all levels, and even if the ideas are all at the good end of the spectrum, theres usually evil creeping into the methods used to impliment the good ones.

Some people seem prone to extremist views, and will latch onto one or another, or skip between them, hopefully these people get hold of good ideas, but even so the narrowness blinds them to the effects of their methods.

Even if you do get an idea that would produce true utopia, it'll probablly be got hold of by a jerk who ruins it, quite possibly with the best of intentions of making it work.

Alot of the problems with organised religion, and indeed goverment is that by the very nature of having them it's almost impossible to stop the wrong people rising fastest, and the ones that you'd actually want to get there when they do are either swamped or corrupted.

 

[tharglet]

My personal thoughts is that the "big" holidays are now pretty much about celebrating nothing. With that, they can be about whatever you want them to be about. If someone wants to hand out bibles... fine. S'long as they don't mind the weird looks and people not wanting them ^^.

It's not been an uncommon practice over the years for people to sort of "hijack" current celebrations to win people over. May the best "thing" win . Preeetttyy sure capitalism's winning right now lol. As for me, idc... whee!

 

[William Dickbringer]

halloween doesn't lack faith

all you need is a jesus costume

and there you go instant faith

 

[The Human Torch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/10/jesus-ween-christian-halloween_n_1003395.html?1318270211

Okay. So let me get on the rant now.

I am a Pagan. And I for one find this to be bullshit.

Halloween is a sacred holiday. Pagan New Year, my friends. And this bullshit is what makes me hate America.

Let me tell you, I'm done defending the intelligence of this country if no one can follow our own Freedom of Religion bit. Fucking hell, I can't even think straight right now in regards to this. Someone, please post a better rant. I don't even have words. There ARE no words....

One religion arguing with another religion, doesn't sound very Paganistic to me. And I am honestly surprised to see that there are still Pagan people out there. Really, I thought that you all died out with the Vikings.

 

[Kris015]

They could at least have come up with a better name than "Jesus Ween"..

 

[ThisIsSnake]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/10/jesus-ween-christian-halloween_n_1003395.html?1318270211

Okay. So let me get on the rant now.

I am a Pagan. And I for one find this to be bullshit.

Halloween is a sacred holiday. Pagan New Year, my friends. And this bullshit is what makes me hate America.

Let me tell you, I'm done defending the intelligence of this country if no one can follow our own Freedom of Religion bit. Fucking hell, I can't even think straight right now in regards to this. Someone, please post a better rant. I don't even have words. There ARE no words....

One religion arguing with another religion, doesn't sound very Paganistic to me. And I am honestly surprised to see that there are still Pagan people out there. Really, I thought that you all died out with the Vikings.

They're more like hippies, they don't even sacrifice animals or people like the real pagans did. Just a fad to rebel against mum and dad

 

[Alistair Leyden]

you shouldn't be to suprised by christians pushing in on a pagan holiday 25th of december was originally a completely seprate pagan holiday