It's bad enough having Christmas overshadowed by commercial enterprise (which starts in September in the UK) but this Halloween thing really gets to me. Why of all festivals out there do we have to import this crazy so called "event" from America / Canada??
Halloween - an American Export..
Fri, 10/30/2009 - 7:19pm
#2
Re: Halloween - an American Export..
For the same reason any holiday is imported... because it's fun!
And any holiday that gives you the right to TP someone's house because they didn't give you candy, is okay in my book!
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Fri, 10/30/2009 - 4:49pm
#3
Re: Halloween - an American Export..
didnt halloween originate in northern europe where they celebrated the harvest by lighting huge bonfire and celebrating the harvest gods? ive always read that it really was a type of pagan festival in europe that got exported to america by default. either way, i just think holidays are for good fun and luckily nothing nothing anyone is forced to participate in.
Fri, 10/30/2009 - 4:50pm
#4
Re: Halloween - an American Export..
luckily nothing anyone is forced to participate in.
Phhftt.. i'm forced to participate in it every year.
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If this were a real comment signature, it would say something interesting
Fri, 10/30/2009 - 2:33pm
#5
Re: Halloween - an American Export..
are you anti halloween? or anti halloween in the uk?
why celebrate anything? football victories, valentines day, babies first steps, columbus day....
for me any major holiday is a time to kick back with friends and family and to enjoy the moment. with or without spending money.
Fri, 10/30/2009 - 2:48pm
#6
Re: Halloween - an American Export..
for me any major holiday is a time to kick back with friends and family and to enjoy the moment. with or without spending money.
I totally concur. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I actually saved back a decent amount of shopping money for the family. It's going to be wonderful!!! 
Heres the info I was thinking about:
History
Halloween has origins in an ancient Celtic festival, which was called Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an) by the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland.[4][5] This is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".[5] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf).
Snap-Apple Night by Daniel Maclise showing a Halloween party in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The young children on the right bob for apples. A couple in the center play a variant, which involves retrieving an apple hanging from a string. The couples at left play divination games.
The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes[6] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".[7]
The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.[8][9] Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.[10] Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.
Another common practise was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.
The name 'Halloween' and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.
Source: wikipedia
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