Halloween 06: What should Halloween be?

[Zane]

Option one for me. I hate all these smiling cartoon skeleton masks people buy. It defeats the object of the occasion.

[Starwars4J]

Zane, I actually voted for a bit of both. I mean what isn't made better by a BIT of the second? Our fondest memories of Halloween are from when we were children, going trick-or-treating together, showing your costumes (which weren't always "scary") to your friends, and just breaking free and having fun! But of course Halloween needs a scary aspect, otherwise it's not Halloween *skull*

[Scouty]

A bit of both I added...BOO!

[boxcar3]

I think it's fun to be scared on halloween so I picked a bit of both.

[JINZONINGEN73]

I have something sad to report.

Halloween is DYING in America.

It started with the news media LYING about the rampant "danger" of trick or treating, much as they condemn fireworks every July 4th.

Only, instead of going, "This is a FIRECRACKER in a CHILD'S HAND!" followed by the detonation of a watermelon by what only could have been a quarter-stick of dynamite, they do report after report of "tainted candy" alerts . "This is what your CHILD MIGHT GET!... Razorblades in their candy apples! Poison injected into the center of chocolate bars! LSD lacing the wrappers!"

And that's pretty damn ****ing annoying, because this foolishness led to:

School / church / community-run Halloween parties, but proudly stated as an ALTERNATIVE to trick or treating.

So great, kids go out, but people just look at them stupid and go "Oh... they're doing it this year?".

Individual communities changing the date of Halloween!

This one is obvious... kids show up, now met with, "Oh... I thought they were doing this on a different day".

Further complicating the matter is that Prankster's Night, which, depending on what community you live in, either falls on the day before or after trick or treating, now leads to not only nobody knowing exactly when to celebrate THAT, but the inevitable collision between innocent kids in masks, and vandalizing bullies who have some easy targets to mug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Night

Religious wackos. Much as now "Merry Christmas" has been turned largely into "Happy Holidays" (you know, so as not to offend anyone of a different faith >__< ), Halloween has suffered somewhat due to trickle-down sentiments. Pagan origins and all.

Oh, there's other reasons, but those are the big four.

It's sad... the past 10 years have SUCKED as far as Halloween goes. I live in a town, more like a small city. I'm lucky if I find 1 jack-o-lantern every 4 blocks... much more if they're actually the hand-carved types and not plastic.

To me, this holiday is:

Prankster's Night on the 30th... older kids soaping up people's windows, throwing rotten eggs they've been saving a few weeks at the houses of those they don't like, and using rolls of toilet paper to drape the branches of trees and make 1-time use ribbons across hardly-traveled roads.

Kids trick or treating... on the 31st.

People hanging stereo speakers out their window with hair-raising sound effects bellowing forth.

People using alot of creative lighting to show kids that their house is giving out candy, but simultaneously giving it a look that only scary freak shut-ins live there.

Only SUPER-young kids requiring chaperoned school parties.

People should have bought pumpkins a week or few days prior to the 31st and already have them carved into scary faces out on their porch.

There should be decorations, such as store-bought skeletons popping their limbs out through people's front yards, and old clothes stuffed to make dummies, preferably hung around the neck from trees or with some other "cause of death" readily apparent.

And no night of this is complete without seeing at least 1 candy-giver dressed up themselves, as well as a village idiot dressing up in black or some other scary costume, and running & jumping out at kids in the dark.

Problem with that last one though is that not only do communities now say what DAY you can trick or treat, but what TIMES you can do it from!

Dammit, Halloween is all about night time! It's about being in the dark!

And what pisses me off... that's what Halloween was, as little as 20 years ago.

If you're in America, and you just read what I wrote, and there's NOT a hand-carved pumpkin on your porch between now and next weekend... I probably don't like you.

[WesternOutlaw]

I like both but of the two, it should be more fun than scary. That's what Halloween is all about.

[Brick Miner]

i voted "fun"... but actually i think its "both".

fun is just the greater of the two halves ;-)

- BrickMiner

[ghoulrealm]

I think both. On the night of tricking and treating should be fun and maybe a little bit of gross out yard displays. But tis the season of good ghost stories with friends or paranormal movies in the dark.

I love this holliday more than any other. I still carve pumkins and roast the seads, build yard displays and play Toccata and Fugue on my sythesizer with skeleton gloves and in costume(it's difficult, but most of the kids think it's recording at first)

[WesternOutlaw]

I always think of the old tale of Sleepy Hollow. A great Halloween party with hot spiced cider, a fun game of "bobbing for apples", and other Fall treats, then a spooky ride home. . .

When out of the night appears the Headless Horseman on a black horse! He chases you home, getting the scare of your life. Then in the warm comforts of home, you enjoy a nice nightcap before going to sleep in a warm bed.

OK, that's not exactly how the story went, but fun with friends, a good scare, and a relaxing night makes Halloween fun. *sweet*

[Minifig Lecturer]

"This is what your CHILD MIGHT GET!... Razorblades in their candy apples! Poison injected into the center of chocolate bars! LSD lacing the wrappers!"

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Yes, I dont know how people can believe these things. Also I absolutely hate Ned Flanders-Type Groups from USA :-| :-|

As for what Hallow'een should be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

[JINZONINGEN73]

Well, I've done my part to keep Halloween alive. Have any of you?

[xwingyoda]

Jinzo, your cat is scary when its light is on :-D :-P

Seriously I voted for a bit of both, even if the real goal for people my age is to PARTY like crazy in weird costumes !! looool

*yoda*

[WesternOutlaw]

Spooky cat! He doesn't even need to be black. I've always been fascinated with the Egyptian myths regarding cats. Very mysterious...