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#41
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
Sherry wrote:
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays too, and am completely ignorant (by choice) of the true origins, history, etc. It's the only chance kids get to pretend they're a pirate or a princess for an evening and eat themselves sick on candy. It's a celebration that the horrid 100 degree temps of Aug. and Sept. are over with, the weather is indescribably beautiful here in October. It's carving jack-o-lanters, decorating with gourds and chrysanthemums in bloom. If you grew up with Halloween being about costumes and candy and pumpkin-carving, then that's what the holiday is for you. I think personal experiences like these are more meaningful to most people than trying to celebrate in some ancient way that's probably totally unfamiliar to them. Halloween means the same thing for me, too - along with millions of other people. I think a lot of people these days have no idea of the history of Halloween, mostly because they haven't had a chance to learn about it, or they simply don't care about it. But I'm curious why you would choose to avoid learning about it deliberately. Not saying you should have to learn about it, I'm just wondering why that's such a conscious choice on your part. I'm no expert on this, but I assume that modern Halloween comes from Samhain, the Pagan holiday. I've gone to a number of Samhain rituals, and I think they're lovely, but to me that's a totally different celebration from what I think of as "Halloween". They might as well have no connection at all, not just because they're done differently, but also because I experienced each one in completely separate contexts and periods of my life. On a tangential note, I think it's interesting that Samhain, All Souls Day, and the Mexican Day of the Dead holidays are all very close together in the calendar, and they all deal with themes of contacting the dead, the "other side", the spirit world - where the "veil between worlds" becomes very thin. There must be some connection between the three holidays - either a historical connection, or maybe there's just something about that time of year that reminds one of death - it's almost winter, leaves are mostly fallen and are decaying, etc. (I wonder if there are any southern-hemisphere cultures that celebrate similar things around late March/early April?) And it still irritates me that the schools have put a taboo on the "H-Word" and now they have to say "Fall Festival." Wackos. Or idiots? Maybe both. Of course, this is the same school who decided the Rainbow Brite doll, Smurfs and unicorns were evil. (????) LOL, that's to be expected, I guess. It doesn't sound like the collective IQ points are very high among some people. Joyce -- The heck with top and bottom -- I want relationships with strangeness and charm. |
#42
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To Brits' Notice (non-Argumentative)
On Aug 27, 3:41*pm, Judith Latham wrote:
In article , * *hopitus wrote: I refuse to participate in contentious discussion re what goes on near the end of the year. I respect everyone's choice of words for all of it and will merely state that I use massive amounts of colored lighting at the residence, which is a PITA because it must all be way above the reach of the misguided felines who have the urge to attack and bite the decorative and tempting arrays (electric shock not the least danger to the short, furry people). Hoping to defuse the hostile commentary in this thread....I would like the say something I have been wanting to here for some time, non-related to any festivities whatsoever. I have used for many years the finest bath soaps IMHO on earth...hardmilled body bars, with various floral fragrances in varying strengths, all imported from UK. None of the soaps in my country, USA, come close to the superiority of these English soaps. The prevailing ads dominating our consumption of cleansing products for bath and shower are for liquid gels and bottled liquid cleansers all promising to do miraculous thngs to our skin, hair, pores, etc.(yeah, right) which you do not see on the boxes English soaps are contained in. Only the ingredients in the soap are listed, and they are not the strange, exotic plant life additives which I personally am bigtime allergic to....various leaves, roots, extracts, herbs which cause me various levels of itching and rashes post-bathing. IMHO the USA soap manufacturers don't know when to *quit* with the additives! Thank God I can buy these simple, lovely, long-lasting soap bars from your country at outlet stores both in FL and MileHigh near where I live and at a quite reasonable price. Thank you, Brits. Let us all attempt to regain some semblance of civility here. Or not. LOL. What a glowing tribute to our soaps. I hadn't realised how I take these for granted. Judith -- Judith Latham Stourbridge, West Midlands. UK.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Oh man. Don't ever take them for granted. I have been known to stop in at Marshalls just so I can stock up on Italian or British hand- milled soaps at a good price. I'm surprised to read others are so particular too! There really is a difference. My fave is lavendar or honey-almond. Sherry |
#43
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To Brits' Notice (non-Argumentative)
Jofirey wrote:
Judith wrote: What a glowing tribute to our soaps. I hadn't realised how I take these for granted. I've had some glorious english soaps as well. I also have my own private stash of hard milled soap. But mine is from Clinique, not imported. I love the Pre de Provence soaps, widely available in the US, I think. They're french and absolutely delightful. Plus, they're relatively inexpensive! Lavender is my favorite, followed by sage and verbena. I am a sucker for fancy soaps... -- Victor M. Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam he Email me he |
