That time of year again

[Dark Waters]

So I pass by a number of churches on the way into work, and they all have their "Harvest Festival" and "Pumpkin Party" signs and posters out which amuses me to no end.

They have stopped "celebrating" Halloween because of all the negative connotations, yet they are the ones that came up with the name/holiday in the first place.

Originally the Samhain Last Harvest Festival, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

So it has come full circle from harvest festival to harvest festival, and the sad/funny part is that they don't even see the irony in it.

[Kystar]

I have had a few good snickers at a couple of churches near me who have done that. I remember the confusion I got when I first saw those signs and went "Hm, full circle, then."

LOL.

[Kitsune]

At least they're trying... They may not be succeeding, but they are trying.

Perhaps what they need is a proper history lesson?

[Kystar]

The problem is most of them won't LISTEN to said proper history lesson.

I don't know HOW many times I had to explain to a coworker about Yule and Xmas Decorations being one in the same...every so often, she'd be looking at a catalog and see some cool Xmas thing...and would be about to show me, then stop and say "But you don't use these decorations, b/c you don't celebrate Xmas!" And I'd run through the history of the Yule log, the candles and all of it ONCE AGAIN...and a few months l8r...same conversation.