[WTF] Halloween cancelled because offensive to real witches?

noun · Post by **noun** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:40 am

My state frightens me. From Puyallup, home of Evil Dead and many, many, many Wal-Mart shoppers:

The superintendent has cancelled all Halloween activities.

A letter sent home to parents Wednesday states there will be no observance of Halloween in the entire school district.

"We really want to make sure we're using all of our time in the best interest of our students," explained Puyallup School District spokesperson Karen Hansen.

Hansen says the superintendent made the decision for three primary reasons. First, Halloween parties and parades waste valuable classroom time. In addition some families can't afford costumes.

It's the third reason some Puyallup parents are struggling with.

The district says Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.

Words fail me.

MHS · Post by **MHS** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:45 am

We had a client here who was fired from her job after refusing to work on October 30th and 31st, which are "high holy days" (I think that's the right term) for Wiccans. She said if people get Christmas off, then she should get her days... can't say I entirely disagree with her, which is probably why Boulder County no longer gives us Christmas off... instead, we get a "management approved religious holiday of your choice."

I'm signing all my Christmas cards that way this year.

So, dbt... are you and your wife offended by Halloween?

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:46 am

No doubt. How does Blackhawk feel on this one, too? Spike -- I've seen you around a bit lately...

~Neal

Scraper · Post by **Scraper** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:53 am

I can't wait until we get to a point in this country were we no longer celebrate any holiday, are not allowed to discuss religion, sex, puppets, and history, we cancel all parades and are mandated to not look directly at anyone you don't know and god forbid we talk candidely to someone.

While I'm at it I think we should strip everything that could provide some sort of fun outlet for our children, like Halloween, Thanksgiving (Indians may get upset), Columbus Day (oops too late for that one), Keeping score in sports, and Festivous.

There are several hundred other things which we must eliminate in order to not offend anyone in our society. So we better get started elminating them as fast as possible.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:55 am

There's no such thing as free speech. Or freedom of religion.

Sunderer · Post by **Sunderer** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:56 am

Outlaw masterbation. It offends the kittens before it kills them.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:00 pm

The Meal wrote:No doubt. How does Blackhawk feel on this one, too? Spike -- I've seen you around a bit lately...

~Neal

Boo! Most real witches I know have quite a sense of humor, and see the Halloween costumes with the same humor that non-witches do. Lots of us real witches get a chuckle from serving halloween 'witch' shaped cookies around this time of year. There are bumper stickers that say, "Life's a witch, and then you fly", or "My other car is a broom". The pointed nose witch may be a fantasy, but lots of 'real witches' look at them almost as an ironic mascot.

Of course, when it comes to as diverse a group as Wiccans, there is no single person who can say what is or is not to be considered offensive. Some likely are offended, but to proscribe that to the entire religion is more than a bit silly.

Let me make a comparison. Some kids dress up as angels. Would it make sense to ban costumes at school because 'Christians are offended by children pretending to be angels'? Of course not - doubtlessly there are a few Christians that feel that way, but not the majority.

This is the act of someone trying to be politically correct, or as a response to some 'extremist' individual. Most 'real witches' would find it every bit as silly as everybody else does.

SuperHiro · Post by **SuperHiro** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:10 pm

As a fellow Washington resident, and a resident of "Liberal as all hell" Seattle, I'm calling bullshit.

Puyallup isn't canceling Halloween because it's offensive to witches. I bet a million bucks it's really being canceled because it's offensive to christians. They just said "offensive to witches" so they won't get made fun of.

Well it didn't work.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:14 pm

MHS wrote:We had a client here who was fired from her job after refusing to work on October 30th and 31st, which are "high holy days" (I think that's the right term) for Wiccans. She said if people get Christmas off, then she should get her days... can't say I entirely disagree with her, which is probably why Boulder County no longer gives us Christmas off... instead, we get a "management approved religious holiday of your choice."

I have a book in my collection that includes a daily calendar. It lists the holidays around the world for each day. Every single day of the year is a holy day for somebody. Perhaps we should all just take every day off.

