Last year I had a bit of a rant about Halloween.
This year, Halloween has inspired me again, but in a different direction.
Just like last year, the people preaching, judging and making claims about what everyone else should and shouldn't be celebrating has been a theme this week not just on facebook, but also on our local news website.
Everywhere I look this week, I seem to be confronted by people complaining about other people's choices. Choices that in no way have any real impact on the complainants, no effect at all except to offend their sensibilities or in other words, be different from their own choices.
When it comes down to it, I know the origins of Halloween. I know the connections to Samhain, I know that it's changed over the years, generations and geography. I'm quite over having to explain that Halloween is not the same as Samhain. The origins are cool to know, but they're not relevant to every single discussion or mention of Halloween. Nine times out of ten, no one cares and the person pontificating again just gets ignored.
As such, I'm quite baffled by all the people who think they have some right to tell everyone else that they can't celebrate anything in the way they want to. My news feed this morning was filled with New Zealand pagans and witches moaning about how often they have to tell people that it's Beltaine, not Samhain and so they shouldn't be dressing their kids up in scary costumes for school parties or to go trick or treating.
Hang on, who gave any of you the right to dictate such a thing? And isn't this the kind of thing you complain about when someone else does it to you?
Why do you care so much what other people choose to do with their time? How does that affect you at all?
As I said elsewhere, celebrate what has meaning to you. Don't celebrate the things that don't have meaning to you. Don't rain on the parade of anyone else doing the same.
In other words, Wheaton's Law applies - don't be a dick.
Blessings
Debbie
