Hubris from Revelation: the Social Engineering of Ultimate Truths [Monday, Period 2]

[atreideslioness]

Class today met in the Danger Shop, and the students would find it looked much like a regular class room. For now. "Welcome back," Ghanima said briskly. "Hopefully you all got a chance to see some of your friends over Homecoming, but now we're back to class."

"Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Currently it is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones. Irish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America during Ireland's Great Famine of the 1840s. The day is often associated with orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols like the jack-o'-lantern. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, reading scary stories, and watching horror films."

"The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits, both harmless and harmful, to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces."

"Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual."

"The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even – e'en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǣfen. It is now known as "Eve of" All Saints' Day, which is November 1st. Since it was a time of pagan festivities, Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV tried to supplant it with the Christian holiday of All Saints' Day by moving it from May 13 to November 1. In the 800s, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day."

"Now, there are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties," Ghanima continued. "One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or donuts by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face. Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Irish and Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name. This custom has survived among Irish and Scottish immigrants in the rural United States. The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are also common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of TV series and specials with Halloween themes are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films, are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere."

"In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions of All Saints’ Day, while some other Protestants celebrate the holiday as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation. Celtic Christians may have Samhain services that focus on the cultural aspects of the holiday, rather than the religious. Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating "imaginary spooks" and handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland. Most Christians hold the view that the tradition is far from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat. Other Christians feel concerned about Halloween, and reject the holiday because they believe it trivializes and celebrates "the occult" and what they perceive as evil. Some consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its origin as a pagan "Festival of the Dead." In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on the holiday. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween for they believe anything that originated from a pagan holiday should not be celebrated by true Christians. Religions other than Christianity also have varied views on Halloween. Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches", and traditional Judaism frowns upon the celebration of Halloween. In Islamic countries where it is celebrated, devotion is given to St. Barbara."

"Your assignment for today is to go over the handouts. Do you have a similar holiday where you are from? If so, how do you celebrate it?" Ghanima waved one hand, and the Danger Shop shifted, providing catalogues full of costumes. "Feel free to talk it out while you pick a Halloween costume. At the end of class, the Danger Shop will provide you with the pattern you request, if you would care to make your own outfit for the holiday."

[OCD up!]

Comments

Sign-In

[atreideslioness]

Spookily!

Re: Sign-In

[trigons_child]

Raven

Re: Sign-In

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

Chuck Bass

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Take notes, pass notes, etc.

Re: During the Lecture

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri might be boggling a little, because . . . wasn't that the same name as an Ewok holiday? WTF CANON WTF.

Re: During the Lecture

[momslilassassin]

Ben shot her an amused look before he went back to taking notes.

Re: During the Lecture

[bitten_notshy]

Halloween wasn't much of a holiday, when and where Jack was from, but he knew the basics. He took notes neatly, happy to be back on firmer ground in the class.

Re: During the Lecture

[vanillajello]

Kate was really pretty excited. October was her favorite month; it started with her birthday, which was the best day of the year, and ended in Halloween, which in turn was the best holiday.

She was also extra glad that she had something to focus on, other than the discomfort of knowing she had to talk to Ghanima about the previous class.

Re: During the Lecture

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Coming from a time before Ewoks were truly integrated into intragalactic society, Zayne was blissfully unaware of any such holiday on Endor. And so he got to just listen to the lecture in peace.

Activity!

[atreideslioness]

Tell about any similar religious festivals from your own culture, make party plans for later this week, and browse through the catalogues full of costumes if you like.

Once you select one, the Danger Shop will print out a copy of the pattern so that you can try to sew it yourself sometime.

Re: Activity!

[trigons_child]

Raven had no similar festival to share, but she did like looking through the costumes, particular the fancy dresses.

Re: Activity!

[see-beyond.livejournal.com]

Jonas couldn't ever remember celebrating any holiday that people outside the Community celebrated and he didn't really think the age ceremonies were the same thing. In fact, he thought they'd be seen as strange and odd.

So, he just kept quiet and paged through the costumes, wondering why people liked being something else for a day.

Re: Activity!

[weetuskenraider]

There were a couple of holidays Tahiri knew of with similar themes to Halloween (including that Ewok one with the same name and what were the odds?) from back home, but neither of those was religious and this one made so much more sense, somehow. Which might explain the odd look on her face.

. . . part of the odd look anyway.

She'd explain if asked, but until then she'd just be looking through the catalogues.

Re: Activity!

[bitten_notshy]

Most of the costumes looked cheap and ill-made to Jack, but eye-catching -- like all stage clothes. Eventually, he found a costume that seemed like it might suit him.

He supposed Halloween was a bit like Purim, at least in feasting and wearing costumes, and he'd try to explain that to anyone who asked.

Re: Activity!

[vanillajello]

It was probably good that the festival similar to Halloween in Kate's culture was, in fact, Halloween itself. She was way too immersed in looking at the catalogues to really have a discussion about anything.

Ooh, a kimono!

Re: Activity!

[elephantgadget.livejournal.com]

Helen had never heard of anything like this and couldn't imagine there was any reason for her to choose a costume. It's not like she'd go to any party anyway.

Re: Activity!

[iamnotallgirl]

The only holiday similar to Halloween in Jill's culture was, uh. Halloween. So she looked wryly amused as she looked for a good costume.

Talk to the TAs

[atreideslioness]

Once they tag in.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

Chuck was there, naturally.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[walks-two-paths.livejournal.com]

Savannah was here and feeling pretty happy and relaxed after the weekend.

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

She's around, before and after class.

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[bitten_notshy]

"Here is my paper, Professor Atreides." Jack had, in fact, spent a decent amount of the week doing his assigned gardening in the land of handwave. His paper was a thorough academic analysis of how Tao related to the art of cultivation.

While the tone was nothing less than perfectly polite and scholarly, the overall impression one might get after reading it was that the author found the assignment and the subject matter both more than a little ridiculous.

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[vanillajello]

"Um, Professor Atreides?" Kate asked, coming over to talk to Ghanima after class. She was a little nervous, and definitely more than a little uncomfortable. But she'd decided to do this, and so she would.

"Can I ask you a question? ...About last week's class?"

OOC

[atreideslioness]

No world ending before my favorite holiday!

Re: OOC

[weetuskenraider]

. . . ow, god, sometimes I just shouldn't look at Wookieepedia at all.