[Faith-talk] halow wean part one of two

[Kendra Schafer]

Hi all! 
I'm also from Oregon so I know what Deby means about not knowing if it was going to rain. When we were growing up, we often trick or treated but for many years, we often had a big Halloween party because my sister Renee, my sister Lynda and I all have birthdays that are close to Halloween. Halloween was the second biggest celebration behind Christmas each year. Now days, Thanksgiving takes that spot. Back in my childhood days, we had the best Halloween parties in our neighborhood. We had jack a lanters on our balcony, Halloween decorations inside, birthday presents, Halloween treats and got dressed up in Halloween costumes. I always enjoyed it!!! I also wished that spring was celebrated in the same way. For years, I wanted the spring equinox to be celebrated. I felt that I was the only one with that view. I found out that I wasn't when I met some Pagans in high school. I finally became a Pagan myself when I was 21 years old. I have celebrated the spring equinox since I started dating my boyfriend and adopted most of the other Pagan hollidays as well. I celebrated Halloween and Groundhog Day my whole life. I also celebrated the winter solstice through celebrating Christmas. All I had to do to make it more Pagan was to start up a few Pagan twists especially with the Christmas tree and bless it on or near the winter solstice. The rest was already taken care of for me. I call Christmas a shared Holliday. Neither my Christian friends or I mind. We have a lot of creative fun with it. The main thing that we don't share is the decorations and our religious ceremonies. I stumbled upon most of the Pagan holidays one day while I was reading about the seasons. I also have them programmed into my iPhone's callender. 
Kendra  


Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 19, 2014, at 8:58 AM, debby phillips via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Not me! I loved going trick or treating.  We would walk down the sidewalk with our sacks, the leaves crunchy under our feet.  It was a good night if it wasn't raining but in Oregon you never knew for sure.  If it was not raining we would still have to put our warm coats on.  There was always the tang of wood smoke in the air, as many people had fires in their wood stoves or fireplaces.  There was a sense of excitement and yes, danger, but not really scary danger.  But there was always that sense that ANYTHING could happen.
> 
> I had a real desire to fly and the only thing I really thought about witches was that they got to fly on broomsticks and that I wanted to fly, too.  The whole idea of evil never even occurred to me.  Early on, my parents told me that there was no such thing as witches, ghosts, goblins, etc.  I believed them, they were my parents after all, but I had a vivid imagination so I would dream about flying.
> 
> I know that for some people and some groups Halloween is used as a time of celebrating evil.  I know that some Catholic churches have had to lock away the Communion hosts (the wafers that are used for Mass), especially any that have been consecrated, because people steal them to blaspheme the Lord.  But that does not mean that ALL people do that.  Again, it's up to us as Christians to take a role in shaping the culture in which we live.    Blessings,    Debby
> 
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