Trick Or Treat

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

What do Sikhs think of Halloween? I know some Muslims consider it haram because it goes back to pagan times, etc.. Do Sikhs let their kids dress up on Halloween? Or is it frowned on?

How do you all personally feel about Halloween?

Blessings,
Nam Jiwan

 

[Annie]

I LOVE Halloween. For one day a year I get to be anything I want and nobody even thinks its weird. Plus, theres candy! Who cares if it has pagan origins? Its done in fun. Besides, there is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.

 

[Brother Onam]

Gur Fateh.
As a rule of thumb, it is always best to avoid the traditions of non-believers, especially in America where almost all practices are vain. This is a suffering world and the people are crying out, yet every year Americans spend about $8.000.000.000 on Holloween foolishness; how much more when you consider the money-orgy called Christmas? Stay far away from it, my sister.

 

[Luckysingh]

Yes it is a huge money making operation before christmas, but it's all in the name of some harmless fun.

Most sikhs here in the west are quite relaxed and participate for the sake of thier kids usually.
I find all communities being equally involved from dressing up, trick or treating, giving or treating with candy to having parties with plenty of fun fuelled games.

It doesn't seem to belong to any specific communities and neither does anyone associate it to any in that sense.

 

[Harry Haller]

Gur Fateh.
As a rule of thumb, it is always best to avoid the traditions of non-believers, especially in America where almost all practices are vain. This is a suffering world and the people are crying out, yet every year Americans spend about $8.000.000.000 on Holloween foolishness; how much more when you consider the money-orgy called Christmas? Stay far away from it, my sister.

Diwali on the other hand is fine

 

[Brother Onam]

When a people is exposed to American "culture", whether through American cultural export -music, fashion, media, fast food etc,- or through moving to America, the result is usually the same: the people get fat, they get sick, they begin to renounce or cast off their own culture, and the youth get big, rude, insolent and, frankly, stupid. And it usually comes in through harmless fun.
Ronald McDonald, the laughing clown in the yellow pants also appears as harmless fun, but this hides a world of filth and suffering behind the walls of that industry.
Nor am I opposed to Halloween because of the traditional complaints, that it dabbles in the occult, but rather that it dabbles in mainstream American adherence, which tends to be far more insidious and dangerous.
I am not a fanatic for Sikh culture or the supremacy of Punjabi lifestyle, but I am a child of Har, and have seen many things around this lifetime. Asians, and some Africans, who migrate to America tend to, within 15 - 20 short years, exhibit diseases almost unknown in their homelands -diabetes, osteoporosis, hypertension, many new cancers- the diseases that are so prevalent here in a land of indulgence, sloth and gluttony. With these, of course also comes the baseball caps, cellphone obsession, hip-hop and rude talk...
For a spiritual people, it is always best to avoid vain practices of non-believers, but most especially in such a nescient and God-forsaken wasteland as the U.S. It always looks like innocent fun on the front end, and everybody likes to belong, but the price you end up paying is holiness. And disappearance into a graceless and inconsequential population, forever at odds with the Lord of Life, Har Har Rae.

 

[Ishna]

Wow... just wow. Is wholesale slandering of the residents of an entire country really becoming of a Sikh? You do know there are Americans who visit this forum, right? Without America you wouldn't even have the internet to tell the world how bad the "Americans" actually are.

Halloween isn't even an American festival, it's a European one.

 

[Brother Onam]

The duty of a Sikh is to speak, and live, Truth. This is becoming of a Sikh, child of Sat Naam, Sacred Truth. In this world, unfortunately, that, more often than not, means voicing the opposition and stepping on some toes.
America has some admirable qualities, but to draw attention to her negatives, especially when they leave such a grievous wake, is simply standing for Truth. The hour is too late for {censored}-footing.
By the way, if you think of Halloween as 'European', I think you'll find nothing comparable there. What European pagans were engaged in 2000 years ago frolicking in the forests in observation of the rite of Samhain, is vastly different from the silly ritual this people pursues in America today.
I don't mean to offend anybody, but my first devotion is to Sat Naam. As M.L. King would tell you, this often sets you at odds with the prevailing powers.

 

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

Ishna ji

This reminds me to ask my relatives from Northern Europe a question. My mom used to have little "kitchen witches" in the kitchen. And for some reason they decorated at Easter with the little witches. I have been wondering lately why they do that.

Nam Jiwan cheerleader

PS- I looked it up on Google. Got some interesting and informative results.

And no, my mom wasn't a witch nor did she practice magic.

For anyone interested in learning about Swedish relations with little kitchen witches:

Lore behind Easter Witches: http://www.antiquetrader.com/antiques/glad-pasque-the-lore-behind-easter-witch-collectibles

Easter in Sweden: http://thougtforce.hubpages.com/hub/Easter-in-Sweden-traditions-and-celebration

Kitchen Witch Custom: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SWEDEN/2001-03/0984926140

 

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

Onam ji

the rite of Samhain, is vastly different from the silly ritual this people pursues in America today.

Does this mean you respect the original pagan Samhain practices? And your main concern is the money wasted on Halloween? I know i'm unique about it, but I believe all people worship their own understanding of Truth. Even atheists and polytheists. I do not judge any person's faith....or at least, I'm working on that...because, in reality, I judge everyone else constantly. That wastes so much precious time that should be spent in simran.

When I'm getting critical and pushing my beliefs on others, I lose my connection with the One and All.

BTW, I do agree that Americans are very wasteful. Do you know that moms and dads of babies can now by their children glow in the dark pampers? We are a very wasteful culture. I can't imagine what archeologists will think of us in a thousand years.

Nam Jiwan

 

[Harry Haller]

How are we going to encourage people to see Sikhs as saint soldiers, rather than drunken egoistical idiots, if we are equally as prepared to do the same to an entire continent?