As to wiccans - most paths recognize eight days (solstices, equinoxes, and the days just about in between) and thirteen nights (the full moons) as being 'holy days'. That could be used as an excuse for twenty-one days off per year. 99.9% of us celebrate these days after work, before work, on our day off, on the day off nearest the actual calendar day, or however things work out. We'd certainly like to have our holidays off, but most of us don't feel that we are any more entitled to have that than the Asatruar, Voudons, Roman Pagans, Santerians, or any of a thousand other faiths. To try to actively support each and every one of them would just be silly. Most of us are content with the way things are. The majority of people are getting their holidays off, and that's fair. I do admit, though, that I like the idea of several free 'religious days' a year. It would be so nice to not have to do a quicky celebration after a hard day at work!

On the other hand, don't get me started on the time I couldn't buy a bottle of wine for a holiday here in Indiana because it happened to fall on a Sunday!

Between these two posts, I hope I've made something clear - the majority of Wiccans are content to live their lives without calling 'political correctness' and 'special treatment' every time they turn around. There are, of course, like in any religion, a few people who feel the need to prove something, to rub their beliefs in everybody's face, and who feel that doing so entitles them to something.

Just like in any religion, they are a minority, and they aren't representative of the whole. Using them as an example of what 'real witches' are like is like judging all Christians by the Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on your door during dinner, or who burn piles of Harry Potter novels.

/edit - tens of thousands of words written on the subject, and I still can't spell any variation of the word 'religion'.

Koz · Post by **Koz** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:15 pm

Blackhawk wrote:
The Meal wrote:No doubt. How does Blackhawk feel on this one, too? Spike -- I've seen you around a bit lately...

~Neal
Boo! Most real witches I know have quite a sense of humor, and see the Halloween costumes with the same humor that non-witches do. Lots of us real witches get a chuckle from serving halloween 'witch' shaped cookies around this time of year. There are bumper stickers that say, "Life's a witch, and then you fly", or "My other car is a broom". The pointed nose witch may be a fantasy, but lots of 'real witches' look at them almost as an ironic mascot.

Of course, when it comes to as diverse a group as Wiccans, there is no single person who can say what is or is not to be considered offensive. Some likely are offended, but to proscribe that to the entire religion is more than a bit silly.

Let me make a comparison. Some kids dress up as angels. Would it make sense to ban costumes at school because 'Christians are offended by children pretending to be angels'? Of course not - doubtlessly there are a few Christians that feel that way, but not the majority.

This is the act of someone trying to be politically correct, or as a response to some 'extremist' individual. Most 'real witches' would find it every bit as silly as everybody else does.

Yeah, I've known a couple Wiccans in my life and they generally think the whole witch thing is funnier than most people do. And they loved Halloween and all the traditional stuff that went along with it.

Eduardo X · Post by **Eduardo X** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:21 pm

MHS wrote:We had a client here who was fired from her job after refusing to work on October 30th and 31st, which are "high holy days" (I think that's the right term) for Wiccans. She said if people get Christmas off, then she should get her days... can't say I entirely disagree with her, which is probably why Boulder County no longer gives us Christmas off... instead, we get a "management approved religious holiday of your choice."

I'm signing all my Christmas cards that way this year.

So, dbt... are you and your wife offended by Halloween?

My old boss, who is on the Human Rights Council in Boulder, refused to let me take Yom Kippur off. I fought with her for a while and she finally let me, but it was quite a struggle. It was then I realized that, because she is black and all of Boulder suffers from White Guilt, she could do no wrong in their eyes, even when embezzling money.
I quit 6 months later, which was too long to stay there, in my opinion. What a shitty, soul-sucking job. I blame the city of Boulder.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:28 pm

Anyone remember the South Park Xmas episode where they all dressed in grey tights and did nonoffensive interpretive dance to Phillip Glass music.

Dirt · Post by **Dirt** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 12:30 pm

Eduardo X wrote:
MHS wrote:We had a client here who was fired from her job after refusing to work on October 30th and 31st, which are "high holy days" (I think that's the right term) for Wiccans. She said if people get Christmas off, then she should get her days... can't say I entirely disagree with her, which is probably why Boulder County no longer gives us Christmas off... instead, we get a "management approved religious holiday of your choice."

