ABC News: School Says Halloween Disrespectful to Witches
A Washington state school district is canceling its annual Halloween celebration, and the explanation has some parents baffled.
A letter sent home to parents Wednesday said there will be no observance of Halloween in any of the district’s schools.
The district said Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.
“Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that,” Hansen said.
The Wiccan, or Pagan, religion is said to be growing in the United States and there are Wiccan groups in Puyallup.
It’s a good job that these wiccans don’t live in other parts of the world.
…excerpt from: xo.typepad.com…
I can’t help but think it is cool that the school is recognizing that Wiccans don’t sacrifice small animals and plump, juicy children…but, well, they seem to have it all wrong.
Most of the Wiccans I know really like Halloween and all the trappings that come with it. Costume parties, The Witch’s Ball, and a myriad of other costumey celebrations are enjoyed by witches, pagans, and mundanes alike.
Granted, there is usually time for a separate and reverent celebration of Samhain…much in the same way that Christians celebrate Christmas in many ways that go beyond decorating a tree and sitting on Santa’s lap.
Anyway…this is odd. It’s odd because it is a step in the right direction in theory…but silly in practice.
On a related (but not so related) note…The British Military is allowing one of its members to register as a Satanist. Now, I’m not a particularly big fan of Satanism…in fact, the theory and religion irritates the bejeebers out of me…but this is, again, a step in the right direction of recognizing that not everyone fits neatly into a religious category…and that freedom of religion shouldn’t be a lofty theory…it should be everyday practice.