Posted on 10/26/2005 11:33:18 AM PDT by steel_resolve
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- It's almost Halloween - and all those ghosts, goblins, tricks and treats are giving Hans Kohler the creeps.
So the mayor of Rankweil, a town near the border with Switzerland, has launched a one-man campaign disparaging Halloween as a "bad American habit" and urging families to skip it this year.
"It's an American custom that's got nothing to do with our culture," Kohler wrote in letters sent out to households. By midweek, the mayors of eight neighboring villages had thrown their support behind the boycott. So had local police, annoyed with the annual Oct. 31 uptick in vandalism and mischief.
Although Halloween has become increasingly popular across Europe - complete with carved pumpkins, witches on broomsticks, makeshift houses of horror and costumed children rushing door to door for candy - it's begun to breed a backlash.
Critics see it as the epitome of crass, U.S.-style commercialism. Clerics and conservatives contend it clashes with the spirit of traditional Nov. 1 All Saints' Day remembrances.
And it's got purists in countries struggling to retain a sense of uniqueness in Europe's ever-enlarging melting pot grimacing like Jack o' Lanterns.
Halloween "undermines our cultural identity," complained the Rev. Giordano Frosini, a Roman Catholic theologian who serves as vicar-general in the Diocese of Pistoia near Florence, Italy.
Frosini denounced the holiday as a "manifestation of neo-paganism" and an expression of American cultural supremacy. "Pumpkins show their emptiness," he said.
To be sure, Halloween is big business in Europe.
Germans alone spend nearly $170 million, on Halloween costumes, sweets, decorations and parties. The holiday has become increasingly popular in Romania, home to the Dracula myth, where discotheques throw parties with bat and vampire themes.
In Britain, where Halloween celebrations rival those in the United States, it's the most lucrative day of the year for costume and party retailers.
"Without Halloween, I don't think we could exist, to be honest," said Pendra Maisuria, owner of Escapade, a London costume shop that rakes in 30 percent of its annual sales in the run-up to Oct. 31. Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, haven't logged any significant increase in crime.
But not everyone takes such a carefree approach toward the surge in trick-or-treating - "giving something sweet or getting something sour," as it's called in German.
In Austria, where many families get a government child allowance, "parents who abuse it to buy Halloween plunder for their kids should be forced to pay back the aid," grumbled Othmar Berbig, an Austrian who backs the small but strident boycott movement.
In Sweden, even as Halloween's popularity has increased, so have views of the holiday as an "unnecessary, bad American custom," said Bodil Nildin-Wall, an expert at the Language and Folklore Institute in Uppsala.
Italy's Papaboys, a group of pope devotees who include some of the young Catholics who cheer wildly at Vatican events, have urged Christians not to take part in what they consider "a party in honor of Satan and hell," and plan to stage prayer vigils nationwide that night.
Don't take it all so seriously, counters Gerald Faschingeder, who heads a Roman Catholic youth alliance in Austria. He sees nothing particularly evil about glow-in-the-dark skeletons, plastic fangs, fake blood, rubber tarantulas or latex scars.
"It's a chance for girls and boys to disguise themselves and have some fun away from loud and demanding adults," Faschingeder said. "For one evening, at least, kids can feel more powerful than grown-ups."
Like brushing our teeth and not killing Jews.
It's one of the few times I agree with the Europeans.
I think I'll dress as the scariest monster I know this year:
A German cop.
I'm not a big halloween fan either. I've seen all the dead people I want to see, and I don't really want to have a party over it.
Isn't the actual history of halloween really somewhat darker than we make it? I mean didn't alot of folks do alot of praying on halloween to keep the evil spirits at bay?
In the words of my four-year-old:
Oh, brother!
Don't forget deodorant!
"Halloween" - Hallows E'en - All Hallows Eve: The night before All Saints Day
That's American?
I'm American and never really liked it, although I like the historical origin as a vigil for All Saints' day (i.e., All Hallows').
"It's a chance for girls and boys to disguise themselves and have some fun away from loud and demanding adults," Faschingeder said. "For one evening, at least, kids can feel more powerful than grown-ups."
At least they are not all nuts.
The history of halloween is indeed very dark. At one point, it mocked All Hallows Eve, but the celebrations go way back in history. I couldn't find any of them that was consistent with my Christian beliefs, so we always spent the day differently.
I am almost ashamed I laughed at that, but damnit, that was funny!
Some people just need to lighten up...
I still havent figured out what I am going to be this year...
From http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed. So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.
There's more at the link.
Yeah, we invented Walpurgisnacht, too. Idiots.
I think it was kind of a merging of Pagan and Christian culture in Europe originally.
At any rate, Halloween (as it stands today) is and should be about little kids getting to have some fun and about communities doing a little something to working together to make it special for the kids.
Thank about it...Halloween as we celebrate it today is where people put up some cheesy decorations up outside their homes because they think the kids will get a kick out of it. Then, they stock up on candy and treats to pass out to the neighborhood kids....why? Because people were kind enough to stock up on candy and give it to them when they were kids. Personally, it's the time I see the most neighbors all year.