I'm signing all my Christmas cards that way this year.

So, dbt... are you and your wife offended by Halloween?
My old boss, who is on the Human Rights Council in Boulder, refused to let me take Yom Kippur off. I fought with her for a while and she finally let me, but it was quite a struggle. It was then I realized that, because she is black and all of Boulder suffers from White Guilt, she could do no wrong in their eyes, even when embezzling money.
I quit 6 months later, which was too long to stay there, in my opinion. What a shitty, soul-sucking job. I blame the city of Boulder.

Does she take MLK's birthday off?

Fishy · Post by **Fishy** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:41 pm

First dodgeball and now this? Pretty soon they are just gonna give all of the kids ritalin so that they don't want to have any fun. God forbid that these kids would have any fun while in school.

Sunderer · Post by **Sunderer** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:50 pm

Speaking of having fun in school, how many of you popped a girl's bra strap in middle school/junior high? I know I did.

Guess what that gets you today. ARRESTED.

Debris · Post by **Debris** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:00 pm

And yet, more proof that we're headed to having a Handicapper General a la Diana Moon Glampers.

Read this if you don't get the reference

wire · Post by **wire** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:02 pm

I've been struggling to figure out what was so wrong with my generations childhood that the Gen-X'ers that are parents are now creating such a frickin' mess.

The kids attending the University I work at are some pretty screwed up individuals. It's really hard understanding some people reasonings behind how they raised their kids to not have any sense of responsibility.

As I age am I falling into the same trap I accused "old" people of falling into when I was a kid?

baka_na_ichigo · Post by **baka_na_ichigo** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:27 pm

Fishy wrote:First dodgeball and now this? Pretty soon they are just gonna give all of the kids ritalin so that they don't want to have any fun. God forbid that these kids would have any fun while in school.

Actually, giving normal kids lots of ritalin would probably make them have MORE fun. There's a reason it's a controlled substance.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:42 pm

I had a guy doom me and my family to hell once because we celebrated Halloween.

This is the same guy that cornered my mom in her office and spoke in "tongue" (sp?) to her because she was feeling a little sick that day.

Asshole.

noun · Post by **noun** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:51 pm

I've been struggling to figure out what was so wrong with my generations childhood that the Gen-X'ers that are parents are now creating such a frickin' mess.

It's not us; all our kids are under 10, for the most part and we think laughing at the world is awesome (except for a subset of super liberals). It's that crazy in-between generation consisting of mid-40 year olds that are coming up with this nonsense.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:58 pm

What day is Festivus?

The Evil Dead · Post by **The Evil Dead** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:06 pm

This angers me. I didn't even know the population of Wiccans here in Puyallup (those overweight 8th grade girls worshipping Manson outside of Hot Topic don't count) was even big enough for this to happen. We were discussing this in my Gov't & Politics class. The ways that our country are going are starting to make me a sad panda

i hate walmart

dangerballs · Post by **dangerballs** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:06 pm

Anyone else notice that most of the time the people who are calling a day or event offensive to a certain religion/race/sex/whatever are never that religion/race/sex/whatever.

snoleopard · Post by **snoleopard** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:08 pm

If I were a parent in that school distict, I'd make a petition and go to every house of every parent to talk to them and try and get them to sign it. Things like this really make me angry, and as far as I'm concerned, it's the school trying to shove their beliefs down my, and my childens, throat. Thats just not right. I'm in that 'older' generation group, but I'd never let something so idiotic happen when my son was going to school if there was something I could do about it. It would be certain that I'd be at that school first thing in the A.M the next day after I got the notice, letting the 'powers that be' understand that they're assholes.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:19 pm

We celebrate Halloween as a special spiritual time but could care less how the rest of the world feels about it.
Well,except for that one person used for the sacrifice...............

