Let's not have a month-long Halloween

[Rat Luv]

23 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

Well, Hallowe'en is still not a thing here in the South-East region of England. Bonfire Night (5th November) is HUGELY more anticipated and widely celebrated, especially in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

Yes! 🎆 I haven't been to it, but the Bonfire Night in Lewes is supposed to be NUTS.

I like fireworks displays 🙂 The only thing I don't like about 5 November is those unlicenced shops that suddenly appear for a few weeks and sell dodgy fireworks to small kids without age checks...and then disappear without a trace when the media starts reporting on kids blowing their own hands off😐

[Prokofy Neva]

6 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

This may be too early to talk about this but I'd like to nip it in the bud. I don't think Halloween sales or activities should start at the beginning of October. Last year, by the time Halloween rolled around on the 31st I was burnt out and absolutely didn't care. Maybe a single week would suffice.

Thank you,

Halloween Intelligentsia 💀🦇👾

Let's not increase the gore of past years; let's in fact decrease it. It has gotten really gross, destructive, misogynist, etc. Really awful.

The Linden permanent haunted hotel has a truck with bodies parked outside it that looks exactly like a RL scene from the war in Ukraine from the Battle of Ilovaisk that I can never get out of my mind. So I can never go to that haunted hotel. 

You can see from some of the events even now that there are really, really grisly things. They have buyers. You don't have to be one of them. Halloween is supposed to be a day you think of those who died, and the saints, and pray for them, and nowadays, prepare nice treats for little children dressing up in costumes.

[Dafadilia Wayfarer]

I love Halloween. Hubby is British and I'm American. We actually have a pretty busy Halloween here in the UK where we are located. Businesses and residences are decorated. Lots of kids show up at the house to trick or treat. Hubby and I dressed up as pumpkins this last year to hand out candy cause why not. It's fun.

I do celebrate Halloween more in sl than I do in rl though because it is a spiritual holiday for me. I celebrate it with long time sl friends. I can understand not wanting advertising an entire month for it though. That can get pretty annoying and cause burnout.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Dafadilia Wayfarer

[Foxx Ghoststar]

I quite enjoy Halloween as a time to have fun, without the same pressures I feel from the Christmas season. But the most I ever did in RL is carve a pumpkin. In SL I am more involved, but prefer to explore the spooky or magical builds for the season, rather than the gruesome zombie, corpse scattered variety. I do agree it goes on a bit long though, I'm fairly over it by the time the 31st arrives.

[EliseAnne85]

7 hours ago, Bree Giffen said:

This may be too early to talk about this but I'd like to nip it in the bud. I don't think Halloween sales or activities should start at the beginning of October. Last year, by the time Halloween rolled around on the 31st I was burnt out and absolutely didn't care. Maybe a single week would suffice.

Thank you,

Halloween Intelligentsia 💀🦇👾

Some things that look like Halloween are actually Gothic, punk, emo goth, etc (forgot all the genres) and that is here all year long and some items are suitable to be purchased all year long.  Plus, the time to start making stuff for Halloween was in July.  People are already buying for the Fall Harvest which is before Halloween.  

Edited August 20, 2022 by EliseAnne85

[Sid Nagy]

Halloween?
Meh...
Commerce has been trying to shove it down our throats.
Rightfully so with no success. It's so not our culture.
We put flowers on the graves of our beloved ones for November 1 and 2  and that is about it.

We do the dress up stuff with carnival (in places where available).

Edited August 20, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Ayashe Ninetails]

A month? I've been hearing about Halloween all summer. In fact, Christmas in July seems to be a thing now, too. Thankfully, I haven't seen much of that spilling over into SL yet. Yet... 

I'm already over it. 😩

[Istelathis]

I'm okay with holidays being celebrated all month long, the only thing that sort of bothers me is the consumerism based around those holidays.  Even then, I am not bothered that much by it - Christmas is the worst though.  Christmas would be my least favorite holiday, it is stressful, it costs a small fortune, I worry about getting the right presents for others, then I feel guilty that I did not spend more money on gifts..  I mean, the holiday itself is okay, but the shopping experience and trying to hold up to the expectations of others is lousy.

I look forward to a month full of Halloween decorations, haunted rides, scary movies, costumes, and so on.  Halloween is my favorite holiday, mostly because it is so relaxing, you don't have to buy other people stuff, you just do your own thing, and of course all of the cool scary movies that play, and all of the creative ways people express themselves through costumes as well as decorating their houses.  I wish it was that way all year round.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Istelathis

[Ceka Cianci]

11 minutes ago, Istelathis said:

I'm okay with holidays being celebrated all month long, the only thing that sort of bothers me is the consumerism based around those holidays.  Even then, I am not bothered that much by it - Christmas is the worst though.  Christmas would be my least favorite holiday, it is stressful, it costs a small fortune, I worry about getting the right presents for others, then I feel guilty that I did not spend more money on gifts..  I mean, the holiday itself is okay, but the shopping experience and trying to hold up to the expectations of others is lousy.

