THIS MOST HALLOWED EVE!

[Templar]

SINCE WE HAVE PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD--OR AT LEAST SOME WHO HAVE TRAVELED TO DIFFERENT PLACES---I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW HALLOWEEN IS CELEBRATED IN YOUR AREA---I HEARD THAT COINS WERE GIVEN IN SOME PLACES--IF SO WHAT KIND?--I KNOW IT IS VERY COMMERCIAL NOW--BUT WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU WERE A LITTLE "GOBLIN"?

         YOUR CURIOUS SERVANT--THE TEMPLAR

[scottishmoney]

Not done at all in Ukraine.  Stuff like Valentines Day, Christmas etc. caught on recently, not on the same scale as in the USA.  Halloween is just too different.  Not that the candy manufacturers like Konti and Millennium wouldn't mind if it caught on though.  Looking like I am going to be slouching in Ukraine for Thanksgiving, probably Christmas and hopefully not New Years soon.

[TwoShadows]

Ah yes! My favorite holiday! Sorry Templar I will say no more! I will say ScottishMoney can find me a family in Ukraine who would like a pen pal, so to speak, from the USA and perhaps I could send the little ones some candy from time to time? I look for Ukraine folks on Kiva who are involved in that program when I can help out. I had a couple of sisters who spent time in the Soviet Union a few years back so I got first hand knowledge of some of the differences between our cultures. Wish I was in a situation where I could really make a difference but I need for that darn book to catch on! Anyone know any celebrities who could help a guy out?

[Sap]

It barely gets a mention here in Australia - except for the TV shows, newspaper comics, etc of American origin.

Some of the candy manufacturers and the supermarkets try their best, but we just don't get the point. And if there's one thing Australians don't like doing, it's blindly copying whatever it is the Americans like doing.

In most of the big supermarkets and shopping centres, "Christmas mode" has started already. That's one of the penalties we have to pay for not recognizing Halloween or Thanksgiving.

[Paint Your Wagon]

They have been trying to launch Holloween for three years now ; but mainly decoration

Ceramic orange pumpkins to put a "theelight" inside and witches and even large dracula puppets
My wife succumbed this year and bought a witch and two pumpkins

They sell "wear once costumes" for children but I never saw one wearing the costume

Our candy give away day is " St Marten" the children are supposed to come  and sing
St Marten with his top hat.... They used to get candy but lately they want money and since we only
get alloctones to come the last few years we just batten down the hatches and pull the bellfuse out
Last time we gave anything like half a euro the other six demanded half a euro too and then told everybody
else and we had an endless stream only wanting half a euro a person
St Marten is 11 november ( allways a national holiday )

[Triggersmob]

Although we have kids coming around to house in our area, I don't believe in Halloween, so I ignore their ringing of the door bell.

[Humpybong]

I cannot ignore it....it was the day I was married.

40th Anniversary on 31st October, 2009

[scottishmoney]

Ah yes! My favorite holiday! Sorry Templar I will say no more! I will say ScottishMoney can find me a family in Ukraine who would like a pen pal, so to speak, from the USA and perhaps I could send the little ones some candy from time to time? I look for Ukraine folks on Kiva who are involved in that program when I can help out. I had a couple of sisters who spent time in the Soviet Union a few years back so I got first hand knowledge of some of the differences between our cultures. Wish I was in a situation where I could really make a difference but I need for that darn book to catch on! Anyone know any celebrities who could help a guy out?

Actually we are calling family over there in a few minutes.  Actually if you would like to have candy over there, I can work something out where you send me the funds and I will buy it there and deliver it - it is easier than hauling it halfway around the world - plus you can buy American style candy, even the familiar brands practically everywhere. 

Earlier this year when I was visiting with an orphanage there, we were in the visiting room where a local candy company had donated literally 50 cases of candy.  Orphanages there don't get a lot of funding from the government - the government cannot care about it's citizens, rather it is up to generous corporations to sponsor the orphanages, but corporations there have fallen on hard times on a level that pales even what is going on in the USA right now.  Hardest hit is the steel industry, a backbone in the economy in E. Ukraine.  With global steel prices down, most factories have had huge layoffs or have shuttered completely. 

The statistics for children are miserable in Ukraine.  If you have a facebook account, I can add you and show you thousands of pictures of what is going on there.

[TwoShadows]

I don't have a facebook account. Actually I don't understand most of the accounts that are available on line these days. I was asked to start a Twitter account as a follower of my publisher and don't have a clue what or who it is benefiting.
Another question I would have is how safe is the mail in Ukraine. Does it get through customs and postal officials or does it simply disappear into thin air. I guess I am exploring possibilities here and you would be the man with some answers.

[scottishmoney]

Taking to PM

[Templar]

HALLOWEEN IS NOT AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY--IT WAS BROUGHT OVER BY THE IRISH AND ADOPTED BY THE US---IRISH WOULD CARVE TURNIPS SO YOU CAN SEE HOW THRILLED THEY WERE TO DISCOVER PUMPKINS(GROWN ONLY IN AMERICA AT THAT TIME--1700'S)
  HALLOWEEN WAS AN OLD CELTIC FESTIVAL AFTER THE HARVEST AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THOUGHT THEY WERE HAVING TOO MUCH FUN SO THEY MADE NOV.1ST A HOLY DAY AND EVERYONE HAD TO GO TO CHURCH SO THEY COULDN'T PARTY AS MUCH--IT'S NAME COMES FROM THE COMBINATION OF HALLOWED EVE--MEANING HOLY EVENING--THERE IS TOO MUCH TO PUT IN THIS PARAGRAPH  BUT IF YOU LOOK UP THE HOLIDAY'S ORIGIN--I THINK YOU WILL  FIND IT QUITE INERESTING
            YOUR SERVANT--THE TEMPLAR

[scottishmoney]

Actually in Mexico and some parts of the American southwest, Dia de la muerte is celebrated much more than Halloween, and falls the day after Halloween.  It is a night where people, usually of Mexican descent go to the graves of their departed with candles, and pray etc.  I have seen these in some of the areas where I have lived, and in fact, some of my relatives of Latin American heritage also celebrate this much more than Halloween.

[TwoShadows]

If you look real hard you will see that most major holidays were created by religion, on or near the same dates that were already being celebrated by cultures throughout the world. In today's corporate world we would call what religion did a "hostile takeover". It was important to retain the dates as folks were not about to cease celebrating as they had throughout their lives. They just have to force new meanings into those dates! Almost every holiday is celebrated on or very near pagan holidays which were crushed by whomever or whatever was in power at any particular time. Those wicked ways of those in power!
Just remember if I am ever elected to national office I will stick to my hippy roots and run with the pledge of "Pot in every Chicken!"

[scottishmoney]

Even such holidays as Easter and Christmas damped out earlier pre-Christian holidays.  Actually it was a rare instance of Christianity actually absorbing and overtaking a previous practice.  Usually Christianity was rather intolerant compared to other religions such as Hinduism, older Islamic, and the Chinese faiths.

[Templar]

IF YOU WANT TO CRAP UP A GOOD CELEBRATION JUST MAKE IT A HOLYDAY AND THE WILD PARTY COMES TO AN ABRUPT END
    THANK GOODNESS FOR MARDI GRAS---SO FAR--SO GOOD

          YOUR SERVANT--THE TEMPLAR

[Templar]

   HAPPY OCTOBER FEST FOR THOSE WHO CELEBRATE IT!
                    ENJOY THE GERMAN FOOD --MUSIC--BEER--AND WINE!

                YOURS IN SPIRITS--THE TEMPLAR