All Hallows Eve.

I've just answered this same question on the "Polls" forum. Did you intentionally put the same message on two forums? (Not complaining, just wondering).

 

I plan a Fall Festival every year at the church. It always falls on the Saturday before Halloween. We have carnival games, a bonfire, weenie roast and lots of candy and prizes. We end it with a hayride!

My prayer is for families to be reached through this activity and for this to be an alternative to the trick or treating.

 

My trick or treating involves going to the store, buying a bag of candy, going back home, and eating it.

 

From what we've always been told about the rules on the board we are not to make same posts like this in more then one forum. It's against the rules to post this something here and in another forum.

 

Ditto This is my first year.
Bonfire? Now that's an idea....

 

The bonfire works great if it's a cool evening. You set up the fire and you put hay bales in a circle around it (not too close though). People can just sit around the fire and sing, fellowship or eat. It just makes for a great evening!

 

Mine involves eating the candy other people go to the store to buy

 

Perfect. That will be a wonderful addition to the activities. It's always a cool evening here on Halloween.

 

Come on over...I'll provide the candy! :thumbs:

 

Us too.......

 

You stole my idea!!

 

:laugh:
That's a long way to drive to get candy...

I'll PM you my address

 

We have been members of churches that had 'Halleluiah Parties' on Oct 31st but our current church does not. I always enjoyed them and they were great outreach and safe fun for the kids.

Our local community does a great festival for the kids. We trick or treat among the stores down town and from car trunks at the festival which is at a local park, we don't go house to house any more.

 

We usually just stay at home and study the Bible on the 31st and it's not "all hallows eve", unless you're a Druid.

This 31st I don't know yet. We are having an alternative for the kids, but it seems that is placing too much on a day for recognition and is in violation of what the word of God teaches.

We eat candy regularly and don't need all the extra.:laugh:

 

"All Hallows Day" is not a Druid name - it is just an alternative title for "All Saints Day", which liturgical denominations keep on 1st November. The Druids called it "Samhain". The following paragraph is an excerpt from the site: http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm

Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means “summer's end.” In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as Oíche Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.

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So perhaps your message should say, "it's not "all hallows eve", unless you're a member of the Roman Catholic, Church of England or other liturgical organisation."

 

Actually, a bonfire is no different than celebrating Halloween. The tradition comes from another pagan tradition. I know Wikipedia can be wrong, but I have also read this other places. Anyway, here is what they say:

A bonfire is a large controlled outdoor fire. The word is believed to be a corruption of "bone fire" (from Old English bān-fyr, literally "bone fire". The tradition is believed to derive from the Celtic festival of Samhain when animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spirits. It remains a Halloween tradition in the United States.

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I see nothing wrong with either. And if one wants a "Harvest Festival" that is fine too.

 

True, but the word "bonfire" nowadays refers to any sort of controlled outdoor fire, whether for burning garden rubbish, or for some kind of a celebration, or for signalling. The fact that the word itself has its roots in Celtic/pagan traditions doesn't mean that when a gardener burns his rubbish, he is trying to ward off evil spirits. To say it does mean that would seem similar to saying that anyone calling a day of the week "Wednesday" is worshipping the Anglo-Saxon false god Woden.

Also "Bonfire Night" in the UK is an alternative name for Guy Fawkes Night, 5th November.

 

Brother Lamb, is Guy Fawkes Night very similar to our Halloween? I knew several British children growing up, and I remember we would often combine the two nights because we basically had the same traditions and the two nights were just days apart.

love,

Sopranette