What's really weird is the deer will stand out at the edge of the woods and watch us.So do other creatures of the night with their little red beady eyes.(no,not the neighbors)

Discalced · Post by **Discalced** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:30 pm

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:50 pm

LordMortis wrote:Anyone remember the South Park Xmas episode where they all dressed in grey tights and did nonoffensive interpretive dance to Phillip Glass music.

Yes. Wonderful eps. Isn't that the first appearance of Mr. Hankey too?

Ranulf · Post by **Ranulf** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:28 pm

Its a witch! May we burn her?

Lets build a bridge out of her!

PC crap like this is what makes me weep for the future.

Eduardo X · Post by **Eduardo X** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:34 pm

dangerballs wrote:Anyone else notice that most of the time the people who are calling a day or event offensive to a certain religion/race/sex/whatever are never that religion/race/sex/whatever.

I disagree. Maybe this Haloween thing is different, but the people protesting Columbus Day here in Denver are people who are still being driven off their land by the US government, and people still being colonized by the Columbian mentality.
The people who cry foul at Native American mascots are usually Native Americans tired of being marginalized and made into a "mystic, distant, noble race that was so sadly killed off".
The list goes on and on.

me · Post by me » Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:19 am

The people who cry foul at Native American mascots are usually Native Americans tired of being marginalized and made into a "mystic, distant, noble race that was so sadly killed off".
The list goes on and on.

Thing is, most of the people in these groups don't care. It's usually a small minority who is offended, and somehow this small minority ends up making the headlines.

As an example, a recent survey about the name of the Washington Redskins found that a majority of Native Americans didn't bother them.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commenta ... -1503r.htm

*Edit, ok in this example, the majority made the headlines, but damnit, you get my point.

UsulofDoom · Post by **UsulofDoom** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:29 am

What's really weird is the deer will stand out at the edge of the woods and watch us.So do other creatures of the night with their little red beady eyes.(no,not the neighbors)

Do you have a video camera. I would like to see the deer watching you.

Sunderer · Post by **Sunderer** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 11:54 am

She turned me into a newt!

A newt?

I got betta

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 1:44 pm

Do the vocal feminist activists represent the philosophies of all females?

Ranulf · Post by **Ranulf** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 2:11 pm

Blackhawk wrote:Do the vocal feminist activists represent the philosophies of all females?

Of course they do! How could ever think otherwise? What are you, a misogynist?!

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:21 pm

UsulofDoom wrote:
What's really weird is the deer will stand out at the edge of the woods and watch us.So do other creatures of the night with their little red beady eyes.(no,not the neighbors)
Do you have a video camera. I would like to see the deer watching you.

WPD · Post by **WPD** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:04 pm

Scraper wrote: While I'm at it I think we should strip everything that could provide some sort of fun outlet for our children, like ...Thanksgiving (Indians may get upset), Columbus Day (oops too late for that one)...

So we're supposed to ignore the history of our country because we don't want to take away the fun of our kids? I never knew that kids waited until Thanksgiving or Columbus day.

And I remember when I was younger, Columbus day was just a excuse to have "educational fun" which really wasn't any fun at all.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:11 pm

I'm really surprised people are surprised. How many "holidays" are left to dismantle here in the U.S?

No more "Merry X-mas" - now it's "Happy Holidays!" No more Valentine's Day - children's feelings get hurt.

A few years back it was Columbus Day.

After we've decided that Halloween hurts children, I'm sure Thanksgiving will be next.

The pendulum has moved so far out there, it's bound to swing back sooner or later.

Faldarian · Post by **Faldarian** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:24 pm

The few witches I know all love halloween, and look forward to it all year. I guess I fall into the category as well, and I can't imagine ever being upset about it... for most people it's just a fun holiday for kids. As far as I know, the holiday would be the 31st of October and the 1st of November for some groups (Samhain is October 31st).

Dressing up was banned in my daughter's school because of a group of two baptist families that complained to the school board. It was banned in my son's school because some muslim parents complained. I wouldn't be surprised if outlawing fun was on the ballot this year with the referendum vote.

That said, I doubt anyone complained in this particular case... they just pre-emptively banned it to avoid any problems.