Are there any hard-line, fundamentalist Wiccans out there? PLEASE tell me they burn schismatic, Samhain-and-Beltain-only Wiccans at the stake?
Which is the point of my snide remark, above: the word “witch” in all its earlier incarnations back to the beginnings of English has never meant “wise”; it has always been the word indicating a person who uses supernatural influences to inflict harm. (A much later introduction was “white witch” to indicate a person dabbling in the supernatural without intending harm, but without the “white” modifier, witch always meant a nasty, harmful person.) There have been occasions, during the periods when spelling was not a priority for writers of English, when people occasionally used wice to spell wise, but it was clearly a simple substitution of c for s that did not affect pronunciation and was never extended to include the wicce or wyche variants of people doing evil.
I do like the idea that sending a kid out in a three-piece suit and a briefcase could truly inspire fear in people. Lord knows a handful of suits have inflicted more damage on this country than all the neo-pagans we’ve engendered, combined.
Nope, but this is what I get for waiting before posting. Diogenes beat me to it. Funny the circumstance is very similar though.
I suppose there are pagans who don’t like the storybook “evil witch” image, but they need to get a grip on reality. One could apply very similar misonceptions to any given holiday, or group of people and they all seem to deal with it in their own way.
off topic
Actually, I see Halloween as more than just a candy grab. I also associate it with Samhain, which is the time I take the opportunity to honor loved ones who have died and offer them thanks for being a part of mine. I light a candle and say a blessing for them. The little one informed me, without prompting, that this year she wants to honor our kitty who died unexpectedly this past year.
resume topic
But the cruxt of this issue is that we are finally seeing a progression of overly sensitive political correctness. (if you want to call it that) some will misunderstand the intentions as trying to minimize the holiday as non-religious.
If they want to stop offending us pagans then stop making them say “under God” in the Pledge of Allegience, and stop pushing intelligent design in their science books. Telling us that Holloween is cancelled because they don’t want to offend real witches is disingenuous as far as I am concerned.
However, as has already been pointed out, this is only one of a small list of reasons they are cancelling the in school festivities.
As for the less fortunate who cannot afford costumes. That never stopped kids in my neighborhood from trick-or-treating. Children can be very resourceful. Given a very low budget, I’ve seen some pretty creative costumes using houshold items. But lets not foster creativity in the school system…that would be horrible.
In the words of Nigel Thornberry “That’s Sarcasm Dear, Muahhhh!”
that was for you cin
Results of the KSBW poll, as of this morning:
Should schools cancel Halloween parties so as not to offend
people who practice the Wiccan and Pagan religions?
Choice Votes Pct of 17117 Votes
Yes. It may offend Pagans and Wiccans. 452 3%
No. But they should be canceled for other reasons. 2774 16%
No. Let students celebrate Halloween. 13891 81%
(I’d still like to find out if they had Wiccan complaints or whether they are covering up the fact that they had Fundy complaints.)
tomndebb, that’s exactly what I was thinking.
See, me too. And then I do the candy after that… just like I have a ritual for Yule and then trek up to Mom’s house for Giftmas. If I get stuff and nobody makes me pray, I’m in.
Yeah – look at what happened to that poor congressman from Georgia!
::: ducks and runs :::
<sort of a sidetrack>See, the one Samhain tradition I wanna see come back is the turnip carving. Yes, that’s right, turnips. In parts of Ireland, folks used to carve out turnips in which they’d put a candle, n’ place that in the window to draw the ghosts of the ancestors in for their feast. 
(That’s an old Irish thing, apparently.) </sidetrack>
I say let the kids be kids, damnit. What does it matter, anyway! I’ve heard of many catholic schools in the Ottawa area who “cancelled” Halloween because it was a satanic holiday anyway. :rolleyes:
Puyallup is a Native American name. They are a tribe. We also have the Puyallup river. I don’t know what the name itself translates to. I used to know, but it’s one of those things you learn in school and then forget. I like your name better though!
I will carve a turnip and put it out for all to see. I have two carved pumpkins on my stoop.
No disrespect but I thought it was just something you say when someone falls down a well…“hang on, I’m going to Puyallup!”
Ooooh, I’m going to pay for this one.
Sir Bedevere : What makes you think she’s a witch?
Peasant 3 : Well she turned me into a newt.
Sir Bedevere : A newt?
Peasant 3 : …I got better.
Crowd: BURN HER ANYWAY.
Come on people! This many messages and no Monty Python reference??
The Catholic school next to my bus stop has Halloween-type decorations up in the classroom windows. Skeletons, witches, jack-o-lanterns, and such.
Build a bridge out of 'er!
I thought Puyallup was a traffic reporter term: 'Commuters should avoid 495 this afternoon, there’s a puyallup on the outer loop between 95 and 1. 
I’m a pagan, and I think those things are hilarious. I laughed so hard the first time I saw one, I almost peed. I used to have one when I had my house, and put it up every year.
Can you not also build bridges out of stone?
Lessee…
a) Part of the initial attraction to the concept of “being a witch” is that it was antithetical to the orthodoxy. It is, in other words, one of the things that the pompous, self-righteous, ubiquitous and brickheadedly nonthinking religious folks one likely has the misfortune to be raised around, if not necessarily by, condemn as Eeeeevil.
b) Part of the more serious and continued attraction to the concept of “being a witch” is that its very perspective is inherently antithetical to such things as a hierarchy of spiritual authority or an Official Establishment of WitchChurch, and that it is critical in a serious sense of orthodoxies, of recipe-following approaches to religion, of asserting that there are single answers to questions and that we know what they are and can or could ever insist that everyone ascribe to them. In other words, there are serious and mature philosophical underpinnings to that “Halloween mask”, to that delicious fun of identifying as that which the orthodox condemn as Eeeeevil.
In light of that — it’s one thing to complain about witch-burning or condemnation of people as witches in a way that actually does them damage. (Not so much because it is a Bad Thing to oppress actual card-carrying self-identified Wiccans as because of the larger sense in which, if Witch = Outsider-labeled-Eeeeevil, it is always wrong to oppress those so identified). It’s another thing, and a damn stupid thing, to lay claim to this identity and then turn around and complain “Waaah, they are pointing fingers at us and not taking us seriously and according us due respect, they’re, you know, calling us ‘Witches’ and stuff.”
Well, what else floats besides wood?
A duck!
Very small rocks?