remotely connected?

This year my Halloween-hatred vehemence has grown to a new level (not that No. 6 and I haven't been having a lively dispute all weekend about who should be Princess Peach and who should be Princess Daisy at the church Fall Festival [she won, in case anyone was wondering]).

What bothers me most is the inconsistency of it all. How can a culture that disapproves slaughter, torture, and violence (and, at least on the surface, nearly everyone would agree that our culture does) spend so much effort on a holiday that glorifies those things?

For instance, there's a boggling assortment of news headlines on the front page at CNN tonight:

"Notorious Freakfest a Lively Success"
"Sex Offenders Banned from Halloween Festivities"
"'Saw III' Slices Mobsters, Magicians"
"Executed Killer Confessed to More Murders"
"Mother Guilty of Killing, Abusing Boy, 7"
"'Haunters' Work Year-Round to Scare Up Frights"

Maybe it's just me, but that feels a little schizophrenic.

Anyhow, so I am trying to figure out what I think about the whole thing. I'm tantalized by Darren and Sara's Saints' Day feast, or the more-protestant Reformation Day alternative.

Fancy a holiday that involves learning something about history and geography -- and a hymn sing, to boot! Add some linguistic interest (maybe, for Reformation Day, a few rounds of that German balderdash game we made up on the coach outside Hameln?), and that's pretty much a perfect holiday.

Yep.

Now, to quote the sage from I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words, "I'll teach my dog 100 words, and how my friends will cheer. I'll teach my dog 100 words. I think I'll start next year."