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Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:28 am
by HalloweenDot
A Somerville [outside Boston] principal has opened fire on cherished American holidays, blasting legendary explorer Christopher Columbus for “atrocities” and saying “we need to be careful” about celebrating Thanksgiving in a scathing email to teachers — who are already under orders not to let the kids dress up for Halloween.
for the rest of the story, go here:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/region ... id=1373223

You have to wonder about some of these people who want ban Halloween!

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:18 pm
by iHaunt
That's ridiculous! :?

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:18 am
by Jack Skellington
Halloween Grinches!

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:17 am
by Murfreesboro
Oh, that woman has probably read Zinn's Marxist People's History of America (maybe the title is a little different, but if you Google Zinn you'll find the right one). I have read it. It is interesting, but very polemical. Basically, European settlement of the US was a terrible, bad thing, and shouldn't have happened. Those of us who are descendants of those European explorers and settlers should live in eternal shame and adopt a permanent stance of apology. According to these Marxist historians and their followers, no white European ever did anything worthwhile in the history of the world. I don't recall how Zinn handles the human sacrifice that was going on among some American aborigines (for example, among those who built the pyramids outside Mexico City) before the European "invasion," as he terms it. I guess he thinks whatever they were doing was A-OK, because it was an authentic expression of their native culture, etc.

As for Thanksgiving, which this principal also impugns, that was simply a harvest festival, which was common among the Puritans even before they got here. I'm not in a position to know how many Indians took part in it, but apparently there were a few present. I guess she is steamed that we have a national holiday which acknowledges some type of deity (your choice) over the world.

Not sure what her beef is about Halloween--the article doesn't explain that. Usually it is the evangelicals who object to that "pagan" celebration, but I'm guessing that, in this woman's case, it is just too indicative of our "European perspective."

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:23 pm
by Spookymufu
I dont understand why the parents dont throw these people out when things like this happen.....These parents need to go to the school district meeting and demand the removal of these "rouge" teachers/principals.

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:02 am
by Li H'Sen Chang
If we ban Halloween we need ban on Christmas. See how they like it then. :(

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:18 am
by Spookymufu
Li H'Sen Chang wrote:If we ban Halloween we need ban on Christmas. See how they like it then. :(

they would love that, lets not help them with it humm?

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:23 am
by Murfreesboro
Li H'Sen Chang wrote:If we ban Halloween we need ban on Christmas. See how they like it then. :(
I doubt the woman under discussion in this article would have any problem with that at all. This proposal is not coming from the evangelical right, but from the extremely PC left.

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:32 am
by Li H'Sen Chang
Murfreesboro wrote:
Li H'Sen Chang wrote:If we ban Halloween we need ban on Christmas. See how they like it then. :(
I doubt the woman under discussion in this article would have any problem with that at all. This proposal is not coming from the evangelical right, but from the extremely PC left.
True but there will be much more protest if they try to ban Christmas. Most don't care about Halloween.

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:37 am
by Murfreesboro
I would be one of the protestors myself. I love Christmas and Halloween. And to be honest, many Christians do feel that Christmas is under attack as well. I know in the public schools around here, that December holiday is not "Christmas break," but "Winter Break." I walked into my son's middle school in February several years ago and saw decorated trees in the lobby. I was informed that those were "winter trees," so they were staying up all winter long.

Public displays of Nativity Scenes on civic property used to be common throughout the South in my childhood, but now you will see them only at churches, if there.

In another TN county this fall, football coaches were reprimanded for bowing their heads during a student-led prayer. It was considered an official "endorsement" of religion for them to bow their heads in respect.

You can deplore these facts or applaud them, but Christians my age are very aware that the public consensus re Christianity and the celebration of Christmas as a religious holiday has broken down.

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:26 am
by Li H'Sen Chang
People are too uptight about religious things. Holidays also good for family time which is nondenominational.

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:24 pm
by Jack Skellington
Murfreesboro wrote:I would be one of the protestors myself. I love Christmas and Halloween. And to be honest, many Christians do feel that Christmas is under attack as well. I know in the public schools around here, that December holiday is not "Christmas break," but "Winter Break." I walked into my son's middle school in February several years ago and saw decorated trees in the lobby. I was informed that those were "winter trees," so they were staying up all winter long.

Public displays of Nativity Scenes on civic property used to be common throughout the South in my childhood, but now you will see them only at churches, if there.

In another TN county this fall, football coaches were reprimanded for bowing their heads during a student-led prayer. It was considered an official "endorsement" of religion for them to bow their heads in respect.

You can deplore these facts or applaud them, but Christians my age are very aware that the public consensus re Christianity and the celebration of Christmas as a religious holiday has broken down.
I love Christmas too. It's called "Winter Break/Holiday" over here too in some places. It's a disgrace! :x

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:32 am
by iHaunt
I do care about Halloween all of my life! I really do care less about XMAS! :?

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 3:46 pm
by Pumpkin_Man
Well, for any of you younger posters or children who read these threads, you may want to try to enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, because if 'political correctness' becomes the order of the day, we may see all these traditions all but disappear.

Oh, and by the way, I do celebrage HALLOWEEN, THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS & EASTER and if that offends some one, TOO BAD, SO SAD.

MIke

Re: Halloween Banned in Somerville school

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:27 am
by Murfreesboro
Well, some of this stuff simply can't be legislated. I think in one way or another, people will always be celebrating the holidays they love the best. After all, look at Halloween. Samhain was more or less outlawed, or re-appropriated, but it never really went away because people loved it too much. And Christmas builds on solstice celebrations. Easter incorporates older traditions celebrating the rebirth of spring. I don't think we are ever going to lose these things, although I can at least imagine a repressive government that might try to outlaw specifically religious observances. Strangely, religion seems to survive even those efforts. When the former Soviet Union collapsed, I was struck by how quickly the Russian Orthodox church reasserted itself. That told me that it was never really gone, just underground.