Halloween....

[northernblue]

I disagree.

For me a true Christian understands that the Church of God has nothing to do with priests, churches made of bricks and mortar, and showing others how good a Christian you can be.

Its about reconciling your own version of morality.  It also means that Christ being crucified and paying the ultimate price was for all of humanity's salvation irrespective of how they behave on this plane of existence.  The idea of hell and purgatory is a human one and not understanding the aforementioned, and actually causing yourself mental anguish.  That is the proverbial hell on earth.

Whether or not others agree with this viewpoint is up to them.  Christmas irrespective of why the holiday exists, is a time of bringing family and friends together so if it achieves nothing else, it is great for social and mental health.

The ruling powers that be would love nothing more than a society of slaves to the wage with no public holidays.

In all seriousness I have no problem with what you have written, but as an outlandish generalisation I'm seeing less goodwill and more "whats in it for me" in our world nowadays.

[PaulP]

The doctrine of the Atonement has a lot to answer for.

[kruddler]

It's the Americans that have been the 'influencer' though.

Only because we (and plenty of the rest of the world) look up to America as our big brother and teacher.
We breathe in their culture like we do oxygen.

As mentioned elsewhere, other countries do their own thing which pre-dates american commercialization of it.

[Gointocarlton]

It's the Americans that have been the 'influencer' though.

I can't think of anything American that I like or influences me (Im talking, sport, culture, food, automotive, travel etc). Maybe the odd American movie but that's about it (I dont consider that influencing but rather entertainment)
I am heavily influenced by my Australian Nationality and my Italian heritage.

[Lods]

The point I'm making is this....the version of Halloween our young folk are embracing is the American model.
The characters the children dress up as come mostly from the American interpretation of them.
We know of these 'trick or treat' activities... the dressing up etc because our kids grow up watching American movies and TV shows.
We grew up watching our favourite American TV families celebrating Halloween.
That's why the yanks get the blame.

That US model  may come from old European and Pagan origins but it's the American interpretation of the Ghosts, Vampires, Zombies....and popular film and comic characters etc that the kids embrace.

Do you know what the most popular figure by my reckoning (in terms of numbers wearing that costume) was at the Wynnum parade.
It was DC movie/comics...Harley Quinn

( just as an aside....My favourite at the parade was a guy who had what looked like a body bag slung over his shoulder. He was carrying a shovel. There were a couple of guys walking behind me when this guy appeared and one said..."This is probably the one night of the year when you could get away with actually burying someone like that for real" ;D

[kruddler]

The point I'm making is this....the version of Halloween our young folk are embracing is the American model.
The characters the children dress up as come mostly from the American interpretation of them.
We know of these 'trick or treat' activities... the dressing up etc because our kids grow up watching American movies and TV shows.
We grew up watching our favourite American TV families celebrating Halloween.
That's why the yanks get the blame.

That US model  may come from old European and Pagan origins but it's the American interpretation of the Ghosts, Vampires, Zombies....and popular film and comic characters etc that the kids embrace.

Do you know what the most popular figure by my reckoning (in terms of numbers wearing that costume) was at the Wynnum parade.
It wasn't a ghost, goblin or mummy
It was DC movie/comics...Harley Quinn

( just as an aside....My favourite at the parade was a guy who had what looked like a body bag slung over his shoulder. He was carrying a shovel. There were a couple of guys walking behind me when this guy appeared and one said..."This is probably the one night of the year when you could get away with actually burying someone like that for real" ;D

re last part first.
My favourite horror movie (and franchise) is the original Halloween (1978), and all its sequels/remakes/reboots/re-imaginings etc which are very average by comparison, but do use that concept....a masked killer walking amongst other masked individuals and nobody bats an eye.

I don't disagree with us being americanised, but i don't blame the americans for it. I blame us.