Have you ever been to America Onanji ji ji ? or are you just devouring what you see in the media?

 

[Annie]

Have you ever been to America OnanJi ji ? or are you just devouring what you see in the media?

It says he lives in Washington DC, the Capitol of the USA... where all the politicians live. No wonder he has such a bad opinion of Americans. Haha!

I like to get dressed up in a mostly homemade costume, go to a busy area of the city with my sons (ages 12 and 24) and look at peoples costumes. Its innocent fun.

 

[namjiwankaur]

Sat Nam _/|\_

My witch hat cost .99 cents. The fun it will be to wear it out and about on Halloween. Priceless.

Here's to harmless fun!
Monster Mash - YouTube

Nam Jiwan

 

[namjiwankaur]

Monster Mash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeZftK2kO6U

Twitch or Treat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K_Z-IWpH14

 

[namjiwankaur]

The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

 

[somethingwithsloths]

BTW, I do agree that Americans are very wasteful. Do you know that moms and dads of babies can now by their children glow in the dark pampers? We are a very wasteful culture. I can't imagine what archeologists will think of us in a thousand years.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has seen those ridiculous commercials...
I don't celebrate Halloween for it's pagan background. I was raised by a catholic mother, and even she celebrated it. I thought this was rather odd, until one day I thought, it shouldn't be about the past of the holiday, it should be about how you personally celebrate it. So, personally, I put on a little bit of face paint, and hand out candy. I find no harm in passing out candy to the children in my neighborhood, and seeing a smile on their faces.
I hope this isn't offending anyone, just my two cents worth. :gingerteakaur:

 

[spnadmin]

somethingforsloths ji

I love your id -- I love sloths and will watch YouTube videos about them. They have a sweet and merry expression. And they don't seem as wilful as chimps sometimes do.

To the thread topic

The Halloween celebration puts Sikhs in a particular sort of conflict between faith and western culture. There are very clear prohibitions against anything resembling participating in superstition or superstitious practices. Over the centuries of course the pagan traditions behind Halloween are all but forgotten and it is nothing more than a time to pig out on seasonal sweets and traipse about in outrageous costumes. Years ago I bought a green velvet Tyrannasaurus Rex costume with a stuffed head on sale at K-mart just to have it it was so irresistible, and I keep in on display in one of the bedrooms.

The conflict is a serious one because children see their schoolmates gearing up for the holiday and schools will often have Halloween parades. So what is a Sikh parent to do? Do you say NO and risk your child feeling left out? Do you make a hue and a cry on the grounds of religious sentiments? Do you just let kids have some fun? This has to be an individual decision, family by family. I think it helps to stand back and be objective. In India, Holi is celebrated by Sikhs, complete with candy orgies and painted faces and ice-water balloon bombs. Next day it is followed up with Hola Maholla. Not all Sikhs celebrate, but enough do to make it a minor controversy. The same kind of do-we/don't we muddle applies to Halloween. There is no way to make Halloween Sikh-enough for children to feel they have been faithful to the religion and still mix with the culture. For example, there is no way one can wear a Guru Nanak or Baba Bhanda Singh costume.. that is simply off the menu because it is disrespectful in the extreme.

Some resolve this problem by creating a Sikh equivalent - parties that focus on the fun and games. Perhaps jack-o-lanterns with Sikh emblem cut-outs and candles to remember the jyote of the Gurus are possible. Songs and games that have no religious overtones at house parties is another option. Going about the neighborhood begging for treats should be out of the question for just about anyone these days because of the dangers kids face today. For families who do not see their fundamental grounding in Sikhi put to the test by Halloween, then there is no conflict; but these families should understand they just may face stiff disapproval by others. So it is not easy for parents or kids when cultures and traditions are in conflict. This is a constant in our lives.

 

[Harry Haller]

Going about the neighborhood begging for treats should be out of the question for just about anyone these days because of the dangers kids face today

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...caine-Donald-Junior-Green-instead-Haribo.html


A drug user who mistakenly handed bags of cocaine instead of sweets to a police officer's children out trick-or-treating was spared jail today.

Apprentice panel beater Donald Junior Green fished in his pockets for a bag of Haribo sweets to give to the youngsters but instead pulled out a plastic pack containing eight snap bags of cocaine he had bought for £200 earlier that day, Oldham Magistrates' Court heard.
He dropped the drugs into the goody bags carried by the three children, aged eight, six and five, who were out playing trick or treat, escorted by their father, an off-duty policeman.
The 23-year-old defendant then closed the door, went back inside the house and put his hand in his pockets to get out his drugs - but instead pulled out the Haribo sweets.
Green immediately realised what had happened and went on foot, then by car, scouring the streets of Oldham to find the youngsters.
But the officer, PC Simon Fowell, had taken his children home and, as they emptied their goody bags to share the spoils, he spotted the drugs - and made a swift call to his on-duty colleagues.
Green, who had never been in trouble with police before, has a job and attends college, wiped his eyes with his hands as he stood in the dock and admitted a single charge of possessing a Class A drug on October 31.
Green, of Sycamore Avenue, Oldham, was given a 12 month community order, ordered to do 130 hours community work and told he must pay court costs totalling £145 by chair of the bench Joyce Cooper.

 

[spnadmin]

Ugh !!!!!!!

 

[somethingwithsloths]

Some resolve this problem by creating a Sikh equivalent - parties that focus on the fun and games. Perhaps jack-o-lanterns with Sikh emblem cut-outs and candles to remember the jyote of the Gurus are possible. Songs and games that have no religious overtones at house parties is another option.

I never even thought about carving jack-o-lanterns like that! You've just given me a wonderful idea for my pumpkin carving this year. Thank you. Thank you.