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Halloween falls out of favor
Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/26/5 | Deepa Ranganathan

Posted on 10/26/2005 7:53:07 AM PDT by SmithL

Leisa Sinclair-Vick used to send her two sons to a San Francisco public school that was serious about Halloween.

"They had extra costumes for kids who didn't bring them," she said. "People would get prizes for the most original costume, or the scariest or funniest."

So Sinclair-Vick was dismayed to receive a notice recently from Cottage Elementary, the Arden Arcade school her sons now attend after she moved there last year.

"I have been asked to let you know that no costumes of any kind will be allowed at school," the letter read. "Students cannot decorate their body in any way to make it look like they are in costume. It is a regular day, as far as dress is concerned."

The notice announced a "fall celebration" for Friday. But its message was clear: It "is not," according to the letter, "related to Halloween in any way!"

Once, Halloween was all about trick-or-treating and the sugar rush that came with scoring enough candy to last until Thanksgiving. Then came the fear of bullies and razor blades. Now, a holiday that grew from Celtic rituals finds itself squarely in the middle of modern-day culture wars.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the classroom. For the last decade, schools across the country have been phasing out the holiday. Goodbye, costume parties. Farewell, jack-o'-lanterns. The symbols of Halloween aren't welcome in these hallways.

Instead, schools and churches are holding "harvest parties." Sometimes these are after-school costume parties where scarecrows are permitted, ghosts are not.

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: halloweenies
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To: two134711
You are so right. Halloween isn't Charlie Brown anymore, it's Friday the 13th. We took our oldest child trick-or-treating when he was little. At one home, the adult handing out the candy was wearing a realistic and gruesome latex mask. When she saw how frightened our son was, she began speaking very gently and sweetly. Unfortunately, the other adults hiding in the trunk of a car in the driveway couldn't see how young or how frightened he was, so they jumped out and scared the dickens out of him. He wouldn't even walk by that house for over a year.

When I was little, we would go from house to house getting treats and doing tricks. Neighbors would invite us in, and we would do cartwheels in their living room or some other silly activity to entertain them. (I can remember getting caramel apples and popcorn balls, too, before the razor blade and drug scares forced us all to wrapped candies.) I have a list of about 60+ sexual predators who live in my neck of the woods. My children do not go into any neighbor's house unless I know them well.

When I was little, the costume for every child whose parent who didn't have a lot of time or money (next to the ghost-sheet) was the Hobo for the boys and the Gypsy for the girls. So un-PC.

I have some religious objections about glorifying evil, destruction, and suffering. I prefer that my children dress as funny or positive characters. But mainly, I feel that Halloween has become too adult, too commercial and too unsafe. We will go to our church's fall festival. We will give out candy to trick-or-treaters. My children will dress up and visit neighbors that we know, or perhaps participate in some local Halloween event. We will rent bad 50's-style horror flicks for fun. It's an uneasy compromise, but it's the best we've come up with for our family.

21 posted on 10/27/2005 5:01:47 AM PDT by Chanticleer (A free society is a place where it's safe to be unpopular. -- Adlai Stevenson)
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To: Woman on Caroline Street

Just saw a report on WBZ-TV in Boston (not on their website yet): After a few parents complained, Halloween is cancelled at the Underwood School in Newton, MA. It will be a "Fall
Festival" instead. No costumes, no candy, no fun in the land of P.C.


22 posted on 10/27/2005 9:25:13 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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Satan?

23 posted on 10/28/2005 8:57:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Sunday, August 14, 2005.)
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