On 31/10/2011 7:37 PM, Darren New wrote:
> Doesn't Finland have a harvest celebration, tho? Like Thanksgiving and
> Mid-Autumn Festival and stuff like that? That's really all Halloween is,
> except some Christians went and dressed it up in evil icons because it
> was the pagan version of the holiday.

I beg to differ.
Hallowe'en is a Christian festival, the Eve of All Hallows. All Saints' 
Day is a day when the dead are remembered. In Scotland and Ireland it 
was thought that the dead could walk on the evening before that day.
Samhain was a harvest festival. The ghosts and goolies did not appear 
until after Christianity had been established for several centuries.

As for poor Finland being infected by the American version of 
Hallowe’en, I sympathise. I can’t stand the crass commercialisation of 
what should IMO be small celebrations. What next, cakes and cards for a 
tooth extraction?
When I was young, in Scotland, Hallowe'en was for children. When we went 
guising we had to perform a trick, a song or a poem, before we got a 
treat. Lots of thought went in to our disguises.


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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