I don't even HAVE kids, but it's fun just to see all the neighbors and see the kids eyes light up when they get their candy and get to see the decorations, and each other's costumes and stuff.
Most Americans are not fans of Euro-peons.
Having read Fraser's The Golden Bough several times through, I can say that the Europeans and yes Germans and Austrians included, have more to do with Halloween celebrations (costuming, pranks, running through town at night) all of which can be traced to their own pagan pre-history, and Roman customs and festivals. It is hardly an American-only festivity. What an astoundingly stupid comment - what's next - we invented lederhosen and alpine caps?
I haven't had one trick-or-treater in the last four years. I always buy a bag of candy just in case. Always end up eating it myself. If any trick-or-treater did actually come to my house they would hit the gold mine of candy!
Thanks!
It's not like I'm some kinda tight ss about it. Some of the best memories I have are of the bags full of candy!
But we tend to see things only in a narrow view sometimes, and I knew there is alot more history to it than a few pumpkins and Darth Vader costumes.
Years ago, I and my wife went a bit bonkers, I got a bunch of dry ice, we were playing REALLY creepy stuff on the stereo, turned the lights down low, and scared the bejeepers out of the kids who came by!
Thanks for the link...I have always loved Halloween...even as a little kid, I was always a witch. Ummmmmm.
This reminds me of a good joke..."European visions of Heaven and hell"
In European vision of heaven:
The French are the cooks
The Swiss are the bankers
The Italians are the lovers
The Germans are the mechanics
The British are the police
In the European vision of hell:
The French are the mechanics
The Swiss are the lovers
The Italians are the bankers
The British are the cooks
The Germans are the police
Deep.
Right on! It's just plain goofy to be a spoil sport.
1) Silent Night
2) Adeste Fideles
3) White Christmas
4)God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
5) Faith of Our Fathers(yikes, the ACLU ain't gonna like)
6) I'll Be Home For Christmas
7)Jingle Bells/with the Andrews Sisters)
8) Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
9)Sliver Bells/w Carole Richards
10)It's beginning to Look Like Christmas
11) Christmas In Killarney
12)Mele Kalikimaka(Merry Christmas)/w the Andrews Sisters!!
EXCELLENT CD!
I feel pretty much the same about Cinco de Mayo.
OOOoops, Bing Crosby, not Cosby...:)
LOL, you sure are quick on the draw.
Absolutely!
Never in my life did I anticipate Halloween's arrival because I could worship satan and the underworld.
I love Halloween today just as much as I did many decades ago. I, too, see parents with their kids, and fluffy little baby chicks and butterflies walking around the neighborhood. I see Superman and Barbie Princesses and little 3 foot tall firemen. I do what a neighbor did to me when I was little...I reward the kiddos with a little card and a special lollipop attached that says, "This one is extra because you remembered to say, "Thank You." Just a little lesson that maybe will stick with one kid throughout his life, as it did with me.
Remember, even if this was a satan worshipping day, perhaps the devil would have us all say indoors and unhappy. Myself, I would rather turn satan's evil around and turn it into something where people would be friendly and neighborly and families would enjoy some closeness they otherwise might not have had.
There is a confluence of similar holidays clustered around the end of October. The American version is so totally sanitized it is without meaning, but Kohler knows his local version is so harsh it will make the teeth stand on edge, and that is not even severe by other versions.
My favorite Christmas CD is the Bing Crosby 2-CD Christmas collection that includes those 12 songs and like 35 others. It purports to include every Christmas song Bing Crosby ever recorded for whichever company it was for which he recorded White Christmas (it actually includes like 3 versions of each of Silent Night and White Christmas). I bought it from BMG for like $7, and it was well worth it.
"...The holiday has become increasingly popular in Romania, home to the Dracula myth, where discotheques throw parties with bat and vampire themes....."
LOL...wouldn't you love to go to a Bat Party in Transylvania?
WOW! It's tough to find Bing Crosby music now a days! I'll keep an eye out for that collection for sure!
"Like brushing our teeth and not killing Jews."
LOL! Great observation!!
Amen. I love Halloween.
Here's a good site for resources:
http://www.fangoria.com/oscommerce2/
"Thank about it...Halloween as we celebrate it today is where people put up some cheesy decorations up outside their homes because they think the kids will get a kick out of it. Then, they stock up on candy and treats to pass out to the neighborhood kids....why? Because people were kind enough to stock up on candy and give it to them when they were kids. Personally, it's the time I see the most neighbors all year."
That's garish...
I think you busybodies mind your own business. I like Halloween.
My hubby was talking about getting a head start on Christmas this year instead of waiting for Thanksgiving to start decorating...he wants to do it now...I agreed.
Halloween's my birthday, so I guess I'm biased. Coolest birthday ever when you are a kid. Not so bad as an adult, either.
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