Posted by giveawayboy on October 01, 2001 at 21:56:32:
just wanted to mention that Hall-O-ween is in the air!
Tonight Steven, my upstairs neighbor and my little Catfish and I went up to Walgreen's together. We actually were taking a brisk after dinner walk when we decided to stop at Walgreen's and Mr. Bar AV was there again. Anyway, we were there, checking out the Hall-O-ween section and all I could think of was that if I had a car I'd buy all sorts of jack-O-lanterns and candy and skulls and stuff and bring them to all my friends at COTLAF. I remembered for a brief moment the old days of haunting my pals at Crossover. I miss those times, but it's all the more reason to find out how to haunt my friends now. Our jack-O-lantern is lit tonight. And, I am ready to play my haunting autumn music. Below I've listed some great sites for Hall-O-ween! It is my hope that one day us Christians will reclaim our own traditions and begin once again to celebrate Hall-O-ween, not as a secular holiday, but as it was originally intended, a Christian feast in honor of the Saints. If anyone would like to know more about the REAL history of Hall-O-ween, feel free to contact me and I can share the Christian roots of one of America's favorite holidays! Also, if anyone knows Bob's email address, feel free to pass this info on to him. Thanks! It is very important that we Christians don't gie up all our traditions. There are reasons why we have them. Things that work over time become tradition. Tradition is not always a bad thing.
One disclaimer: one site below admittedly is a pagan site. I have made a note of it above the link. The reason I included this site, is because it is a fairly accurate apologetic for Samhain and defense of the pagan view of Hall-O-ween. Actually, the name Hall-O-ween is shared by both Christians and pagans for different events that happen around the same time of year. I will clarify any confusion on this w anyone who wants to write me. The reason I included the pagan site, is since it really puts fundamentalist Christians in their place. It is one of the best sites I have seen on this topic so far. I think it was done with tact and I think the site is very handsome looking. Also, it is time that we Christians bone up on our history and quit basing our opinions on Hall-O-ween on modern fundamentalist comic books.
Here are some great sites to visit for the Hall-O-ween season!
SITES FOR DAY OF THE DEAD
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/nndia.html
http://members.tripod.com/~muertos/
http://www.pastrywiz.com/season/halloween11.htm
http://www.olvera-street.com/dia_de_los_muertos.html
http://www.mexonline.com/daydead.htm
http://www.indetroit.com/allmedia/dead/default.htm
http://muertos.palomar.edu/muertoslinks.htm
http://memorial.sandi.net/LESSONS/Dia.de.los.Muertos/Dia.html
A PAGAN DEFENSE OF HALL-O-WEEN
http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween.HTML
BOOKS ON HALL-O-WEEN & DAY OF THE DEAD
Halloween by: Leslie Bannatyne
The Halloween Tree by: Ray Bradbury
The Spirit of Tio Fernando by: Janice Levy & Morella Fuenmayor
http://hallkidsfamily.com/multilingual/265.shtml
The Catholic Book of the Dead by: Ann Ball
Happy Hall-O-ween and All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day!
Bill