#44
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
Christina Websell wrote:
I'll tell you who I am. I am a white British person whose culture is disappearing in my home town and it concerns me. How does that give you the right to tell the rest of us what to do? -- Victor M. Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam he Email me he |
#45
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
Christina Websell wrote:
"Adrian" wrote in message om... Christina Websell wrote: "Victor Martinez" wrote in message ... Christina Websell wrote: So why send cards out at that time ? Ignore it then. There you go again, telling people what to do. Who do you think you are? I'll tell you who I am. I am a white British person whose culture is disappearing in my home town and it concerns me. Tweed You're begining to sound like a racist bigot. -- Explain how I am an racist bigot for saying my culture is disappearing. It is and I make no apology for saying so. I didn't say you were one, only that you were begining to sound like one. What's so wonderful about _your_ culture anyway? -- Adrian (Owned by Snoopy, Bagheera & Shadow) Cats leave pawprints on your heart http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk |
#46
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
I'm no expert on this, but I assume that modern Halloween comes
from Samhain, the Pagan holiday. Not directly. The American Halloween is very closely based on the Scottish one, as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, except you guys discovered that pumpkins were a helluva lot easier to carve than turnips (= rutabagas in American). Any explicit pagan content had long been lost before the British colonized North America. ==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts ****** I killfile Google posts - email me if you want to be whitelisted ****** |
#47
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message ... I'm no expert on this, but I assume that modern Halloween comes from Samhain, the Pagan holiday. Not directly. The American Halloween is very closely based on the Scottish one, as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, except you guys discovered that pumpkins were a helluva lot easier to carve than turnips (= rutabagas in American). Any explicit pagan content had long been lost before the British colonized North America. We have turnips (usually white with purple trim) parsnips (like pale, sweet carrots) and rutabagas (bigger than turnips and yellow). Though I'm guessing very few Americans knowingly eat any of them. We don't examine our canned vegetable soup too closely. Those whose family roots are to the north, got heartily sick and tired of them back when families ate what they canned and what was in the root cellar all winter. I can't imagine carving a lantern out of any of them, but then people used to be handier at carving with a pocket knife. Jo |
#48
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
American Halloween is very closely based on the Scottish one, as
it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, except you guys discovered that pumpkins were a helluva lot easier to carve than turnips (= rutabagas in American). We have turnips (usually white with purple trim) parsnips (like pale, sweet carrots) and rutabagas (bigger than turnips and yellow). "Turnip" in Scots is the same thing as "rutabaga" in American or "swede" in English. What you and the English call a "turnip", we call a "white turnip". I can't imagine carving a lantern out of any of them, but then people used to be handier at carving with a pocket knife. Me either. Without using power tools, a lot of folks must have lost fingers from knifeslips at that time of year. ==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ==== Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557 CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts ****** I killfile Google posts - email me if you want to be whitelisted ****** |
#49
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:23:42 +0100, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote: I'm no expert on this, but I assume that modern Halloween comes from Samhain, the Pagan holiday. Not directly. The American Halloween is very closely based on the Scottish one, as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, except you guys discovered that pumpkins were a helluva lot easier to carve than turnips (= rutabagas in American). Any explicit pagan content had long been lost before the British colonized North America. Turnips here are turnips there. Rutabagas here are swedes there. They look about the same. Bud |
#50
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Holiday Cards (Felinitations)
"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message ... American Halloween is very closely based on the Scottish one, as it was in the 18th and 19th centuries, except you guys discovered that pumpkins were a helluva lot easier to carve than turnips (= rutabagas in American). We have turnips (usually white with purple trim) parsnips (like pale, sweet carrots) and rutabagas (bigger than turnips and yellow). "Turnip" in Scots is the same thing as "rutabaga" in American or "swede" in English. What you and the English call a "turnip", we call a "white turnip". I can't imagine carving a lantern out of any of them, but then people used to be handier at carving with a pocket knife. Me either. Without using power tools, a lot of folks must have lost fingers from knifeslips at that time of year. You forget that our grandpa's would sit and whittle toys and kitchen tools and artistic stuff from the time they were seven or eight years old. And there was a grindstone out back where they kept those clumsy looking knives razor sharp. They had the time to be patient. Not like there was anything on TV. Jo |
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