Is celebrating halloween a sin?
I'm not trying to justify anything, I'm just looking for help on making things clear. Haloween seems touchy.. but just because some people use it as a holiday for witchcraft.. does that mean celebrating is a sin? I can understand dressing up as a big bloody demon to honor the devil.. but is sending your kids out in a reasonable costume to get some candy a sin? Mature christian opinions please. Jesus is lord <3
Do Italians celebrate Halloween the same way Americans do?
Do the little ones go trick or treating and so forth? Also, what is a holiday that is celebrated with fireworks? In America its the 4th of July...so, what is it in Italy and what are some other main holiday's that we don't have here? Thank you for your answers!
How did people celebrate Halloween in the 1800s in America?
European immigrants brought their rituals and customs with them to America. There are actually few accounts of Halloween in colonial American history due in part to the large Protestant presences in the Northern colonies and their strict religious beliefs. However, down in the Southern colonies where larger, more mixed European communities had settled, there are some accounts of Halloween celebrations mixing with Native American harvest celebrations. In the mid 1800s, nearly two million Irish immigrants fleeing potato famine helped shape Halloween into an even more widely celebrated event. Scottish immigrants celebrated with fireworks, telling ghost stories, playing games and making mischief. There were games such as bobbing for apples, dooking, the dropping of forks on apples without using hands, and Puicini, an Irish fortune-telling game using saucers. Young women were frequently told if they sat in dark rooms and gazed into a mirror, the face of their future husbands would appear, however, if a skull appeared, the poor girl would be destined to die before marriage. The English observation of Guy Fawkes Day on November 5 had also become intertwined with Halloween. Most pranks and mischief were the work of naughty children rather than spirits as once believed.
Does any other country celibate Halloween other than the USA??
Halloween is celebrated in many countries to one extent or another though it's most widespread in the US. Halloween can pretty much be found wherever Americans have been. Ex-pats will celebrate the holiday because they grew up celebrating it. Other communities adopt Halloween because it is so much fun. Halloween is fast growing in popularity in the Philippines and all throughout Scandinavia. It's making big strides in Italy where it is almost as popular as the similar(ish) Carnevale holiday. In places like Scotland, where we get many of our Halloween traditions from, and France they are rebelling against the American version of the holiday. Communities in Scotland recently tried to ban carving pumpkins on Halloween! (see article below) The French have long had issues with Halloween not only because it's very commercialized but simply because it's considered American.