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The Last Horror

all-hallows-eve-gravesIt is a happy coincidence on this Feast of All Saints, after just experiencing the frivolity of Halloween with my children last night, that I am working through CS Lewis’ brilliant little book, “The Great Divorce.” It is even happier, that I am working on chapter 9, and find in it, some interesting commentary on “ghosts.”

The contrast from the horror of All Hallow’s Eve to the celebration of the Feast Day of All Saints is also a tension. It’s interesting to think about the purpose of Horror. Peter Leithart just wrote a quick piece on that in “First Things.” He takes time to reflect on Terrence Rafferty’s review in The Atlantic of a Guillermo del Torro movie. He wrote: Continue reading “The Last Horror”

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A Halloween Playlist

Warren Zevon - He had wonderful insights on Werewolves.
Warren Zevon – He had wonderful insights on Werewolves.

I love the fall – the color of the leaves, the harvest, the apple cider… all of it.  Part of our annual observation of the seasons as a family involves having some fun around Halloween.  This, of course, means exposing my children to some quality Halloween themed music.  And to that end, I’d put up my Halloween playlist as quite possible the best ever.  I skew towards classic rock and away from some of the hokey novelty songs (I’m looking at you “Monster Mash”).  So, here it is:
Continue reading “A Halloween Playlist”

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Halloween 2010 – Links and Pics

Our Elmo and Buzz jack-o-lanterns

Alright, by the time I post this, it will just about be Halloween, and Halloween is kind of a fun time around the Croel household.  The kids love the decorations and candy.  We’ve been listening to Halloween music for about 6 weeks (it’s about time for that to end, by the way), and we’ve had decorations up since the end of September.  Elijah and Alexandra love to show visitors all of our Halloween decorations – so it’s pretty fun all in all. Here is a link to a post last year about Halloween, and another post from last year that has my Halloween playlist for my ipod.

So… I wanted to get a picture up of our pumpkins for this year.  I let the kids pick out what they wanted, so we ended up with Buzz Lightyear and Elmo.  And to let you know the additions to my Halloween song collection. Continue reading “Halloween 2010 – Links and Pics”

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Some Halloween Links and Pictures

Oct 24 2009 003We were up late carving Jack-O-Lanterns on Friday night. Anne did the one on the left, and I did the other two.  We have fun with it.  Usually we watch a Halloween movie while carving and this year it was “Monster House,” which is a favorite of ours.  It’s an animated movie and if you haven’t checked it out you really need to.

Last year I wrote a series of posts that had some thoughts about Christians and Halloween.  I thought I would repost them again this year, so here is part 1, part 2, and part 3.  Also, there is an excellent piece about the history of Halloween in regards to its Christian celebration that is a must read for anyone curious about these things.    Also, I’ve added a few pictures to my flickr photostream, so if you want to see some October pics (mostly dealing with pumpkins) check it out.

Finally, we got a new book in the mail today from Amazon.com (which is always exciting). It’s called, “Goodnight Goon” and is a parody of “Goodnight Moon.” It’s hilarious, and Elijah has loved it. I’ll put a link below.

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A Halloween Playlist

Oct 31 2008 094
A Guitar Playing Penguin is a cute and original costume

It’s the middle of October, which means you should be thinking about how you’re going to carve your pumpkins, or if you don’t celebrate Halloween, you need to be putting up that blackout curtain so you can still watch tv and eat Halloween candy without answering the door for trick or treaters.  Either way, I thought I’d put up a few Halloween related posts in the next week or so.  First, here is a link to some thoughts on Christians celebrating Halloween that were written by one of my former professors at Asbury.  Personally, I would love to see more Christians boycott Halloween because of their strong objections to limbo (not the party game, read the article) just because that would liven up the party.

Next, I thought I’d share my Halloween playlist off of the ipod.  These are the spooky tunes we shake and jive to around the Croel household: Continue reading “A Halloween Playlist”

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Thoughts on Christians and Halloween: part 3

There are many ways you can participate in Halloween

And here is the final verdict – just in time!

The history of Halloween is all over the internet, so I won’t rehash that whole deal here. Suffice it to say that the date is the same as some ancient pagan celebrations that center around the dead and how the living deal with the dead. They believed that the boundary between the living and the dead was especially thin on October 31. In the 8th Century, the Pope moved the Feast of All Saint’s to November 1. This feast was basically a way to celebrate and remember the martyrs who gave their lives for the Christian faith. Today we use it to remember those who have died in Christ.
I think the interesting question is why did the Pope (remember there was only one church then, not several denominations) move a feast to this day and why this feast? October 31 was then All Hallow’s Eve, the eve prior to the Feast of All Saints. A similar move was done in regards to Christmas, by the way, when the church made December 25th the celebration of the birth of Christ. That time of year was usually the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. Continue reading “Thoughts on Christians and Halloween: part 3”