Damn Yankees
So now certain French Catholics are saying Halloween is an "ungodly U.S. import." Yeah, well, you know our balance of trade just sucks, so I guess we'll export anything.
Although I could have sworn that Halloween was based on a pagan holiday known as the Feast of Samhain; Samhain being a Celtic kind of deity. It's news to me that the Celts were from the U.S. All this time I was walking around thinking they were from Ireland (and, as I now find out, from Northern France as well).
Then the Catholic Church took said pagan holiday and renamed it All Hallow's Eve, making the next day one to venerate all saints. When the Catholic Church became a U.S.-based institution is beyond me. BTW, dressing up in costumes was to ward off evil spirits and long predates European settlers arriving in North America.
So far no hint of the U.S., but what the hell. Apparently the French haven't gotten into the whole "Blame Canada" thing. Can't we export South Park there or something?
Comments
"It’s news to me that the Celts were from the U.S."
You didn't know? They're from Boston.
:::running:::
Posted by: Trish Wilson | October 31, 2003 10:03 PM
Oooohh!! Trish beat me to the obvious sarcastic comment.
Well, since you would have found me annoying anyway, and I'm from Seattle, I'll just leave you with:
"Boo, Yankees! Go, Mariners!"
Just for grins. ;-)
Posted by: Pete Nelson | November 1, 2003 01:56 AM
Ha! I was waiting for your team to start playing at the end of the season, thus keeping the Red Sox out of the wild card spot. What the hell happened? The M's seemed poised to take it, and then...
Although it did make for an exciting ALCS.
Posted by: Lesley | November 1, 2003 07:28 AM
Well, the M's did their traditional second half collapse. I don't know why they've done this the past couple of years, except for the fact that "Stand Pat" Gillick wouldn't add much to the team before the trading deadline. Also, I think that the team just gets tired. The M's have lots of veterans that are great players, but they seem to run out of gas (Olerud, Edgar Martinez, Dan Wilson, etc.) Even Ichiro seemed to have a bad spell in late July and August.
As a baseball fan, it would have been fun to see the Cubs and Sox play in the Series, just for all the tradition behind it. On the other hand, there might not have been much left of the losing team's city afterwards!
Posted by: Pete Nelson | November 1, 2003 11:51 AM
The holiday itself may have originated on the Emerald Isle, but the commodification thereof is a peculiarly American thing. My husband says that Halloween has never been that big a deal in the UK, and that's right next door to Ireland so you'd think it would have made the UK its first stop.
Posted by: Elayne Riggs | November 1, 2003 05:28 PM
The holiday itself may have originated on the Emerald Isle, but the commodification thereof is a peculiarly American thing. My husband says that Halloween has never been that big a deal in the UK, and that's right next door to Ireland so you'd think it would have made the UK its first stop.
Posted by: Elayne Riggs | November 1, 2003 05:28 PM
Well gee whiz X-mas was a fairly dreary affair until American commercial interests got their hooks into it. But that is what is great about America, we take the sacred and make it profane. Just wait and see what we do to Islam.
Posted by: Rick DeMent | November 1, 2003 07:46 PM
"My husband says that Halloween has never been that big a deal in the UK, and that’s right next door to Ireland so you’d think it would have made the UK its first stop."
Well, they have Guy Fawkes day, which is coming right up on November 5th. I hear it's more fun - with explosives and everything. Probably not all that fun if you're a Gulf War vet with PTSD, though.
Posted by: Rob Ward | November 1, 2003 10:10 PM
By the way, I was quoting Elayne. It looks kind of weird in the "Recent Comments" on the left side of the main page, without knowing it was a quote.
Posted by: Rob Ward | November 1, 2003 10:14 PM
Yes Rob, Guy Fawkes is particularly a big deal for Robin as his old town (Lewes) has a very famous bonfire every year, they're very big on that.
Posted by: Elayne Riggs | November 2, 2003 12:05 AM
I can't disagree about the commodification. But that isn't what the complaints are about. They're talking about how un-Christian the holiday is, how it pushes Christian holidays into the shade, and how it celebrates death. None of those factors are American-made. Of course it's an un-Christian holiday. Most pagan holidays are. I, personally, don't get why that's a big deal, but then I'm not Christian.
As to its pushing Christian holidays into the shade, that's really something they have to look to themselves to answer. We are certainly not responsible for a tendency by French youth to reject Christian holidays. Based on complaints arising from most Western countries this is, in fact, a broad phenomenon, and it is simplistic at best to lay blame at the feet of the U.S. Youth has a tendency to initially reject the mores of the previous generation. An age-old and widespread phenomenon if ever there was one.
In the immortal words of Lee Adams:
Kids!
I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!
And while we're on the subject:
Kids!
You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids!
But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can't they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?
Posted by: Lesley | November 2, 2003 09:37 AM
I'd like to know if this is "French Catholics" (most of France) or the "Catholic Church" (still French but only the hierarchy). In my experience, France is far more secular than the US...the article didn't make it clear.
Posted by: Jane Finch | November 2, 2003 01:46 PM
I couldn't tell either, so I played it safe by attributing the move to "certain French Catholics", feeling pretty sure that it wasn't all of them.
Posted by: Lesley | November 2, 2003 11:06 PM