Does anyone find it odd how the festival of death is celebrated widely and blindly, while the opposing festival of life is generally not known?
I'm not sure I agree with the presupposition of this thread!
"The festival of death", if it's Halloween you're referring to, is not exactly celebrated widely and blindly - in Sweden it's only been acknowledged at all for a decade or so, and it basically means people wear scary costumes if they happen to go out partying that particular weekend, which is far from universally practised. Our more traditional All Saint's Day means we sometimes light a candle if we can be bothered to visit a cemetary.
Conversely, one of the biggest holidays in Sweden is Midsummer's Day, which actually has strong roots in fertility rites. And Christmas is all about nativity :)
Interesting. I wonder what it would be like in other parts of Europe. Seems like the traditions would have many of the same roots as in Sweden.
I suppose the biggest halloween push comes from America.
Quote from: Jack on Sun 28/10/2018 18:15:20
Does anyone find it odd how the festival of death is celebrated widely and blindly
Anything that makes people buy stuff gets forced, especially with the angle of whining kids making their parents spend money.
In my area we already have a date when kids go around in disguises and beg for candy, the sixth of December. But why stop there if you can have it twice? Business, business, business.
Quote from: ClickClickClick on Sun 28/10/2018 19:14:30
Anything that makes people buy stuff gets forced, especially with the angle of whining kids making their parents spend money.
Anything except a festival of life, that is. Odd, isn't it?
People know it as may day, all saints day, worker's day, or labour day, but generally no one seems to know its connection to halloween or even the festival itself. In the US there has lately been the idea that it is trendy to work on labour day.
Yet for halloween, even with a profit stapled on, it completely maintains the character of celebrating death.
There is no merchandise connected to the first of May. Well, at least in some parts of Germany a lot of money has to be spent afterwards, to replace destroyed cars and the like.
The spring festival of Easter is commonly celebrated and decorated with lots of life symbols: spring flowers, eggs, rabbits, chickens, lambs, etc.
Christmas and easter are interesting by themselves, as they are related to the coming and going of Jesus. These dates fall conspicuously close to the solstice and equinox, which suggests the myth of Jesus may have originated, like so many deities, in sun worship.
Early missionaries just picked up the heathens where they were and mixed christianity and their old festivities.
To be frank, Germany just took it as an excuse to get candy, drink weird stuff, and get a stab at cosplay.
Not complaining :D
What Ghost said applies also for Austria. In addition we appreciate the pumpkin motive, because it is in season during that time of the year and we grow and eat lots of it.
And pumpkin is delicious!
Ah. Candy and pumpkins. Interesting.
But what's the appeal of cosplay? Can anyone tell me in their own words what's fun about it?
There is also a slavic variant of the event (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolyadka) which includes singing to the house owners, getting presents and "cosplaying" weird creatures. :)
But it takes place at the Christmas eve.
Spoiler
[imgzoom]https://www.pravmir.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1_ryagenye.jpg[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]https://veles.site/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/slavyanskij-prazdnik-kolyada-6.jpg[/imgzoom]
[imgzoom]http://cs624217.vk.me/v624217422/15341/hp6-KBDK4Tk.jpg[/imgzoom]
(not directly related to All Saints day / day of the dead)
In France we used to dress up for mardi gras* when I was a kid (let's say up until 20 years ago). it was like a mini carnival. But nowadays you look like an idiot if you dress up for mardi gras. People now dress up only for halloween, which is clearly a commercial thing imported from the U.S.** about 15 years ago.
* historically, mardi gras (literally: fat Tuesday) was the religious celebration where you are allowed to eat rich food after the end of the Christian fast.
** I'm not talking about the irish halloween, only about the way it's celebrated in my country.