What do you tell your kids about Halloween?

[Mo2]

a)Just that it's a night when you get dressed up and eat loads of sweets
b)Anything to do with it's history and background?
c)Nothing - don't believe in it/ celebrate it....

We're sort of a combination between a+b, but I'm struggling to find 'The Story of Halloween' written at an appropriate level for a 5 & 2 year old... can anyone help?

[Mo2]

WHoops, meant 6 & 3 year old....!

[KBear]

Mine are 6 and 4. Haven't told them anymore than it's when we colour lots of pictures printed off the net, we make funky foam ghosts and paint them with glow in the dark paint, we carve a pumpkin and then a)!

[CountessCatbertula]

Just found this...

The true origins of Halloween lie with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated the festival of Samhain, Lord of the Dead. During this festival, Celts believed the souls of the dead?including ghosts, goblins and witches?returned to mingle with the living. In order to scare away the evil spirits, people would wear masks and light bonfires.

When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the Samhain festival, such as making centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the Roman goddess of the orchards. The Romans also bobbed for apples and drank cider.

lots of stuff here

and here

[Gobbledispook]

Nothing - we don't do much - my eldest is 4.5. All we've done is scoop out pumpkins and put candles in but he hasn't really asked why - he just likes it!

[Hulababy]

DD is 3y5m so this is the first time she has been aware of it. So far she just knows it is about whitches and ghouls, dressing up, Fright Night in town, and a bit of fun.

Fingers crossed weather stays dry for Fright Night!

[Lonelymum]

Nothing. I don't do it although I have once carved a pumpkin (but what a waste of food!) I dond't think Halloween is a great tradition in this country and I don't really understand why it has become one in the last 20 years or so. What is the Halloween equivalent of Bah Humbug? Because whatever it is, I want to say it!

[lilibet]

I explained trick or treating as knocking on someone's door and asking for money or sweets otherwise you will do something to them that's not nice.

Told them if someone behaved like this at school, came up to them and said that if they didn't give them money they would do something bad to them it's called bullying.

Probably a minority view on here tho'!!

On the actual day our school organises things for the children so there's not much temptation to go out and do it anyway.

And this year we are having a social night for the older folk so that they aren't frightened either. My mum who lives on her own and is 78 is scared stiff of anyone who knocks on her door after dark so Halloween is a really bad night for her.

[Lonelymum]

That's a lovely idea Lilibet, doing something for the old folk on that night, presumably so they aren't sitting at home alone, scared. I really don't like the idea of kids coming round and demanding sweets, I think it is morally wrong too.

[Gobbledispook]

Agree totally Lilibet. Am I right killjoy?

[rummum]

we have a halloween party...
this year we are going to a neighbours house, we'll play games... eat food... then go trick or treating..... we go with the kids, and we only go to houses on the estate that have pumpkins out side....
this is the highlight of my week...
[sad, get a life emoticon]

[northender]

Don't get me started on this.....I was asked on Friday when I picked dd up from nursery whether she would be dressing up for the Halloween party on Monday ie fancy dress. Ffs she's 11 months old!!! I'm really annoyed that they're placing so much emphasis on it at nursery. Prizes for the scariest costumes. When ds told them he was coming as a wizard he was asked "will that be a really scary wizard?" cue annoyed mother .

Quite happy to be called a killjoy!

[jodee]

We don't 'do' Halloween, but were invited yesterday to a relative's birthday/halloween party, so told ds it's when everyone dresses up in scary costumes like on Scooby Doo (and eats sweets, of course!)

Sent some boys away with a flea in their ear tonight, trying to get in 2 nights-worth of sweets!

[Hulababy]

We've been into town for Fright Night today - scarynoises played out of town speakers, monsters, ghosts and witches walkign round, fun fairs and games, all the children in fancy dress. DD loves it all.

We don't do trick or treat. We don't know any of the neighbours as yet and I would only let her go to people we knew when prearranged beforehand.

[Ericblack]

Me too Northender. My son got a note about it on Friday and said I HAD to buy him a costume as all the other kids would be wearing one. I just want to say it's another way for shops to try and sell you stuff by using your kids. You can get what they call "eating" pumpkins from Sainsburys but we have a carved up load in the fridge that will no doubt go off and I'll have to throw away as I can't be arsed making anything with it.

[Tortington]

halloween is a time for dressing up and having fun.

they do that knowing its all saints say after so i make a tenious catholic link. but then most things catholic are tenious.

they dress up and have fun.

[expatinscotland]

B.

