Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon Pres. Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle mark Halloween in WH

11/01/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post




Halloween revelers visited the White House (WH) to bring holiday cheers to the first family and presidential staff. In celebration, on Saturday, October 31, 2009, costumed happy performers play music at the lawn of the first family's home.

Pres. Barack Obama and his wife Michelle extend greetings for those who celebrate Halloween with them. Giving away candies and pastries, the Obamas welcomed about 2,600 children and their families from neighboring schools for a trick or treat in the north portico of the presidential residence which was lit in orange to mark the occasion. (Photo Credits: Jonathan Ernst/ Reuters; Manuel Balce/ AP) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Halloween 2009 & the other holidays

11/01/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post




In 36th Street in Astoria, New York, there are few Halloween props this year compared to last year. It seems even if the liberal pagan holiday of ghouls, goblins, witches and spirits has been increasingly popular, the celebration isn’t as strong this time. The costumed revelers on the street are not as many.

Perhaps, it’s the recession that makes people mark the holiday weekend in subdued way. Maybe, not so many are enthusiastic to join the fun. It may be too early for the children to come out in their exciting attires. Perhaps, moree conservative families are rethinking of the pros and cons of exposing children to a seemingly innocuous merriment that may have deleterious effects on the values of the next generation.

Our neighbor displays a mix of witches with brooms, and a few orange pumpkins with colorful smiling faces tangled in gossamers of eerie spider webs beside photos of howling foxes and werewolves. Farther down were flickering orange lights illuminating a shadowy scarecrow and a scary man sitting on a chair with bushy brows and blood-shot eyes. The front of a house with autumn leaves strewn in the lawn has many skeletons, spiders, and black bats flying on a smoky glass window. A raven on watch stands by the fence.

These are the sights we see during Halloween in America these days. Surely they excite children and adults alike. As the years pass by however, the novelty of the day appears diminished and more commercialized. How often did I see those decorations in a dollar store? The cape of Dracula and his garish mask with bloody fangs are fixtures I don’t miss.

Not until recently, Halloween is a celebration which many Filipinos don’t observe with vigor. However, because of globalization and ease of travel, the pagan happy tradition has caught our interest and that of kababayans in Manila and other provinces. This is true with Thanksgiving day as well---- the traditional harvest feast and family day remembered in USA since the days of the Puritans has now insinuated in many holidays observed in the Philippines.

We didn’t have pumpkin pies before. There were no turkeys to roast for the dinner table comes Thanksgiving day. We did not have those children (some too young and barely able to walk,) in colorful costumes asking for lollipops and candies in the neighborhood. We didn’t have outlandish Halloween parades and parties that sometimes degenerated into peace and order issues. Our parents didn't worry to escort their little kids on the road. They weren't afraid of chance encounters with law-breakers and child predators who roamed in the Halloween night.

Instead of the morbid and scary remembrances of death, sorcery, and evil which masquerade as plain merriment, in our country, we enjoy All Saint’s day, a folk Catholic tradition of paying tribute to our dearly departed. We take pains preparing to visit cemeteries and be with our families. The fun and excitement of being with loved-ones in candle-lit tombs remain important in our understanding of the ways of the living and the dead. Some of us don't even leave the cemeteries, they make them as their homes the whole year round.

For us, All Saint’s day, not the Halloween, is a prelude to the more wholesome message of Christmas. The multicolored lights over a simple nativity scene of Jesus are enough to carry us in sustained holiday mood for months. Except for a few spoilers, we love Christmas trees and the carols at the time of advent. The idea of baby Jesus in a manger with the lowly animals nearby is great. We are twinkled-eyed when we think of his birthday in a cold wintry night in December when the magical star shines way up the sky.

Message-wise, we like Christmas better than Halloween. The meaning of the Christian celebration is far-reaching and more profound than what we can imagine. We don’t need to be told why. (Photo Credits: Maytevidri; AfP/ Jewel Samad) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Halloween Hangover

11/03/2008 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post




For most of us, the celebration of Halloween almost always means fun. The tradition of trick-a-treat, witches, kapre, goblins, ti-anak, jack o’ lantern, bonfires, costume parties, horror movies, and parades has become ever more popular. For the most part, the merriment goes without a hitch.

For Alex Woinksi however, this year’s holiday is different. Donning a crown of thorns and a costume to simulate Jesus Christ, the teenager was forced to go home early from the West Brook Middle School Halloween Celebration in Paramus, New Jersey. That's upon the advice of his school principal.




It’s the old familiar question about freedom of expression versus the sensitivity and respect towards religion. Liberal society doesn’t see anything wrong with Jesus being impersonated in a pagan celebration like Halloween.

Many accept to see the holy Messiah reviled. He has been depicted as a frog pinned on the cross, prostitute-lover, a homosexual, and a loser immersed in bottle of urine, His mother Mary was "artistically" painted with horse dung---far outrageous than Woinski’s bland JC costume. Liberals and free thinkers justify these indignities as legitimate artsy self-expressions in synch with democratic rights in a modern society.



But those who don’t agree ask about respect over religious beliefs. They know some members of society recklessly push aside sensibility. Can anyone forget the rampage of killings provoked by depicting prophet Mohammed in cartoons published in a Danish newspaper? Does anyone notice how westerners are cowed to repeat the same “sacrilege” towards Islam?

The liberal-secularist point of view seems to play here again. About 75% of respondents in an informal AOL online survey opined it was OK for Woinski to wear the Jesus attire. Many didn’t believe that the costume was offensive to some students. The double-standard people have towards religion and the inconsistency of exercising political correctness make what is right or wrong, relative and contentious. (Photo Credits: Wonksi Family-AOL; pioscor; bcompetent; SD; rewritable) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon Fun times with Noah

10/27/2008 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post





















“There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.”

I couldn’t agree more with Elizabeth Lawrence, the gardener-writer. Especially so, I received a few photos of Noah, my grandson, the child of my niece Jo Marie D. Cannady who resides in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jo Marie and hubby Matt are pretty delighted by their little boy setting out to discover the outdoors this time that Halloween is across the bend.



Noah was with his little friends in a park riding in a kiddie train a few months ago. Another time I saw him with his grandparents, Joe and Cindy Dacanay of South Carolina on a weekend visit. This time he prepares early for thanksgiving day, choosing his pumpkins from some unnamed garden.

Come Halloween in October 31, 2008, I’m pretty sure he has a costume prepared for the trick a treat and be with friends to knock on doors and fetch a few candies in the street.

Noah reminds me of all the children of the world who bask in the best fleeting moments of their time before “the hour of reason comes knocking at the door.” As I look at his handsome innocent face, it’s as if morning has arrived and the first rays of the sun are trailing in. (Photo Credit: Jo Marie Cannady)=0=


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