Wednesday, October 31, 2007

War On Halloween

It's Halloween in Arkansas!

But of course we can't celebrate it...not in the schools, anyway: because it's Satan's holiday.

Never mind that at least half of our students aren't fundamentalist Christians and thus do not believe this ahistoric nonsense (that Halloween began as devil worship): still, my child (an Ashkenazi Jew) is kept from her heritage (her civil right! as an American Citizen!) to wear a Halloween costume to school, and to march in a Halloween parade! And throw candy!

Further, the fundamentalist students wore Bible shirts to school and made her feel sad, telling her if she went out dressed in her sword-fighting princess costume, she was doing the devil's work, and would burn in hell for all eternity. Imagine the psycological damage she might have suffered!

Some of these kids also invited the kid to skip trick-or-treating. Come to our church, they wheedled. We'll have games! Prizes! Candy! It's a harvest festival! With Jesus!

Further, it's not just the Christian whacks that are wrecking the holiday -- here in Pork Smith, we've set up a signal system: if you're going to participate in the holiday, you decorate your house, put out a lit jack-o-lantern, and turn on your porch light. Then the kids come to your door. It works all right.

But!

Some parents -- oddly enough, mostly parents who drive SUVs -- don't want little Conner and Meredith to have to walk from door to door. No! Conner and Meredith might get tired! Conner and Meredith can't walk a whole mile in the dark!

So these parents drive Conner and Meredith from block to block, in their giant stinking gleaming Hummers and SUVs -- this is on the same street, mind you, where my kid and dozens of other kids are dashing about from house to house, back and forth across streets, and some of these kids are as young as two and a half. Conner's daddy can't see little Mick (who was a fierce little pirate last night, may I add) from behind the wheel of his SUV, even if Conner's daddy was looking, which I bet he wasn't.)

Also, look over here, on Unfogged, for another morphing of the holiday.

See? A WAR ON HALLOWEEN!

2 comments:

CB said...

Today, I hate SUV's and stupid ppl who ruining Halloween.

Anonymous said...

Cynthia, can we come trick or treat in your neighborhood next year? Beer and candy- who could ask for more? :)

I was surprised and delighted when JP's parochial preschool sent home a letter stating the children would have a Halloween "parade" at school. The kids loved it, the parents loved it and I'm pretty sure no one sold their soul to the Devil as a result.

I feel like Halloween, just like any other holiday, is what you make of it. If parents want to make it a sinister, devil worshipping holiday then it will be. I can't help but wonder what Christmas is like at those Wingers households. Do they celebrate with worship, reflection and prayer and shun the non-Christian aspects of the holiday (trees, lights, Santa, etc.)? I'm guessing not so much.