Hallowe'en

[Dr. Goodword]

A historical quirk we thought less important than the other stuff we stuffed in. But you're right--it has more to do with language so we might have mentioned it. Maybe I'll blog it since it is visible evidence of how sounds slip away from words. Let me see if I can find some more examples. Do you know of any?

[Bailey]

from Dr. GW's Good word Hallowe'en

the German word term used in that most unholy of salutes, Heil Hitler! "Hail, Hitler" and Sieg Heil! "Hail Victory!", used by Nazis during World War II.

and it marks what I've always thought and that is halloween is a form of religion and the decorations are a religious display. How odd that the perveyors of religious persecution aren't concerned about the dolls hanging from the trees, the witches and their kettles making a diarama just as explicit as a "manger scene', especially concidering it is a high holy day for the "up-side-down-cross" crowd.

mark no-religious-displays Bailey

[sluggo]

...what I've always thought and that is halloween is a form of religion and the decorations are a religious display. How odd that the perveyors of religious persecution aren't concerned about the dolls hanging from the trees, the witches and their kettles making a diarama just as explicit as a "manger scene', especially concidering it is a high holy day for the "up-side-down-cross" crowd.

mark no-religious-displays Bailey

a good point, but... who am the "'upside-down-cross' crowd"?

[gailr]

and it marks what I've always thought and that is halloween is a form of religion and the decorations are a religious display. How odd that the perveyors of religious persecution aren't concerned about the dolls hanging from the trees, the witches and their kettles making a diarama just as explicit as a "manger scene', especially concidering it is a high holy day for the "up-side-down-cross" crowd.

Contemporary Halloween decorations are the western, industrialized, commercial versions of Samhain, just as contemporary winter decorations are the western, industrialized, commercial versions of the Nativity, Yule, and Hannukah. The harvest end/new year observance of Samhain is from the same Celtic cultures which later preserved and disseminated some essential elements of Christianity, so I'd question generalizations like 'the "up-side-down-cross" crowd'. Moreover, people following non-Abrahamic traditions are neither inherently evil nor inherently hostile to the "big three".

The kitschy witches, ghosts, jack o'lanterns, etc., are no more religious than snowmen or sleigh-drawing reindeer or leprechauns with pots of gold. Cultures with rich, playful celebrations are healthier than those where all celebrations are grimly forbidden. Bring on the October broomstick-riding witches crashed into tree trunks and the Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls! Festoon the December trees with lights! Hearts or leprechauns or chocolate rabbits or International Talk Like a Pirate Day or National Pecan Month: all have a season and aficionados. Consult the Earth Calendar or Bizarre and Unique Holidaysfor dozens of annual opportunities to smile.

The difference is that displays of a truly religious nature rightfully belong either on private property or on the grounds and buildings consecrated to the respective faith, not on government property financed by public tax money. Respect for this distinction would remove a lot of unnecessary hostility and artificial social division in every season.

-gailr

[sluggo]

Beautifully astute, G. Nice links too- I like that they list "Celticism" among the religions. Haven't heard that name before. Blessèd be.

[gailr]

Thanks, sluggo. "Celticism" seems a bit...suspect...since it is neither the name of a founder, the object of focused veneration, nor even a precise cultural description. (There is no such animal as "the celtic language", for example.)

I have seen other lists--not generated by respected scholars--which include "Yoga," "Pokemon," "Martial Arts," "Harry Potter," and the tackily-slippery "Satinists" [sic] as religions. I also came across "Wiccanism" in a recent news article. [snickers] Sometimes a tad bit of research might come in handy, even in Sensational!journalism...

-gailr

[sluggo]

Thanks, sluggo. "Celticism" seems a bit...suspect...since it is neither the name of a founder, the object of focused veneration, nor even a precise cultural description. (There is no such animal as "the celtic language", for example.)

Yeah, I prefer something like neo-Euro-paganism... but it still needs work. Let's maybe not call it anything...

I have seen other lists--not generated by respected scholars--which include "Yoga," "Pokemon," "Martial Arts," "Harry Potter," and the tackily-slippery "Satinists" [sic] as religions. I also came across "Wiccanism" in a recent news article. [snickers] Sometimes a tad bit of research might come in handy, even in Sensational!journalism...

-gailr

But surely SensationalJournalism is oxymoronic, let alone moronic, and to it, research anathema.

Some wiser wag than I has pointed out our semiconsciously slanted language that pits 'them' as the isms (Buddhism, Judaism, Communism...) while 'we' get the more lofty Christianity, which to be fair can and perhaps should be rendered 'Christianism'.

Me, I'm a Taoist, which as we know is named after Tony Dow.

[gailr]

Me, I'm a Taoist, which as we know is named after Tony Dow.

So, which do you prefer for tangent reading: Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics or Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh?

-gailr
at least Tony's not the disturbed offspring of Charles Henry Dow and Edward D. Jones

[skinem]

The Tao of Willie (Nelson) for me...
(It's a real book! Surprisingly.

[Stargzer]

. . . and the tackily-slippery "Satinists" [sic] as religions. . . .
-gailr

Satin Sheets to lie on,
Satin pillows to cry on . . ."

(I did have a link to a midi and lyrics, but it crashed IE, which MS blamed on RealPlayer. Search, but as usual, Caveat Surfer.)