posted
Actually, the Irish for November is Mi na Shamhnna, meaning the Month of Samhainn.
Of course, December is Mi na Nollaig, the Month of Christmas.
And as for Hallowe'en being evil and satanic, nowadays over here it passes with nary a whimper. A few kids turn up in bin-liners with crappy plastic masks and play a song or sing for a bit, and they'd consider it a priviledge to get more than 50p per house.
It's only been lately that they've dared make the dreaded "Trick or treat" implied threat commonplace.
And Happy Birthday, First of Two. Knock yourself daft.
------------------ "So, no room for Bender, huh? Well I'll build my own lunar lander, with blackjack, and hookers. In fact, who needs a lander, or blackjack? Ah, screw the whole lot o' ya!" -- Bender, Futurama.
posted
I admit I don't know exact stats, but I'll bet money there is more crime on Holloween night then any other holiday. At least in the US. Detroit , and a few other cities burn for days around holloween. I don't think it's anything Demonic, but a bunch of punk@$$ kids like to get wild and burn S*** up over this holiday. Plus there are people who razor apples and other things to the point where, if I had a kid, it wouldn't be doing any trick or treeting. The town of Belle limits it to one hour, then throws a party at town hall, which I think is the best thing to do on that night.
I think I stopped likeing Holloween when I started driveing, and had to move trees out of the road, because some dumb@$$ kid that lives on the same hollow(space between two mountains) that I live on, thought it would be funny to block the road.
------------------ "One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor". George Carlin
posted
Yes. Someone posted a link a while back to an Urban Legends site which asserted that the only actual CONFIRMED 'razor in apple' incidents (2 or 3, I believe) ended up being perpetrated by the "victims" themselves, or in one case by the victim's OWN adult. Same goes for other "candy-tampering" incidents. (And BESIDES, if your kid trick-or-treats, you should be WITH them, or else you're an irresponsible parent.)
If you're talking more "petty" crime, yes, probably more takes place on Halloween. But actual serious crime? I doubt it. More probably takes place after school sporting events on weekends. (After all, statistics also show more wives are beaten during televised football games...)
I thought that Detroit's "Devil's Night" was the night BEFORE Halloween. In any case, you could point to it as an associated phenomenon, but not one caused by the existence of Halloween. That, in effect, is like blaming the Internet for the Columbine shootings.
------------------ 'In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to Liberty; he is always in allegiance to the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own." ---- Thomas Jefferson
posted
I'm going to have to go with the news on this one 1of2. To many reports and to many cops on TV warning people to check their kids candy. One web site claiming it was all a hoax will not convince me. Detroit's fire problems start before Holloween and continue up to it.
Baloo: Yep, it holler, I'd have said that, but I didn't think anyone would understand.
------------------ "One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor". George Carlin
posted
Excuse me, but I think I'd rather believe someone who's done the legwork to determine the facts than the overworked minion of a news service who's trying sell commercial slots on the evening news. A lot of these things are gray-headed old beasts that are dusted off and trotted out on Halloween. I have never seen a single report of sharp objects in candy, and the reports of poisoned treats tend to fall into the category of someone who tried it because they thought the blame would fall on someone else because the cops must be swamped by all those other (bogus) reports.
Just because you hear warnings doesn't mean it isn't chicken little. I'd be more worried about creepy neighbors and strangers.
posted
The Lexington, KY Area Humanes Society is not allowing people to adopt black cats from now until after Halloween so they are not sacrificed in Satanic rituals. Saw it last night.
------------------ With 17 hours of class, guess what I'm doing.
posted
I have creepy neighbors. Strangers have to run the dog gauntlet before they get to anything valueble. Between us and the creepy neighbors, there are: Two Doby's One Brendal Bull One Rotwieler Two fat white and brown dogs of unknown breed. They are all harmless and friendly, but they luv to bark. ------------------ "One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor". George Carlin
[This message has been edited by Kosh (edited October 21, 1999).]
Of course, it makes a kind of twisted sense.. most of the people who pretend to be "Satanists" and "sacrifice" cats (black or otherwise, whether its on Halloween or not) ARE moronic redneck types... but they're generally easy enough to identify. 'd be easier just to say that nobody who lives in a trailer or public housing or has a truck in their front yard can buy a cat. In which case, the morons will just find some other animal. Cats aren't special, except that some people think they're witches' "familiars" (except everybody knows you DON'T kill your familiar!)
------------------ 'In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to Liberty; he is always in allegiance to the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own." ---- Thomas Jefferson
posted
If we had no Halloween, then I would have one day less out of the year to wear my Starfleet admiral's uniform.
------------------ "All you people, can't you see, can't you see How your love's affecting our reality Everytime we're down You can make it right And that makes you larger than life"
I don't know if there are more petty crimes during Halloween, but the largest number of SUICIDES happen around Christmas.
------------------ --Then, said Cranly, do you not intend to become a protestant? --I said that I had lost the faith, Stephen answered, but not that I had lost self-respect. What kind of liberation would that be to forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogical and incoherent?
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
posted
Actually, I think that's just a myth (about the suicides).
------------------ Frank's Home Page Noah Adams: "Well, some of them are really quite understandable. 'Montana is a leg.' is..." John Linnell: "...it's grammatical. It's not true, and it doesn't strictly make sense, and..."
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