I look forward to a month full of Halloween decorations, haunted rides, scary movies, costumes, and so on.  Halloween is my favorite holiday, mostly because it is so relaxing, you don't have to buy other people stuff, you just do your own thing, and of course all of the cool scary movies that play, and all of the creative ways people express themselves through costumes as well as decorating their houses.  I wish it was that way all year round.

Ya, Halloween and Thanksgiving season or better than the holidays, that's for sure.. The day after thanksgiving people start working on their bankruptcy and go crazy doing it..

The day after Thanksgiving is like the great toilet paper shortage of 2020.

[Adamburp Adamczyk]

you're a bunch of mean ones Mr Grinch.

 

I've been waiting for Santy since January 2nd

[Opinicus Extraordinaire]

In my experience, you look around at what everyone is wearing, or *being*, and you realize that in SL, Halloween is 365 days a year already.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Psyra Extraordinaire

[Sorciaa]

 

[EliseAnne85]

6 hours ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

Hallowe'en is traditionally a non-event here in England, because our population is overwhelmingly atheist or agnostic.

But how Hallowe'en is "celebrated" elsewhere in the world is weird. Imagine if you celebrated Christmas Eve, but then completely forgot or ignored the significance of the day after Christmas Eve, the 25th December! Let me explain....

The name Hallowe'en is an old contraction of All Hallows' Evening.

Hallow means "Holy one" (implying someone who is/was Saintly) and the e'en of Hallowe'en is from the Old English contraction of the word "evening" in its context of meaning "the day before".

Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Evening) is just the day before All Hallows' Day, which is the 1st of November.

The 1st of November is an actual Christian day of solemn celebration of all Saints of the Christian religion and is known as All Saints Day, All Hallows' Day or Hallowmas.

The whole ghosts, ghouls, witches, costumes and pumpkins thing really has nothing to do with the true Hallowe'en either. That all originates from the Christian and corporate America reinvention and rebranding of the ancient Celtic-Pagan festival of Samhain, as both a way to persuade non-Christians into their churches, and for businesses to make money out of a completely ficticious and remanufactured "holiday" event.

In America, people celebrate Christmas in the countries of the world here, meaning there are many different traditional types of Christmas celebrating here with differing foods, songs, and how it's celebrated altogether.  It's kind of cool that way.   

As far as All Hallow's Eve, as American's call it, the myth (and it's largely myth) that the spooks and ghouls and evil ghosts were put out to scare the bad spirits/demons away before the morning when All Saint's Day begins, and to hopefully scare the evil demons away from your deceased loved ones.  People celebrate Halloween many differing ways in America too.  And, much of it now is about candy and visiting.

We all, I'm sure have looked at holidays as mostly commercial, which they are, but in my older years I've learned to enjoy the holidays for what they are - a time to feast really.  The holy days or holidays as they became known are the traditional feast days of the church(es), even though they have changed in many ways over the centuries and not just from country to country.   And, I enjoy the feasts and have become grateful for them in my older years.   

Edited August 20, 2022 by EliseAnne85

[Lindal Kidd]

1 hour ago, Psyra Extraordinaire said:

In my experience, you look around at what everyone is wearing, or *being*, and you realize that in SL, Halloween is 365 days a year already.

This is so true...and yet, Halloween in SL is a Very Big Deal, maybe the biggest holiday in world after the SL Birthday celebration.

I say, a month is not too long to celebrate it.

[Rowan Amore]

As Americans spend more recently on Halloween decorations in RL than any other holiday, it only stands to reason that merchants in SL will start putting out their Halloween items as soon as possible. 

[diamond Marchant]

7 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

merchants in SL will start putting out their Halloween items as soon as possible

Nods. Have seen some already. Personally, I keep my spooky dolls and witchy things out always and start adding punkiny and spidery things in September in cahoots with a fall rebuild. As mentioned above, Halloween in 'Merica has long since been about costumes/candy for kids and costumes/alcohol/sex for adults. California was ahead of the curve decades ago in treating Halloween as a season and costumes-in-the-workplace but now that seems ubiquitous. In SL, I eschew displays of gore and mayhem, prefering the occult and builds with an attention to detail. And bowls of candy corn, of course.

[Rolig Loon]

I can take Halloween or leave it, personally.  It's a fun time for kids in RL to run around in costume and get candy. My kids always enjoyed that, and carving pumpkins. In SL, I have dressed up every year and taken random flights on my broomstick, so I can get into the Halloween spirit to that extent. I don't go decorating my parcel, though, and I don't attend Halloween-themed events. I have become accustomed to the gory parts that seem to be emphasized in SL, but I dislike them. I'm not a horror fan. On balance, I'm OK with Halloween. A month of it?  Meh. 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

I think people should like what they want and decorate whenever they feel like it.  I personally don't like to decorate in SL more than 2 or 3 weeks before a holiday and then take the decorations down within a week.

Belliserria has rules about when decorations can be set up and when they should come down to stay within theme, so you could move there if you want holiday decorations restricted.  It won't help SL stores that put out holiday themed decor and clothes, but at least your home won't be surrounded by moaning ghosts or blinking holiday lights for months on end.

I won't be sporting any Halloween costumes in the photo threads here until mid-October, but I won't tell others that I don't want to see it.   If someone likes Halloween all year, they should celebrate it.

 

PS there were a lot of "here's what Halloween is like in my real-life location" posts, so I guess it is okay to share that now?

[Kiera Clutterbuck]

I just want all the candy, that somehow never makes it out to the trick-or-treaters!!  Good thing in SL it's copiable candy.

[Bree Giffen]

I think it is because we're comparing how Halloween is celebrated in our real life locations compared to how Halloween is celebrated in SL. To be fair, SL has only gone overboard on Halloween for just this last year in my opinion. I love the holiday too in all it's scary and commercialized glory but it gets diluted if it lasts too long.

 

[Rolig Loon]

5 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

I love the holiday too in all it's scary and commercialized glory but it gets diluted if it lasts too long.

That's true for lots of things.  Too much of anything gets tiring after a while. You could always just go hide for a week or two.  It works for me.  

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

I forgot to mention the 2nd of November; All Souls' Day - the day which Christians commemorated all deceased people who were not Hallowed or Saints.

All Souls Day was traditionally the day after All Hallows' Day (1st November).  All Souls' Day was also a day for the poor to go knocking on people's doors to ask for charitable donor gifts of "Soul Cakes" (a kind of biscuity scone like cake) in exchange for prayers for deceased loved ones souls.

Undoubtably, this Soul Cakes thing has its origins from the earlier Scottish pagan Samhain tradition of 'Guising (from "disguising") oneself in a disguise, then asking for gifts of food in exchange for a trick or a small entertaining performance, while wearing disguises in order to blend in with stray pagan spirits.  Scots still call it 'Guising today.

Trick Or Treating in America began in the 1930s, during the economic crash and Great Depression of 1929-1939. Its origins are undoubtably from Scottish migrants in America, who brought and maintained their traditions of 'Guising , which became part of American Hallowe'en and became called Trick Or Treating.

In Ireland, there was also a pagan tradition of carving Jack O'Lanterns from turnips to ward off evil spirits during Samhain. Yes, turnips, not pumpkins, because pumpkins were not natively found in Ireland. Ironically Irish people who migranted to America's east coast could not easily find turnips there, so they continued their Jack O'Lantern tradition by carving the pumpkins they found instead. This then became a national tradition throughout the US at Hallowe'en.

So basically, the American version of "Hallowe'en" has stolen the Scottish and Irish traditions of Samhain, then used these in combination with the Christian Hallowe'en name, the day which precedes both All Hallows' Day and All Souls' Day.

Edited August 20, 2022 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Ceka Cianci]

44 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

I forgot to mention the 2nd of November; All Souls' Day - the day which Christians commemorated all deceased people who were not Hallowed or Saints.

All Souls Day was traditionally the day after All Hallows' Day.  All Souls' Day was also a day for the poor to go knocking on wealthier people's doors for donor gifts of "Soul Cakes" (a kind of biscuity scone like cake) in exchange for prayers for deceased loved ones souls.

Undoubtably, this "Soul Cakes" thing has its origins from the Scottish Pagan tradition of Guising (from "disguising") oneself in a disguise, then asking for gifts of food in exchange for a trick came from. They wore disguises in order to blend in with stray spirits. This Scottish tradition over time evolved into Trick Or Treating when Scots migrated to America, taking their pagan tradition with them. Scots still call it Guising today.

In Ireland, there was also a Pagan tradition of carving Jack O'Lanterns from turnips at Samhain. No, not pumpkins, because pumpkins were not natively found in Ireland. Irish immigrants to North America's east coast could not find turnips there, so they continued their Jack O'Lantern tradition by carving the pumpkins they found there instead. 

So basically, the American version of "Hallowe'en" has stolen the Irish and Scottish pagan traditions of Samhain, then used these in combination with the Christian Hallowe'en name, the day which precedes both All Hallows' Day and All Souls' Day.

I guess that's a byproduct of colonization. You think you're upset about things getting taken, you should hear my grandparents complain about it.. hehehehe

[Mahala Roviana]

I've been entertaining the thought of starting my decorations now.

[diamond Marchant]

My only "request" for this years Halloween is that if the Lindens have another Bellisseria Trick-or-Treat hunt, they should organize it differently. Last year they asked residents to set out official pumpkins for people to find across hundreds of regions and awarded prizes for those finding the most. Of course, nobody can hunt across 100s of regions... consequently  people started distributing lists of landmarks to the punkins. This created what might be called an "unlevel playing field" and is contrary to what most people expect when participating in a hunt. At least if you found one punkin, you got a Skelly Bear at the end of the hunt.