What Does Halloween Mean?

5 comments:

Rob Scott said...

Here are the questions from the end of the video (but please don't limit your comments to these alone):

How do you celebrate Halloween?

Is it becoming more commercial?

Is it becoming more or less community focussed?

Do you recognize any deeper cultural or spiritual themes in Halloween?

stacey said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nicole MacIver Okiring said...

I read that Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the States, I don't know about Canada but I'm sure we're up there. So yah, I think it's become very commercialized.

I don't really see the point of celebrating Halloween anymore except that kids really love dressing up and the whole neighborhood gets involved. I must admit, when I was a kid, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. Seems it can also be a way of transitioning between seasons...but I still think it's kind of random.

Anonymous said...

Here are some relevant and irrelevant thoughts that came to my mind while I watched the video...

When I was a kid, Halloween was about trick or treating in the rich communities to get the full size chocolate bars not the mini size ones. My children seem to have inherited my values.

When I dropped my daughter off at a "Christian" halloween party, I was very surprised to see half the kids dressed as witches.

I'd be interested to know what significance the wicca community places on Oct 31. I'm sure there is increased occult activity at Halloween.

Every year, I worry about how much weight my kids will gain from the mountain of candy they get. (No one seems to talk about juvenile obesity at this time of year.)

Last night when I was listening to the live feed from IHOP, Misty was singing, "I want to be possessed, I want to be gripped, I was to be indwelt by the Spirit.." I think that's appropriate for Halloween.

stacey said...

I like Halloween.

I like the part about getting out of your house and seeing your neighbours for the only time in the whole year. (At least in my case!)

I think there are some very deep cultural and spiritual themes in Halloween. In fact I think there are some valuable themes about death, and darkness that are important to work through societally, that we don't 100% understand on a conscious level.