Why do Fundies hate Halloween, love Christmas?

[Sandpiper]

During my years in the bible belt, I often heard the complaint that Halloween was evil because it was full of pagan symbols, witches, ghosts, goblins, etc.


And yet, every December, these very same people would gleefully celebrate Christmas, a holiday born of the pagan solstice festivals and adorned with pagan symbols like holly, mistletoe, and christmas trees.



Are they just upset that Jesus was never shoehorned into Halloween festivities?


:shrug:

[smoogatz]

1. REAL fundies hate Christmas, too.

For the very reasons you point out. Take a pagan holiday, add baby Jesus and stir.

[Chovexani]

2. Pretty much

They tried so hard to steal Samhain from Pagans the way they co-opted all our holy days, but unlike the other times it just didn't work. Despite the commercialism of it, the old ways live on in Halloween albeit in bastardized form. They couldn't manage to force a thin Christian veneer over it the way they did to Ostara and the Winter Solstice, and it makes them seethe.

Fundies lost this one to Pagans and they are just too stubborn and mean to admit it.

[Bridget Burke]

10. Fundies are against all the "Pagan" holidays....

The Whore of Babylon (AKA the Roman Catholic Church) did not reject all the old holy days. Rather than stop people from celebrating on certain times of the year, it added them to the Church Calendar.

The Puritans who helped found this country rejected all the Catholic celebrations, (rightly) saying that many had Pagan roots. As less dour Protestant denominations gained power & Catholic immigrants arrived, the Christmas holiday became more acceptable.

The Gospels tell of the Birth of Jesus, even if December 25th was not really the day. But All Saints' Day & All Souls' Day are not in the Good Book; they are still suspiciously Catholic.

Irish Catholic immigrants brought over most of our Halloween traditions. And the traditions have continued to evolve in ways that give our Modern Puritans grief. But they really enjoy grief, don't they?

Edited to add: And I wonder what the Closed Minded ones think of Dia de los Muertos?

[Chovexani]

13. Martyr complex

I watch the 700 Club for laughs and they love to go on about how they're being persecuted and Pagans are trying to force things on them.

I think they're into masochism myself. :P

[BlueManDude]

3. Right wing "PCism"

Funny how the term "PC" has such a negative conotation and is always linked to liberals. The Fundy anti-Halloween crusade should be called what it is - RW PCism.

[sui generis]

4. because they are mostly ignorant of any culture but their own

made up and borrowed rituals.

Good grief - I would think that if jesus really was as marvelous and open minded and generous as even the "good" christians would like to believe, he'd be quite okay with a few aging deities hanging around eating pizza and playing cards every once in a while. Doncha think?

:shrug:

[maximovich]

5. It Boils Down to (Cult-Like) Hatred

They need reasons to hate people for being different from themselves. They are being Elitest in fact, acting as though, they were better than all others around them. It's a sad way of legitizing one's extremism, or better yet, psychosis.

Hence: American Taliban

[proReality]

6. Some feel it's "Satan worship"

They give me such a headache!

[kestrel91316]

11. Also, there is that pesky little passage in the bible

(that they like to take literally) that says, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

I just wish they woul also take literally the parts about not wearing fabric blended of two fibers, and live animal sacrifices, and all that. The hypocrisy disturbs me.

[PerpetualWinter]

17. if it was that easy to be a Satanist...

I'd have officially converted years ago.

[politicaholic]

7. At least Halloween is voluntary, unlike X-mas in your face constantly...

Christmas music, lights, santa, buy buy buy, spend your money, our love for each other is determined by the size of present we get, so get your asses out there and love each other damn it!

The whole thing makes me want to puke fruitcake...and I don't even eat that crap.

[ET Awful]

8. Well they love Easter too, which arises out of all kinds of pagan

traditions, most of which revolved around rites of fertility.

Most holidays now termed as "Christian" have their origins much farther back in time.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Maybe they're ignorant on it

I don't know. I think they've turned Christmas into their own religious holiday even though Biblical scholars say that Jesus was more than likely born in April and not December because of the circumstances that were mentioned surrounding his birth. My church and other churches in the area always have Halloween fun. Last night my church had a "trunk-or-treat" and all the young kids dressed up in costumes and went and got candy and Saturday night my church had a "country" party and the little kids wore their costumes. We've never had problems here that I've heard with celebrating Halloween. My town can go either way in general elections so we're not terribly conservative.

[electron_blue]

12. shhhhh most of them don't know those are pagan symbols

Some of them do, and I've run across those people as well.

[DinahMoeHum]

14. Hallowe'en = All Hallows Eve = All Holy Eve = All Souls Day. . .

= Day of the Dead = Feast of the Dead.

This is called a "hinge" day because day time and night time are equal in amount. Afterwards, until December 22 (Winter Solstice) there will be more dark than light and the days will grow shorter until the Winter Solstice, the shortest daylight of the year.

Many cultures, not just the Celtics, observe this day as a day for remembering those who have gone before us. This is particularly true in Latin American countries, especially Mexico, which observes this day (or November 1/2) as the Day of The Dead.

As far as costumes go, it's been said that people wore costumes to scare away evil spirits from haunting them and their beloved dead ones.

As for the Bible Belt Fundies, fuck 'em.

:evilfrown:

[stopbush]

15. It's got something to do with impotence...

hollow weenies or something...

[Clark2008]

16. I love Halloween and Christimas.

They're both fun for kids, you get to eat a lot and you get and give gifs (or candy).

Who cares what crap the Fundies are pushing? I don't. :hi: