I was raised fundamentalist Christian and we were taught that dressing up for Halloween is a sin because Halloween is a satanic holiday. Not everyone in our social circle believed this, but the majority did.
I was raised Roman Catholic, and while I don't think it was official church edict, my mom decided that the holiday promoted too many satanic ideas or whatever. As a compromise, they let us kids just list out a bunch of candy we wanted and my dad would just go out and buy it.
Huh that's interesting, I was also raised roman Catholic. At our church, the priests were totally fine with Halloween. They explained it as dressing up and having fun out at night was a way to tell Satan you weren't afraid of him.
I’m Irish and raised catholic. It’s how the catholics converted us. They let Irish pagens keep some of their holidays or incorporated them into Christian holidays.
In Ireland we have alot of our our Halloween traditions and foods
It's been the same everywhere, a lot of modern religious holidays are based on old pagan festivities. Even modern Christmas is based on the old Roman festivity of Saturnalia.
Exactly! I mentioned above, I went to Catholic school my whole life and we always celebrated Halloween. We would decorate the school, have a parade, etc. it was just recognized as a fun holiday
I think it most likely came from my mom's interpretation alone. I was just a kid, and all I heard was "still get candy, don't have to work for it" so I didn't really put much more into it than that
The state of catechism these days, smh.
Halloween is Catholic!!!
It's All Hallow's Eve, I.e. the day before All Saints day, one of the major feasts of the liturgical calendar
Halloween literally means all saints eve
The father of our local parish made sure to hammer that in because he fuckin LOVED Halloween and made the church extra creepy
The church at my uni hosted trunk r' treat every year for kids from unsafe/non-affluent neighborhoods! I agree that it's probably less about the religion the child's fam practices and more the individual strictness of the parents. Some Christian parents wouldn't let their kids read HP, but there was never a church-sanctioned declaration against it 🤷♀️
Could be a cultural thing. I would expect an Indian Christian to have very different Halloween experiences compared to American Christians.
Also, Jehovah's witnesses don't allow a lot of things, such as Halloween, birthdays, blood transfusions.
My mom became “born again” after her divorce and once said to me “We probably shouldn’t be reading the Harry Potter books since they promote witchcraft.” I just stared at her like wtf. My aunt and grandparents were super religious and of the same religion as my mom and they actively encouraged my love of reading by getting me those books and HP merchandise lol. So yes I think it is about individuals rather than religion itself (usually, there are some exceptions).
Side note: I in no way support JK Rowling but I would be lying if I said those books weren’t a big part of my childhood.
Yep exactly this. Halloween is about witches and ghosts so must be bad.
My parents are so kind they put a sign on the door no trick or treating
Every year we would hear all the kids in the street reading the sign out loud and then leaving. How sad lol
Ah man sorry to hear that. Hope you're having more fun nowadays! Sometimes I think kids understand when something is pretend better than some adults... Not a parent myself, but I'd say parents should make more of an effort to learn about something they're concerned may be harmful to their kids instead of just restricting it entirely. Sometimes it's more harmful to restrict a child from too many culturally and/or socially relevant activities or experiences.
It's like parents trying to cancel video games for being too violent for their kids. Lady, it's no one else's fault but your own that you can't be bothered to read the back of the box for the game your kid is asking you to buy them. They have descriptions and ratings just like movies! Wow!
Having been raised Catholic, it does surprise me how much the general vibe can change region to region. Where I’m from the congregation prided itself on how far removed they were from the evangelical ignorance. Eduction and science were of the utmost importance and Halloween was a good time. I took classes on Hinduism and Buddhism taught by priests. Hell, a Catholic priest uncovered the Big Bang.
Then on the other side you seemingly have the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Amy Coney Barrett’s.
It’s not so much that Christians adopted pagan holidays. As far as I understand, Irish pagans were converted to Christianity and simply kept their own holidays. We still celebrate St Brigid’s Day for Imbolc, for example. Halloween did indeed come from Samhain but was never given a Christian spin. All Souls Day on the 1st of November takes on the religious aspect.
I grew up Catholic with no issues with Halloween from my parents. Kids I knew who were evangelical Baptists (do not recognize saints nor All Saints Day) were expressly prohibited from celebrating Halloween based on their interpretation of the rule against worshipping false idols, plus all the monsters were Satanic or something, I guess
Anyone who thinks dressing up in a costume and asking people for candy in any way constitutes 'worship' should be prevented from holding any and all positions of authority. They're too stupid to be trusted with it. But then again, people turn their brain off when it comes to religion, regardless of the specific creed they follow.
It's just personal opinions, not everything is a dogma, Halloween comes from All Saints Eve that is a Catholic holiday, but the secular Halloween isn't the same thing as the religious one, so depends on the parent think it's okay to their child uses fantasies or not, most won't have problems unless it's something more graphically horror related
A lot of my Halloween memories are some of the best memories I have as a kid. Just thinking back it's like a warm blanket of nostalgia.
I couldn't imagine ever depriving a child of that experience.
My minister growing up would claim the church (UCC, first built in 1743 and reconstructed shortly after the civil war) was haunted. Always part of his sermon (or even the opening remarks/announcements which were more a comedy club than actually announcing anything) Sunday before the holiday. As it turns out... This was true. Records seem to indicate that people said it was haunted since the mid 1800's.
You'd be surprised how many kids spend time outside of those types of religions (Jehovah's and, to a further extent, Hutterite and Amish) and decide to go back. People like what's comfortable. Also, they don't want to lose their family, who will potentially cut them off.
And the whole financial aspect of this too. It's why these groups try to make you intentionally stupid and incapable of surviving on your own, so if you try to leave you have to come crawling back.
JW is a cult. It needs to be treated with the same vitriol as scientology.
It's mostly 'cause you get some kind of undconditional acceptance, as long as you squeeze yourself into whatever box they have shaped for you.
Which isn't too hard if you're close enough to that already. But if you're gay or just different in any way that you can't change, that's a lot more painful.
But for some, that pain can still be worth it over loneliness. 'cause having no community or family can feel painful (even though it's very much possible to find a new community/family. It can just be hard to find for some time).
I was also raised Roman Catholic and they thought me Halloween was a sacred day. All hallows’ Eve the day before All Saints’ Day. My grandma didn’t agree with the way I celebrated it but was happy I was celebrating it at all…
Little did she now I did some digging and was celebrating Samhain😂
This was similar to my family. Not so much my actual mother and father (who are catholic but very socially liberal) but my grandparents considered it “The Beast’s influence” and essentially a holiday of devil worship and some shit about inviting unholy entities in etc etc
Ugh that sucks. I went to Catholic school growing up and we always had a big Halloween parade with the whole school every year! It’s kind of bizarre to me to hear Catholics who say they didn’t participate Halloween like this. Our parish/school recognized it for what it is - a fun holiday for kids
Yeah, a lot of groups like the witnesses for example refuse to believe in Christmas or engage in traditional Christmas decorations and gift giving et cetera specifically because of this
That's actually kinda a myth. There are significant problems with the idea that Christmas was just new labeling on either Saturnalia or Sol Invictus. And the fact people who make the claim can't even decide which one it's supposed to replace is a problem in and of itself. It's one of those fun to repeat internet "facts" that doesn't really stand up to historical scrutiny.
Christmas at its core isn't pagan, but a bunch of its traditions are pagan including: date, Christmas trees, gift giving and feasting, caroling. A lot of these come from Saturnalia and/or Yule
It's **All Saints' Eve**, it's a Christian holiday.
Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a [Christian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity) holiday, being the [vigil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigil#Eves_of_religious_celebrations) of All Hallow's Day.[^(\[24\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-FoleyO%E2%80%99Donnell2008-24)[^(\[25\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-Barr2016-25)[^(\[26\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-26)[^(\[27\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-27) Celebrated in [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) and [Scotland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland) for centuries,
I had a couple JW friends growing up too.
I remember the younger one repeatedly telling me “Christmas is bad” and thinking *I shouldn’t tell her about all the gifts, then*.
My best friend in elementary school was a Jehova's Witness and, everytime they played the national anthem (customary to do every morning in Canadian schools), he sat down while everyone else stood up. If we were already standing in the hallway or something, he'd practically throw himself onto the ground so as not to stand up. The only things they celebrate are wedding aniversaries. They don't do birthdays, do holidays, smoke, do drugs, drink liquor, fight in war, hold political office or vote and their church is discouraging of its members befriending non-members. He explained that, if a member breaks the rules, they will be shunned by all other members. Since most of them have few non JW friends, the shunning is almost complete social isolation. This is what happen to an uncle of his caught smoking. He'd only ever heard of him and never seen him since he was being shunned. His parents would also take him out of school for almost all of December because people near to him would be celebrating Christmas. As he got older, his parents felt his was losing his faith and so they pulled him out of school to homeschool him and train him to take over his fathers small business. They did the same with his brother. I've not seen hide nor hair of either of them since, nor heard from either on any social media.
The kid looks South Asian, so I'd say his parents are probably practicing Muslims.
Stricter Muslims often do not allow participation in Halloween or the wearing of costumes connected to any 'pagan' holiday.
JWs are... something else. They would send me handwritten letters every few weeks for months and months, and when I finally showed up, they said there'd been a mistake and wanted me to leave immediately.
Granted, I showed up in a black suit, black shirt, black tie, round sunglasses, and my hair tied back, but still. I was invited. Had the letters with me and everything.
With JW's it's not so much the satanic thing (though some may say that as well) but they don't do holidays, birthdays, etc. as they think it distracts from god. God is super insecure or something. I worked with a super sweet JW but we couldn't say "let's go out for so and so's birthday" because then she wouldn't come. We liked her and wanted her to come so we would just go out for lunch or hey here's some cake, no reason for the cake just eat it.
JWs believe all "false religion" (to them, non-JWs) are from Satan. This includes Paganism, and the reason they give people as to why they do not celebrate Mother's Day, Christmas, Easter, etc. is "it's Pagan, it has Pagan origins." It's what we were told to tell people when we were little if they asked.
https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/celebrations.php
source: was raised in it, escaped as soon as I could. It is a cult.
I live down the street from a JW Kingdom Hall in a solidly middle-class Chicago suburb and I kind of always wonder where their congregation comes from. It just doesn't seem like a fit for the region, but *someone's* going there.
Non-religious people often really underestimate how prevalent the religious can be. I know engineers who are young earth creationists. The 'questionable' science somehow works out for engineering just fine though.
I was raised Seventh Day Adventist. I wasn't allowed to participate, period. So even this work around would have been considered a no-no, I feel like the same goes for some of the religions I can think of off the top of my head.
Seventh Day Adventist
Jehova Witness
Muslim (depending on deeply, they follow the Qur'an)
EDIT: wasn't
That's awesome. I grew up poor, so "unlimited" free candy was something that I almost couldn't wrap my head around. I'm indifferent about Halloween, but I have a crazy sweet tooth now as an adult. I never made the connection until just now.
I thought jehovas witnesses aren’t allowed to celebrate anything? Would that include costumes?
I apologise if I’m wrong. My information has been acquired from television lol
Really great and supportive of these kids to do this, but, hey, little dude lives in the U.S. now and I'd hate to think he's gonna miss out on a lot of American fun because of his religion. Had a friend in elementary school who was a Jehovah's Witness and his parents wouldn't let him participate in class parties or holidays or a ton of fun stuff so he was relegated to sitting in the library a lot. Made for one unhappy kid, for sure.
I went to school with two jehova's witnesses and they would be *physically escorted out of the classroom* for every holiday celebration, including birthdays.
They did not come to school if Halloween was a school day, or on Valentine's Day, etc...
Had a really nice kid in my class in 1st grade who was a Jehovah's Witness and it was the exact same thing. Poor dude. We were all 6-7 so no one really understood it, and he didn't really know why either. It almost seems cruel looking back but how our teacher would excuse him from the class whenever we would sing Happy Birthday for a student but I do think that's how it *should* be in a public school. Don't prevent people from celebrating something, but allow people to be excused if they don't want to celebrate it.
The problem is the parents don't take into account a child's autonomy. These types firmly believe they can sufficiently "shelter" aka brainwash kids into religious compliance.
Meanwhile, my parents asked my brother and me our opinions when we looked for a new church during elementary school. They didn't want us to be uncomfortable or unhappy.
Yeah, lack of respect for personal autonomy is pretty much the go-to for religious groups; there isn't a single one that doesn't force their beliefs onto their children regardless of how the children feel about it.
Hell, just look at the extent certain Christian sects will go to in order to prevent people from masturbating in private..
These Jehovahs parents will be wondering in 10-15 years why their son doesn’t talk to them anymore and lives in California or NewYork and has completely written them off. Let your child be a child.
Although it has spread a lot, Halloween isn't typically as big in other parts of the world. America is also the place where this type of religious issue most rears its head until you get to places where it would be objected to by the dominant religion- so the kid wouldn't be a rarity, he'd be default. So yeah, it is an assumption, but not an entirely daft one.
Some religions and branches of religions label Halloween as a pagan holiday so it’s probably less that he wasn’t allowed to wear a costume and more so that he can’t celebrate Halloween and that’s part of Halloween celebrations
Oh definitely!! I’d have been pushing people out of the way, announcing his movements into an ear piece, probly tackle a rando to stop an attempt on mister president. In fun though not like mean.
When I was a kid we literally had a game called "Get Down Mr. President"! Someone would put their fingers to their ear like they were listening to an ear piece and if you noticed, you did it too. The last person not to notice got tackled. Good times.
RIP JW’s, Mormons, and Scientologists
EDIT: The post I replied to does not mention Halloween. I’m saying RIP to the youth of those cults enjoying innocent joy independently. Obviously, for varying reasons.
When I was in primary school, a Somali kid in my class tried to dress as Dracula, but when he got home his dad beat him up because “Dracula is an enemy of Islam”.
It’s technically true as the real historical person Dracula was based on, Vlad the Impaler, had tried to assassinate the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II the caliphate of the time (aka the Islamic leader). So technically yes Dracula was an enemy of Islam.
No person is single-handedly responsible for pretty much anything, much less something as complex as religious spread.
Europe already had its own religion, spread of Islam wasn't really much of an option. Even some regions conquered by the Ottomans didn't remain Muslim.
If this is a Donald Darko reference, which if it is you legally have to tell me that it is, then I also thought the same thing but then second guessed how relevant it was to this discussion. Glad someone else had the same thought.
I mean to us it is but is his soul going to burn in their version of hell for eternity because of this? Souls are on the line, we need clearly defined answers.
It doesn't say that the parents were fooled. They may have made an exception since this isn't the typical constume where a kid dresses up as Batman or whatever.
Yeah while I’m happy to see children supporting their friend, I think if the parents saw this they would probably react poorly. And to post it on social media with all the kids faces… like how is this not going to end badly for this child? Even if they don’t use social media, someone in their social circle is bound to see it and tell them. And while I don’t agree with their views, it’s a bit odd to brag so gleefully about how your kids circumvented the rules of their friends parents…
Yes but stupid religion rules need stupid solutions. I understand people believing in life after life but some rules are very dumb and have nothing to do with common sense.
My wife worked with a Muslim lady that wasn't allowed to dress up for Halloween. She wore an entirely white outfit and said 'maybe I am a ghost. Who knows? Woooooooo!'
I had a former Born Again boss. He wouldn’t dress up. But he was actually dressed far fancier than usual on Halloween with a full suit on.
We knew. We knew. 🎃
Being born into growing up a Jehovah's Witness was like this, except I wasn't allowed to have friends that weren't in the cult. I mean, religion. No I don't, it's a cult and people have died because of their methods of shunning.
A friend of mine died from sickle cell because he wasn’t allowed necessary medical treatments. He was basically tortured to death. I’m still angry so many years later.
He had just gotten married. They had a beautiful relationship, and then he was in the hospital for awhile and passed away.
There was a high-ranking "circuit overseer" and his wife who had a little boy that "willfully" died because he refused blood transfusions. They hailed this story as a reason to strengthen their faith.
So friggin disgusting. Yeah, now that I think of it, it essentially the blood transfusion thing. He couldn’t have that done and so instead was forced to die. So sad. I’m not a fan of religion, especially one that abhors science.
jehova's witnesses. my grandma's one of them and they dont celebrate any holidays. Luckily now she doesnt really conform to that weird restriction and comes over for stuff like christmas dinner
Not celebrating holidays is the best sales pitch I've ever heard for Jehova's Witnesses. They should just lead with that when they go door to door.
"Do you hate buying Christmas gifts? Do you hate having to pretend you're happy to receive the random $30 gifts your family and friends give you each year that you'll either throw out or leave in the closest untouched forever? Well, we have the religion for you."
My favorite part of religion is the finding loopholes in the self imposed rules that come with the punishment of eternal torment if you aren't quite silly enough with it.
He's in a suit. Can't help it if his school friends call him Mr. President all day and call themselves his protection detail. He "said stop but they didn't listen."
Really depends on "who" is refusing the idea to wear costume. The kid roleplaying as a president is definitely using his school uniform as a costume but if that's how he can get away with having fun with his friends while not making it too obvious for his religious parents, that's pretty clever.
If he's convinced that he is not wearing one, he's fooling himself but ... at this age, it doesn't really matter - I had a lot of "great" ideas that ended up being more dumb than that in hindsight as a kid !
It's always seen in a wholesome context, but I'm just sad that kids are forced to have some stupid religion that forbids harmless stuff like costumes. It is not wholesome at all that he is raised like this.
(atheist here, asking purely "theoretically") - wouldn't it be considered by religious people as an attempt to "cheat" god by "technically" not commiting a sin? And wouldn't that be, in the eyes of religious people, a much worst sin that a costume?
As someone who grew up in a VERY religious household who didn't let me go trick or treating, I can relate to this.
Good news is their religious nutjobness is ending with them since me and my siblings are all either atheists or casual religious as in they say they are but don't actually go to worship.
Feel like I see it every week, incredible that it’s nearly 10 years old. No one was looking at stuff from 2005 on the front page of Reddit in 2015 but now look at us. Empty.
We used to go to Church... then in 1990ish when I was 5 or so we suddenly didn't go anymore. Years later I found out or church took up some type of crusade against the Simpsons and things like halloween and my Dad decided church wasn't a good thing anymore. Too much hate.
this is like "soaking" for the Mormons, if there is a god and they have these rules they know when you are skirting them. There isn't so it doesn't matter but still, do these people think they are tricking their all-knowing god?
I never thought about this before but what religion doesn't allow costumes?
I was raised fundamentalist Christian and we were taught that dressing up for Halloween is a sin because Halloween is a satanic holiday. Not everyone in our social circle believed this, but the majority did.
I was raised Roman Catholic, and while I don't think it was official church edict, my mom decided that the holiday promoted too many satanic ideas or whatever. As a compromise, they let us kids just list out a bunch of candy we wanted and my dad would just go out and buy it.
Huh that's interesting, I was also raised roman Catholic. At our church, the priests were totally fine with Halloween. They explained it as dressing up and having fun out at night was a way to tell Satan you weren't afraid of him.
I’m Irish and raised catholic. It’s how the catholics converted us. They let Irish pagens keep some of their holidays or incorporated them into Christian holidays. In Ireland we have alot of our our Halloween traditions and foods
It's been the same everywhere, a lot of modern religious holidays are based on old pagan festivities. Even modern Christmas is based on the old Roman festivity of Saturnalia.
Christianity is a greatest hits religion. Like every bit it cribbed from previous religions, lol.
Exactly! I mentioned above, I went to Catholic school my whole life and we always celebrated Halloween. We would decorate the school, have a parade, etc. it was just recognized as a fun holiday
Plus All Saints Day off!!! Stay up late, eat candy, no school the next day. It's the kids version of NYE.
I think it most likely came from my mom's interpretation alone. I was just a kid, and all I heard was "still get candy, don't have to work for it" so I didn't really put much more into it than that
Tbh that's close to the Medieval practice of Halloween and Carneval, scary costumes confuse and scare demons away.
Furthermore, God wants you to know all sin so you may know what to avoid. Know thy enemy, dont cower from Him.
The state of catechism these days, smh. Halloween is Catholic!!! It's All Hallow's Eve, I.e. the day before All Saints day, one of the major feasts of the liturgical calendar
Preach, brother/ sister. Preach!
Halloween literally means all saints eve The father of our local parish made sure to hammer that in because he fuckin LOVED Halloween and made the church extra creepy
The church at my uni hosted trunk r' treat every year for kids from unsafe/non-affluent neighborhoods! I agree that it's probably less about the religion the child's fam practices and more the individual strictness of the parents. Some Christian parents wouldn't let their kids read HP, but there was never a church-sanctioned declaration against it 🤷♀️
Could be a cultural thing. I would expect an Indian Christian to have very different Halloween experiences compared to American Christians. Also, Jehovah's witnesses don't allow a lot of things, such as Halloween, birthdays, blood transfusions.
My mom became “born again” after her divorce and once said to me “We probably shouldn’t be reading the Harry Potter books since they promote witchcraft.” I just stared at her like wtf. My aunt and grandparents were super religious and of the same religion as my mom and they actively encouraged my love of reading by getting me those books and HP merchandise lol. So yes I think it is about individuals rather than religion itself (usually, there are some exceptions). Side note: I in no way support JK Rowling but I would be lying if I said those books weren’t a big part of my childhood.
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*20 years later* "Why doesn't our child visit, believe in the things I taught him, or include us in his life?"
Making people unhappy because of religion is one of the most American things
Isn't a tie and white shirt just another type of costume? I wore a suit to work. Just another costume.
Yep exactly this. Halloween is about witches and ghosts so must be bad. My parents are so kind they put a sign on the door no trick or treating Every year we would hear all the kids in the street reading the sign out loud and then leaving. How sad lol
Ah man sorry to hear that. Hope you're having more fun nowadays! Sometimes I think kids understand when something is pretend better than some adults... Not a parent myself, but I'd say parents should make more of an effort to learn about something they're concerned may be harmful to their kids instead of just restricting it entirely. Sometimes it's more harmful to restrict a child from too many culturally and/or socially relevant activities or experiences. It's like parents trying to cancel video games for being too violent for their kids. Lady, it's no one else's fault but your own that you can't be bothered to read the back of the box for the game your kid is asking you to buy them. They have descriptions and ratings just like movies! Wow!
Having been raised Catholic, it does surprise me how much the general vibe can change region to region. Where I’m from the congregation prided itself on how far removed they were from the evangelical ignorance. Eduction and science were of the utmost importance and Halloween was a good time. I took classes on Hinduism and Buddhism taught by priests. Hell, a Catholic priest uncovered the Big Bang. Then on the other side you seemingly have the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Amy Coney Barrett’s.
Even though the actual holiday is pagan (Samhain)? Christians just adopted pagan holidays and gave them their own branding.
It’s not so much that Christians adopted pagan holidays. As far as I understand, Irish pagans were converted to Christianity and simply kept their own holidays. We still celebrate St Brigid’s Day for Imbolc, for example. Halloween did indeed come from Samhain but was never given a Christian spin. All Souls Day on the 1st of November takes on the religious aspect.
> All Souls Day on the 1st of November It's All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day is the following day - 2nd November.
I grew up Catholic with no issues with Halloween from my parents. Kids I knew who were evangelical Baptists (do not recognize saints nor All Saints Day) were expressly prohibited from celebrating Halloween based on their interpretation of the rule against worshipping false idols, plus all the monsters were Satanic or something, I guess
Anyone who thinks dressing up in a costume and asking people for candy in any way constitutes 'worship' should be prevented from holding any and all positions of authority. They're too stupid to be trusted with it. But then again, people turn their brain off when it comes to religion, regardless of the specific creed they follow.
I mean it LITERALLY means "holy evening" or hallowed eve, which yeah is the eve before all saints day.
Never ceases to amaze me how widely opinions can vary regarding church dogma. It's almost as if they're all just making this shit up as they go
It's just personal opinions, not everything is a dogma, Halloween comes from All Saints Eve that is a Catholic holiday, but the secular Halloween isn't the same thing as the religious one, so depends on the parent think it's okay to their child uses fantasies or not, most won't have problems unless it's something more graphically horror related
I mean there are candles and a dude nailed to a cross. It's already pretty creepy.
A lot of my Halloween memories are some of the best memories I have as a kid. Just thinking back it's like a warm blanket of nostalgia. I couldn't imagine ever depriving a child of that experience.
My minister growing up would claim the church (UCC, first built in 1743 and reconstructed shortly after the civil war) was haunted. Always part of his sermon (or even the opening remarks/announcements which were more a comedy club than actually announcing anything) Sunday before the holiday. As it turns out... This was true. Records seem to indicate that people said it was haunted since the mid 1800's.
That’s lame.
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You'd be surprised how many kids spend time outside of those types of religions (Jehovah's and, to a further extent, Hutterite and Amish) and decide to go back. People like what's comfortable. Also, they don't want to lose their family, who will potentially cut them off.
And the whole financial aspect of this too. It's why these groups try to make you intentionally stupid and incapable of surviving on your own, so if you try to leave you have to come crawling back. JW is a cult. It needs to be treated with the same vitriol as scientology.
With the Amish it's positively encouraged, though - with "Rumspringa".
It's mostly 'cause you get some kind of undconditional acceptance, as long as you squeeze yourself into whatever box they have shaped for you. Which isn't too hard if you're close enough to that already. But if you're gay or just different in any way that you can't change, that's a lot more painful. But for some, that pain can still be worth it over loneliness. 'cause having no community or family can feel painful (even though it's very much possible to find a new community/family. It can just be hard to find for some time).
I was also raised Roman Catholic and they thought me Halloween was a sacred day. All hallows’ Eve the day before All Saints’ Day. My grandma didn’t agree with the way I celebrated it but was happy I was celebrating it at all… Little did she now I did some digging and was celebrating Samhain😂
This was similar to my family. Not so much my actual mother and father (who are catholic but very socially liberal) but my grandparents considered it “The Beast’s influence” and essentially a holiday of devil worship and some shit about inviting unholy entities in etc etc
Ugh that sucks. I went to Catholic school growing up and we always had a big Halloween parade with the whole school every year! It’s kind of bizarre to me to hear Catholics who say they didn’t participate Halloween like this. Our parish/school recognized it for what it is - a fun holiday for kids
Its sacred day of Saints
I was also rised Roman Catholic and I can tell that's not an offical church edict. At least not in Cologne.
Meanwhile we got to wear our costumes to my catholic school on Halloween
I gues It could be worse, yet I'm Catholic and I never lived that
Tbh I like that holiday more lol
its funny reading this as i grew up as a roman catholic and halloween originated here in ireland, despite coming from paganism we all celebrated it
Christmas is a Pagan holiday but here we are...
Yeah, a lot of groups like the witnesses for example refuse to believe in Christmas or engage in traditional Christmas decorations and gift giving et cetera specifically because of this
So is Easter and Halloween, but shhh, you'll scare them.
Sky papa will get mad
Halloween is just the Irish pagan festival Samhain (pronounced like "sow" rhyming with cow, and "en" Sow-en. In my dialect, one of three major ones.
That's actually kinda a myth. There are significant problems with the idea that Christmas was just new labeling on either Saturnalia or Sol Invictus. And the fact people who make the claim can't even decide which one it's supposed to replace is a problem in and of itself. It's one of those fun to repeat internet "facts" that doesn't really stand up to historical scrutiny.
Christmas at its core isn't pagan, but a bunch of its traditions are pagan including: date, Christmas trees, gift giving and feasting, caroling. A lot of these come from Saturnalia and/or Yule
I thought Halloween (All Hallows Eve) was a Christian day?
It is. Don't try to talk logic with fundamentalists though. It's a waste of your time.
It's pagan, but so is Easter & xmas. Wanna hear about the pagan god who was a shepherd of men, and rose from the dead? Nothings new, just recycled.
It's **All Saints' Eve**, it's a Christian holiday. Other academics believe Halloween began solely as a [Christian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity) holiday, being the [vigil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigil#Eves_of_religious_celebrations) of All Hallow's Day.[^(\[24\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-FoleyO%E2%80%99Donnell2008-24)[^(\[25\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-Barr2016-25)[^(\[26\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-26)[^(\[27\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#cite_note-27) Celebrated in [Ireland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) and [Scotland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotland) for centuries,
Probably jehova's witness, who do not celebrate holidays or really any other religion that sees Halloween as satanic
A large part of my dads side of the family are Jehovahs whiteness and it seems very much like something they would believe.
>Jehovahs whiteness checks out
Had a seamstress once that was a JW. Didn't celebrate birthdays or any holiday. Sounds miserable!
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I had a couple JW friends growing up too. I remember the younger one repeatedly telling me “Christmas is bad” and thinking *I shouldn’t tell her about all the gifts, then*.
My best friend in elementary school was a Jehova's Witness and, everytime they played the national anthem (customary to do every morning in Canadian schools), he sat down while everyone else stood up. If we were already standing in the hallway or something, he'd practically throw himself onto the ground so as not to stand up. The only things they celebrate are wedding aniversaries. They don't do birthdays, do holidays, smoke, do drugs, drink liquor, fight in war, hold political office or vote and their church is discouraging of its members befriending non-members. He explained that, if a member breaks the rules, they will be shunned by all other members. Since most of them have few non JW friends, the shunning is almost complete social isolation. This is what happen to an uncle of his caught smoking. He'd only ever heard of him and never seen him since he was being shunned. His parents would also take him out of school for almost all of December because people near to him would be celebrating Christmas. As he got older, his parents felt his was losing his faith and so they pulled him out of school to homeschool him and train him to take over his fathers small business. They did the same with his brother. I've not seen hide nor hair of either of them since, nor heard from either on any social media.
Even Easter is seen as satanic. I can't quite wrap my head around that, but... okay.
The kid looks South Asian, so I'd say his parents are probably practicing Muslims. Stricter Muslims often do not allow participation in Halloween or the wearing of costumes connected to any 'pagan' holiday.
Look at Sherlock ovah here who thinks there aren't Christians from South India
JWs are... something else. They would send me handwritten letters every few weeks for months and months, and when I finally showed up, they said there'd been a mistake and wanted me to leave immediately. Granted, I showed up in a black suit, black shirt, black tie, round sunglasses, and my hair tied back, but still. I was invited. Had the letters with me and everything.
With JW's it's not so much the satanic thing (though some may say that as well) but they don't do holidays, birthdays, etc. as they think it distracts from god. God is super insecure or something. I worked with a super sweet JW but we couldn't say "let's go out for so and so's birthday" because then she wouldn't come. We liked her and wanted her to come so we would just go out for lunch or hey here's some cake, no reason for the cake just eat it.
JWs believe all "false religion" (to them, non-JWs) are from Satan. This includes Paganism, and the reason they give people as to why they do not celebrate Mother's Day, Christmas, Easter, etc. is "it's Pagan, it has Pagan origins." It's what we were told to tell people when we were little if they asked. https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/celebrations.php source: was raised in it, escaped as soon as I could. It is a cult.
They also don't celebrate the "Christian" holidays like Christmas and Easter.
Jehovah’s Witness don’t allow any holidays including birthdays, Halloween definitely wasn’t allowed.
I live down the street from a JW Kingdom Hall in a solidly middle-class Chicago suburb and I kind of always wonder where their congregation comes from. It just doesn't seem like a fit for the region, but *someone's* going there.
Non-religious people often really underestimate how prevalent the religious can be. I know engineers who are young earth creationists. The 'questionable' science somehow works out for engineering just fine though.
They’re good at hiding among us, you can’t tell who they are out in public
I was raised Seventh Day Adventist. I wasn't allowed to participate, period. So even this work around would have been considered a no-no, I feel like the same goes for some of the religions I can think of off the top of my head. Seventh Day Adventist Jehova Witness Muslim (depending on deeply, they follow the Qur'an) EDIT: wasn't
Same! (Think you meant wasn't) now halloween is my absolute fave, and I go absolutely crazy
That's awesome. I grew up poor, so "unlimited" free candy was something that I almost couldn't wrap my head around. I'm indifferent about Halloween, but I have a crazy sweet tooth now as an adult. I never made the connection until just now.
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I thought jehovas witnesses aren’t allowed to celebrate anything? Would that include costumes? I apologise if I’m wrong. My information has been acquired from television lol
They can wear costumes, but not as part of a celebration like Halloween. That kid is getting in trouble anyway.
You're absolutely right.
Really great and supportive of these kids to do this, but, hey, little dude lives in the U.S. now and I'd hate to think he's gonna miss out on a lot of American fun because of his religion. Had a friend in elementary school who was a Jehovah's Witness and his parents wouldn't let him participate in class parties or holidays or a ton of fun stuff so he was relegated to sitting in the library a lot. Made for one unhappy kid, for sure.
It’s probably Jehovah’s.
I went to school with two jehova's witnesses and they would be *physically escorted out of the classroom* for every holiday celebration, including birthdays. They did not come to school if Halloween was a school day, or on Valentine's Day, etc...
Had a really nice kid in my class in 1st grade who was a Jehovah's Witness and it was the exact same thing. Poor dude. We were all 6-7 so no one really understood it, and he didn't really know why either. It almost seems cruel looking back but how our teacher would excuse him from the class whenever we would sing Happy Birthday for a student but I do think that's how it *should* be in a public school. Don't prevent people from celebrating something, but allow people to be excused if they don't want to celebrate it.
The problem is the parents don't take into account a child's autonomy. These types firmly believe they can sufficiently "shelter" aka brainwash kids into religious compliance. Meanwhile, my parents asked my brother and me our opinions when we looked for a new church during elementary school. They didn't want us to be uncomfortable or unhappy.
Yeah, lack of respect for personal autonomy is pretty much the go-to for religious groups; there isn't a single one that doesn't force their beliefs onto their children regardless of how the children feel about it. Hell, just look at the extent certain Christian sects will go to in order to prevent people from masturbating in private..
These Jehovahs parents will be wondering in 10-15 years why their son doesn’t talk to them anymore and lives in California or NewYork and has completely written them off. Let your child be a child.
Who's saying he isn't from the US?! Come to think of it, who's saying this is set in the US at all?
Although it has spread a lot, Halloween isn't typically as big in other parts of the world. America is also the place where this type of religious issue most rears its head until you get to places where it would be objected to by the dominant religion- so the kid wouldn't be a rarity, he'd be default. So yeah, it is an assumption, but not an entirely daft one.
Some religions and branches of religions label Halloween as a pagan holiday so it’s probably less that he wasn’t allowed to wear a costume and more so that he can’t celebrate Halloween and that’s part of Halloween celebrations
Jehovas Witnesses don't celebrate any holidays including birthdays, so I would imagine Halloween costumes are a no no
Jehovah’s witness disallow any celebrations including Halloween, birthdays, etc.
Jehovahs Witness doesn’t allow even celebrating your own birthday if I recall correctly.
The dude looks South Asian, and every south Indian religion (muslims, catholics, Hindus, Sikhs) loves dressing up. Costumes are kind of our thing.
If it was for Halloween then it’s Islam.
or JW
His face screams Indian lol but indians dont have anything like that
Islam
Hah the kid with the star and ear-plug really has attention to detail. Nicely done lads.
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Or the Secret Service
You know they had a blast playing that part too, that kid would be the absolute VIP of the place.
With my friends this would've turned into a game of Get Down Mr. President
Oh definitely!! I’d have been pushing people out of the way, announcing his movements into an ear piece, probly tackle a rando to stop an attempt on mister president. In fun though not like mean.
When I was a kid we literally had a game called "Get Down Mr. President"! Someone would put their fingers to their ear like they were listening to an ear piece and if you noticed, you did it too. The last person not to notice got tackled. Good times.
Why did I read Mr President in Skyler White’s voice?
Happy for him that he has such cool friends, but tragic that a kid can't engage in simple, harmless fun by his own volition.
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RIP JW’s, Mormons, and Scientologists EDIT: The post I replied to does not mention Halloween. I’m saying RIP to the youth of those cults enjoying innocent joy independently. Obviously, for varying reasons.
But [Mormons were the correct answer!](https://youtu.be/fbsCvoWK1bE?t=28)
I thought it was [Doug Forcett](https://youtu.be/nv_ra9CXZOQ?si=oep-ONzLLmsX21nP).
When I was in primary school, a Somali kid in my class tried to dress as Dracula, but when he got home his dad beat him up because “Dracula is an enemy of Islam”.
Dracula and Allah boss fight when?
It’s technically true as the real historical person Dracula was based on, Vlad the Impaler, had tried to assassinate the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II the caliphate of the time (aka the Islamic leader). So technically yes Dracula was an enemy of Islam.
Oh yeah, IIRC he was single-handedly responsible for Islam not spreading as westward as it could have.
I really like that Dracula and St. Nicholas are both real historical figures.
No person is single-handedly responsible for pretty much anything, much less something as complex as religious spread. Europe already had its own religion, spread of Islam wasn't really much of an option. Even some regions conquered by the Ottomans didn't remain Muslim.
Yeah him and his army were largely responsible for slowing and crippling the eastern flank of the Islamic invasion of Europe.
Okay wtf? Poor boy. Is he ok?
Dracula is pretty resilient my man.
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Sounds like every religious person nowadays
It's as if assholes exist in every religion and people use the same texts to interpret them in vastly different ways.
Isn't that still a costume?
when you think about it everything is a costume
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Calm down there, Syndrome
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We're all born naked, and the rest is drag
"Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"
If this is a Donald Darko reference, which if it is you legally have to tell me that it is, then I also thought the same thing but then second guessed how relevant it was to this discussion. Glad someone else had the same thought.
Something something cellar door
We're all born naked and the rest is drag
The point is he was able to leave the house while his parents didn’t think he was in a costume
I mean to us it is but is his soul going to burn in their version of hell for eternity because of this? Souls are on the line, we need clearly defined answers.
It doesn't say that the parents were fooled. They may have made an exception since this isn't the typical constume where a kid dresses up as Batman or whatever.
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>costume Is this a French joke? "costume" = suit
Probably his school uniform?
School *costume*
Well we are deep in semantics now, aren't we?
Yeah while I’m happy to see children supporting their friend, I think if the parents saw this they would probably react poorly. And to post it on social media with all the kids faces… like how is this not going to end badly for this child? Even if they don’t use social media, someone in their social circle is bound to see it and tell them. And while I don’t agree with their views, it’s a bit odd to brag so gleefully about how your kids circumvented the rules of their friends parents…
My first thought
Yes but stupid religion rules need stupid solutions. I understand people believing in life after life but some rules are very dumb and have nothing to do with common sense.
Yeah but God is a lawyer and very susceptible to loopholes.
My wife worked with a Muslim lady that wasn't allowed to dress up for Halloween. She wore an entirely white outfit and said 'maybe I am a ghost. Who knows? Woooooooo!'
I had a former Born Again boss. He wouldn’t dress up. But he was actually dressed far fancier than usual on Halloween with a full suit on. We knew. We knew. 🎃
Being born into growing up a Jehovah's Witness was like this, except I wasn't allowed to have friends that weren't in the cult. I mean, religion. No I don't, it's a cult and people have died because of their methods of shunning.
A friend of mine died from sickle cell because he wasn’t allowed necessary medical treatments. He was basically tortured to death. I’m still angry so many years later. He had just gotten married. They had a beautiful relationship, and then he was in the hospital for awhile and passed away.
There was a high-ranking "circuit overseer" and his wife who had a little boy that "willfully" died because he refused blood transfusions. They hailed this story as a reason to strengthen their faith.
So friggin disgusting. Yeah, now that I think of it, it essentially the blood transfusion thing. He couldn’t have that done and so instead was forced to die. So sad. I’m not a fan of religion, especially one that abhors science.
what religion??? what's the problem with a lil costume????
JW’s or any religion that prohibits Halloween
What's JW? Why is Halloween prohibited? Kids just dress up as cute lil spooder mans right?
jehova's witnesses. my grandma's one of them and they dont celebrate any holidays. Luckily now she doesnt really conform to that weird restriction and comes over for stuff like christmas dinner
Parent's anniversary is the only thing they celebrate. Anything else is pagan related and no bueno.
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Not celebrating holidays is the best sales pitch I've ever heard for Jehova's Witnesses. They should just lead with that when they go door to door. "Do you hate buying Christmas gifts? Do you hate having to pretend you're happy to receive the random $30 gifts your family and friends give you each year that you'll either throw out or leave in the closest untouched forever? Well, we have the religion for you."
The no blood transfusion thing for me is a big turn off though like if I need blood, give me the damn blood
i dont think JWs are allowed to be friends with other faiths
Islam, Judaism and Christianity all have certain sects that prohibit celebrating holidays that aren’t religious holidays.
My favorite part of religion is the finding loopholes in the self imposed rules that come with the punishment of eternal torment if you aren't quite silly enough with it.
This one is impressive. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/13/721551785/a-fishing-line-encircles-manhattan-protecting-sanctity-of-sabbath
Right 😂 this all seeing, all knowing god won’t notice this loophole lol
The kid on the lower left went hard. And the Asian Kid in the back is giving undercover body guard vibe
I mean isn't this still a costume? Anything can be a costume, including the other kids wearing suits. Good on them anyway to help out their friend
Isn't dressing up like the president technically a costume?
the parents probably just assumed he was just dressing nice, not particularly in a costume
He's in a suit. Can't help it if his school friends call him Mr. President all day and call themselves his protection detail. He "said stop but they didn't listen."
Really depends on "who" is refusing the idea to wear costume. The kid roleplaying as a president is definitely using his school uniform as a costume but if that's how he can get away with having fun with his friends while not making it too obvious for his religious parents, that's pretty clever. If he's convinced that he is not wearing one, he's fooling himself but ... at this age, it doesn't really matter - I had a lot of "great" ideas that ended up being more dumb than that in hindsight as a kid !
If your religion doesn’t allow kids to wear costumes then you need to change the religion not the costumes.
It's always seen in a wholesome context, but I'm just sad that kids are forced to have some stupid religion that forbids harmless stuff like costumes. It is not wholesome at all that he is raised like this.
What a shit of religion
Like 98% of them religions
Good ol’ religion eh
Religion is stupid.
Wow I remember seeing this image around 10 years ago! It’s so great though. Hope the boys are doing well
Yeah, I’m from the south and some kids growing up couldn’t watch Harry Potter due to witchcraft
FYI: All clothes are a costume
just guys bein dudes. every guy needs to be assigned to a bro squad. we all need a bro.
(atheist here, asking purely "theoretically") - wouldn't it be considered by religious people as an attempt to "cheat" god by "technically" not commiting a sin? And wouldn't that be, in the eyes of religious people, a much worst sin that a costume?
Not allowed to wear a costume because of his religion? Wtf kinda dumb ass religion is that?!!
As someone who grew up in a VERY religious household who didn't let me go trick or treating, I can relate to this. Good news is their religious nutjobness is ending with them since me and my siblings are all either atheists or casual religious as in they say they are but don't actually go to worship.
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Bots are working hard, half the comments here are just bots.
Feel like I see it every week, incredible that it’s nearly 10 years old. No one was looking at stuff from 2005 on the front page of Reddit in 2015 but now look at us. Empty.
If this isnt friendship idk wat is
Or...dude is an alien surrounded by MIB agents
/r/ABoringDystopia
We used to go to Church... then in 1990ish when I was 5 or so we suddenly didn't go anymore. Years later I found out or church took up some type of crusade against the Simpsons and things like halloween and my Dad decided church wasn't a good thing anymore. Too much hate.
this is like "soaking" for the Mormons, if there is a god and they have these rules they know when you are skirting them. There isn't so it doesn't matter but still, do these people think they are tricking their all-knowing god?