The Dreaded Annual Halloween Kilt Thread - 2009

[The Guy in the Kilt at UC]

Well having read the article and from what little else I know about it all, I cannot help but think that the whole thing is absurd, from which ever way I look at it.

I think that article is absurd.

[HarborSpringsPiper]

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.p.../article/4022/

Bishop of Bolton, the Right Reverent David Gillett, has called on retail outlets to think twice about stocking paganistic costumes because, he says, they ‘trivialise the reality of evil’: ‘[O]ccult practices should not be condoned, however light-heartedly.’ (5) The UK Evangelical Alliance, which represents evangelical Christians, warns that ‘while Halloween [appears] to bring people together in fun, in reality it is a celebration of the dead and of evil’ (6). Echoing earlier concerns about Harry Potter books turning kids into occult-worshipping wizard-wannabes, the evangelists believes there is a ‘real darkness to Halloween’ which is ‘potentially dangerous’ for children (7).

Somehow comforting to know that people are the same the world over. Sheesh!

I don't mean to be disrespectful of anyone's religous beliefs, but we've been hearing the same thing from fundamentalists on this side of the pond for ages. Sounds over the top to me, nevertheless. Halloween is a totally secular holiday, long divorced from All Hallow's Eve and its original intent. It's dress-up, it's make believe, it's a chance for kids to get some candy and the adults to get drunk or whatever. Perhaps many are convinced those of us in the States are doomed to Hell anyway, but I doubt Halloween has anything to do with it. Well, at least they can't blame that "evil" Potter boy on us.

[NewGuise]

There is of course the Hallowe'en poem by Robert Burns, for which he even supplied footnotes: http://www.robertburns.org/works/74.shtml

[Jack Daw]

There is of course the Hallowe'en poem by Robert Burns, for which he even supplied footnotes: http://www.robertburns.org/works/74.shtml

Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks, New Guise.

[NewGuise]

Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks, New Guise.

My pleasure. [A Professor of English has to be good for something.]

[macwilkin]

My pleasure. [A Professor of English has to be good for something.]

It's interesting to note that many of the divination customs as described by RB in his poem are also found in the writings of noted Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph's magnum opus, Ozark Magic and Folklore, thus illustrating the Lowland Scots roots of American folklore and folk culture.

And, for another tie, some scholars believe that Washington Irving, whose father was an Orkney man, may have been influenced by Tam O'Shanter and the Cutty Sark when he wrote of Ichabod Crane and the Galloping Hessian of Sleepy Hollow.

Todd

[The pedantic pedagogue of history]

[NewGuise]

It's interesting to note that many of the divination customs as described by RB in his poem are also found in the writings of noted Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph's magnum opus, Ozark Magic and Folklore, thus illustrating the Lowland Scots roots of American folklore and folk culture.

Indeed!

And, for another tie, some scholars believe that Washington Irving, whose father was an Orkney man, may have been influenced by Tam O'Shanter and the Cutty Sark when he wrote of Ichabod Crane and the Galloping Hessian of Sleepy Hollow.

Turnips were apparently the Scottish vegetable of choice for lantern-making (which was not associated merely with Hallowe'en), even well after the introduction of the pumpkin, which - being easy to hollow - had swiftly taken over that role in North America. It's hard to imagine the Headless Horseman chucking turnips...

[Andy]

Being in the nightclub biz, Halloween is a HUGE night for us...especially this year with it being on a Saturday.

So, as a result, me and my staff will be wearing costumes all week long - 3 nights basically. Let's just say that I will be wearing my kilt on the first day and it will be the most clothing I'll be wearing for the rest of the week!

I've laid low on wearing my kilt to work lately so that my "costume" will have a better impact this year. For starters, I'll be wearing a Jacobite shirt and some other accessories that I don't normally wear when out and about kilted. But please, my kilted bretheren, rest assured that I will do the kilt complete justice and bring no shame to my heritage or the great heritage of the garment itself.

As for the other days, if you are familiar with Jim Dangle or Borat, then you might well imagine how the rest of my Halloween week will go....

[Jack Daw]

Many fundamentalist churches in the U.S. still have a 'Fall Festival' complete with costumes, as long as the guises do not represent monsters, evil ghosts, or demons. You can have it both ways.

[wildrover]

All I can say is, it's good to know that "crazy" isn't just something we have here in America .

Just so you guys over there don't get the wrong idea from the papers and the crazy people and start thinking we're a bunch of Harry Potter-reading devil worshippers who rampage through the streets like Jack the Ripper leading a pack of teddy boys, with Venom pounding through our iPods ...

When yer a kid, Halloween means candy. Getting dressed up with your friends, going door to door, and conniving ways to convince people to give you more candy. Eating yourself sick for days. Growing older, and seeing how old you can still get away with it before somebody soaks you with a garden hose.

Later in adolescence & young adulthood, it means a costume party at somebody's house.

In college, it's another excuse to drink beer and meet girls. Other notable college holidays, ie reasons for drinking beer and meeting girls, are days ending in "Y". This one just involves costumes. Might be candy, might not. More likely, jello shots, body shots, and coffee shots. Notable costumes are "pimp 'n' ho", "pirate & wench", "bear & bait", "free mammogram machine", etc...

After college but before "maturity", it's the same as college, but you can drink legally, and you're probably going to a club, and there's probably a costume contest.

When people around here (near Boulder) reach a "mature age", the popular thing to do seems to be to go to this thing called the "exotica erotica ball", where you can see all the people who should always be fully clothed, but they're not. Frankly, I can't think of anything scarier, and when I get that old, I'll move to England where you apparently don't have to live in fear of such a horrible event.

So I figure it's safe to say it's a party like any other party in any Western nation . Drinks, dancing, and debauchery, but with costumes! Sorta like a Renaissance Fair, but everybody does it .

-Sean