It is and always will be El dia de los muertos to me. I never celebrated it as anything else. It's a pagan holiday and one of the oldest ones around.

[expatinscotland]

I agree, hellmouth. Most Catholic holidays are rip offs of pagan festivals.

[longwaytogo]

Thing is its fine to tell them that now at an early age that halloween is all a bit of fun, but we live in a society that more and more looks to the spirit world for answers to life, and we could be encouraging them that this is the way to go. Celebrating halloween is an introduction to witch craft, it is telling them subtly that witch craft is ok. So it may be seen as a bit of fun now but will it be when as teenagers they could be messing with ouji boards and getting themselves involved in all kinds of dark things.

Sorry shoot me down if you like and maybe i havent said it very well and another Christian will come along and say it all a lot better than me (please)

But needless to say we don't do haloween and a lot of churches offer alternative halloween parties for local children to go along to

[expatinscotland]

Dunno about that, longway. I feel that modern Christianity has a really poor attitude towards death. But I'm coming at this as someone who is of Latin American descent. My grandmother was a full-blooded Mayan Indian, and whilst she was a CAtholic, she had a completely different attitude towards death than most Westerners. It wasn't so final and distant and sad.

We always celebrated Halloween as El dia de los muertos, but with a Mexican twist. If you're ever had the chance to observe how the holiday is celebrated in Mexico, or Central America, etc., you can't help denying its pagan undertones.

None of this ever lead me to play w/Ouija boards or any of that.

It was more like acknowledging that death is the end of this mortal coil, but not of life.

I find it rather refreshing myself.

[HRHQoQ]

I agree with longways sentiments.

Expat - I don't need to celebrate halloween to ackonledgeing that death isn't the end....infact I think you'll find most Christians don't believe that death is the end.

[expatinscotland]

Of course not, but a lot believe it's very final, something to be afraid of. That when you're gone you're away entirely until your loved ones die, too. Just look on this board, on the 'What is your worst fear thread', and notice a lot of peeps say 'death'.

Historically, converting Europe to Christianity involved a lot of using pagan holidays and giving them Christian overtones. Halloween is one of these.

I don't see how celebrating one's history or culture can't be compatible w/Christianity.

It never lead me to explore 'dark things' or Ouija boards or any of that nonsense.

To me, it's about history and culture.

[Tortington]

as i have already said - we are a catholic family. that said again then - although i understand organised religeons oppisition to it - i think your link to "the DARK side" is more tenious than my link to religeon below !!

i really dont think dressing kids up as frankenstein and getting lolly pops of your neighbours is akin to an introduction to witch craft.

my daughters interest in wicca comes only from watching buffy the vampire slayer

she wants a spell book for xmas - i think its pretty normal - me and rhubarb did it when we were 12 - so she shall have one.

she decompartmentalises these things - so she wants to levitate and make people turn into cows - but she doesn't see how this would influence her christian beliefs

she alone is the only kid left in my house who believes in jesus.

my oldest ladthinks its all worms when we die
my younget lad is into bhuddism at the mo. he wants a bhudda statue - now this is more frightening to me - i dont know why. am sure i will get him one but am kinda paniking that god will shake his head and say " you broke the worship other gods rule"

then i think - well we all have we all put other things before god - celebrity is before god - for most people my kids included - so i reckon he's got us on that anyway.

i digress

dressing up as a witch or a wizard or spiderman will not subvert your kid into being the devils sevant ..i.m v.v.v.vh.o

[TinyGang]

They're interested in the dressing up/being a bit scared, sweets and pumpkins aspect - a sort of 'Asda' version of Halloween.

I don't begrudge them a bit of fun with it, but I don't really go into it much more than that.

I'm not keen on Trick or Treating (they wouldn't know what to do if someone said 'trick' anyway), but I let them go to a couple of known neighbours, only because we do get calls to our door and how can you tell your own children they can't take part at all?

I feel it's been rather thrust upon us by shops to make money. It doesn't really feel like part of what we do, but we have to go along with it to some extent. Feeling I'm being coercered into for commercial reasons makes me want to ignore it on principal, but we're over a barrel because you do it for the children.

It's such a recent thing here - look how many of us on mn are somewhat baffled by it all and what the hell to do with pumpkins etc!

[HRHQoQ]

expat - most real Christian are NOT afraid of death as they know it's not the end.

And there are NO Christian overtones in Halloween - sorry - yes we "hijacked" Christmas and Easter - but they DO have a lot of meaning for Christians - Halloween has none. It's celebrating a Wicca festival - therefore it's celebrating an non Christian one.