Publication in Russian on the Zen blog
https://dzen.ru/a/Z9MnXTfRIVviccbs
How do you like the SteamPunk-style look (summer festival in the USA)?
I decided to share with you about the Halloween celebration.
How do I feel about this holiday? I treat him exactly, so to speak. There is a lot of controversy about this holiday in the Russian Federation and among Christian believers.
To understand whether this is good or bad, you need to know the history of its origin and the essence.
As far as I know, there are 2 versions of the origin of this holiday. One of them is that Halloween took root in the United States in the 19th century, when the Irish immigrated to America and brought with them their traditions, including the Catholic holiday "All Saints' Day" - the day honoring all those who went to heaven. In fact, it was a night of prayers for the dead, and so Halloween was born.
Another version is that Halloween originated from an ancient Celtic holiday called Samhain, the feast of the return of the dead.
I also heard a mixed version that missionaries who came to convert the Irish Celts found that they celebrated Samhain, and as a result, Halloween is a mix of Samhain and All Saints' Day. By the way, this often happened when Christianity came to a pagan country, and many pagan holidays and customs were intertwined with Christian ones, such as Maslenitsa. I think that's the way it is with Halloween.
Halloween has been celebrated in the United States since the late 1800s, but it got a real boom in the 1900s, after retailers began mass-producing Halloween-themed postcards, decorations, and costumes, bringing the holiday into mainstream fashion.
Halloween translates as "holy evening". To be more precise, the name came from All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Saints' Day).
So, everyone puts their own meaning into the essence of this holiday, someone demonizes it, someone is just having fun.
For Christians who are afraid of this holiday, I can quote from the Bible: "Whatever is sold at auction, eat without any research, for the peace of conscience, 1 Corinthians 10:25. That is, at the auction, you could accidentally buy something that could have been used (earlier) in some pagan rituals (sacrificed to idols), but the verse says that it is more important what meaning you put in and how you use it.
How to celebrate Halloween in California. Now I want to tell you not about theories and secret meanings, but what is happening in reality. In reality, people decorate their houses, cars, apartments, windows, gardens, competing to see who is cooler. All this is also illuminated at night. There are whole neighborhoods where all the houses are decorated and people with children come there dressed up and go begging for sweets with a famous phrase.: trick or treat (sweetness or nastiness). Traditionally, where houses are decorated, you can go there to beg. In fact, people are having fun, dressing up in costumes, chatting. Someone who loves horror movies and horror stories comes off on this day, no one puts any religious and serious meanings, just having fun. At schools on this day, everyone comes dressed up, from students to the principal, and everyone is having fun.
If you are seriously negative about this holiday, relax, then do not decorate the Christmas tree for Christmas, do not hang garlands, do not give gifts from Santa Claus, it all came to us from paganism, do not celebrate Carnival, do not paint eggs and bake Easter cakes, seriously friends!
Again, no one forces you to celebrate this holiday if you don't want to. I treat it exactly, I don't attach any deep meanings. Someone is wearing a dinosaur mask because they love dinosaurs, someone is dressing up as some kind of Korean singer because they love K-pop, someone will dress up as a zombie on this day. All adults and children will be in costumes, it's a day of fun, no more, no less. On the streets on the way to school, you can see both little hulk and little mystique, little zombies and witches...
And I also want to go to some kind of festive location, like the clown house in Burbank, or Mr. Bones's pumpkin patch, or one of the neighborhoods where the owners decorate their houses with whole streets every year. I want to take pictures and admire the decorations, but that's if I have time.
How do you feel about Halloween?
My typical California, where plants that we used to grow on the windowsills at home grow on the street, where pomegranates, limes, tangerines, lemons, oranges grow and no one picks them. A lot of houses are decorated for Halloween, and at night it still glows with different lights. It's 22 degrees outside and it's getting chilly, even though this year has been uncharacteristically hot. And the atmosphere before the elections, the results of which you already know, there are Kamala and Volts signs in almost all courtyards, such is California, friends! In America, it is customary to put a sign with the names of those they vote for in their window or in their yard.. By the way, in Idaho, we often saw signs for Trump, although we also met Kamala.
California is one of the most densely populated states, and it's true that when you drive through California, there are no empty lands, as we saw in Utah and Idaho. California has one of the strongest economies in the world, in my opinion the 5th largest, with a population of almost 39 million people, with the territory of the 3rd largest of all states and could be a separate country. California is also one of the most expensive states, and in terms of living expenses, California is the poorest state: on average, 14% of Americans live below the poverty line (according to Wikipedia).
There is no absolute ethnic majority in California. According to the 2020 U.S. Census:
39.4% are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
34.7% are white.
15.1% are Asian.
5.4% are African Americans.
4.1% are non-Hispanic and multiracial.
0.4% are native non-Hispanic Americans.
0.4% are non-Hispanic Pacific Islanders.
Regarding religion, I will provide general American statistics.:
46.5% of Christians are Protestants.
22.8% do not belong to any religious group.
20.8% of Christians are Catholics.
1.9% are Jews.
1.8% of different other religions.
1.6% are Mormons.
0.9% are members of various other Christian denominations.
0.9% are Muslims.
0.8% are Jehovah's Witnesses.
0.7% are Buddhists.
0.7% are Hindus.
That's the way it is, friends!
And I still wish peace to Ukraine and all good people! And also freedom for Russia and all political prisoners! I wish you happiness.
From the author of the blog: In Sweden, on this day, we decorated our balcony for Halloween. Of the legends and stories, the Irish legend of Jack the Drunkard was closer. In schools and kindergartens, they also have fun, the kids are dressed up and painted. Courtyards and streets are also decorated, but in Swedish Lagom. We didn't visit this Halloween, and we didn't eat the cat that's staying with us. But in general, it's a very cool holiday. In Sweden, this time is quite twilight, foggy, damp and depressing ... sometimes it seems that the sun will never be there. And here, bright, sunny pumpkins and an extravaganza of candles, lanterns, and garlands are very useful.. And after Halloween comes Lusiasdagen (St. Lucia's day) and the pre-Christmas days come.
God has given man freedom of choice. And no other person has the right to take it away from you. I remain free and wish you all the same, to be free!
Life in America by Anna Kim
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