HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

i’ll be posting pics of my little dragon and unicorn shortly…but for now i just wanted to post a little about halloween. first of all, a fantastic article that i like to share at this time of year. its highly enlightening.

i’m always amazed to hear of people that are so ridiculously UNeducated on the true roots of halloween that they think its an evil satanic holiday. i even overheard a very dear friend a few years back talking about just this topic and that they don’t celebrate it and i was SO torn. because i wanted so bad to educate her so that she would let her children enjoy this fun holiday…but then i decided against it because i really don’t want to mess with someone else’s religious beliefs…thought it might put a wedge between us so i kept my mouth shut. but it seriously makes my skin crawl to hear people spreading horrible misinformation about halloween.

i’ve done a ton of educating myself on world religions. well i used to, not so much anymore (no time! but maybe when my kids are older i’ll be able to find time again)…and i only just scratched the surface. but at one point, not that long ago (in fact i was smack in the middle of it when i met my hubby), i was really gung-ho about neo-paganism. i’ve since decided that its not the path for me but for awhile there i really was keen on it and still actually am, just not for me. not that i really have a path, but paganism just wasn’t fitting me. anyway, so during that time of my soaking up all things neo-pagan (met some really great friends during that time and learned there is quite a pagan subculture in the fresno area…adam and i even got to attend a yule circle one time! really cool!) and of course the subject of halloween did come up. especially i got to hear about all the silly ideas some people have about halloween.

so read the above linked article to set yourself straight if you have any ideas of the holiday being evil or whatnot. i suppose it still won’t help those that are so one-minded that they think anything NOT what they believe is evil…because there’s no convincing those people of anything. but i like to try to educate those that are more open-minded, so they don’t continue to spread misinformation. that’s one of my biggest pet peeves–people who spout off about stuff they very obviously have NO idea about.

so anyway halloween is definitely celebrated in this house…and we talk about how the witches that we see at halloween in all the decorations and costumes are the FICTIONAL ideas of what witches are and that real witches are real people and we even have one friend that is a self-proclaimed witch that my kids will understand as they grow up (tyren’s nowhere near ready to understand and maeven’s only just starting to learn) that witchcraft is just another religion, like all the others out there and there’s nothing evil about it and that its actually quite interesting and beautiful and halloween is a special day for real witches but the witches that we see on halloween in cartoons and such are make believe. and we trick or treat because its fun. and dressing up is fun. and halloween is fun.

i just feel really sad for children who’s parents don’t let them have halloween. not the end of the world, of course…but it is sad. give me a break about the evil origins…those parents need to educate themselves and let their kids be kids and have fun. *sigh* but of course they get to choose what’s right for their kids just like i get to choose what’s right for my kids. and i’ll just vent here because i would never approach anyone in real life and tell them i think they’re ridiculous for thinking ill of halloween. not my place to say. there’s a lot of ridiculous stuff out there and depriving their kids of halloween, i suppose, is just a very small thing. but still sad. 🙁