I used to know the story behind it, but I have forgotten it. I know there is normaly a huge bonfire. Why? What is the story behind the holiday?
138050
Guy Fawkes was an English soldier and a member of a group of Roman Catholic conspirators who attempted to carry out the "Gunpowder Plot" in 1605, which was prevented by his arrest on 5 November.\n\nThe plot was an attempt to assassinate King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) and the members of both houses of the Parliament of England. To do this, Westminster Palace was to be blown up during the formal opening session of the 1605 Parliament, in which the king would address a joint assembly of both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Guy Fawkes was in large part responsible for the later stages of the plan's execution. His activities were detected, however, before the plan's completion. Following a severe interrogation involving the use of torture, Fawkes and his co-conspirators were executed for treason and attempted murder.\n\nGuy Fawkes is remembered with 'Guy Fawkes Night' on November 5 annually. We have build enormous bonfires and put a "Guy" (a scarecrow like effigy) on top of them to burn. We also light thousands of fireworks and eat junk food.\n\nI love it !!!!!
423874
The war on Christmas.  Just a pre-emptive, self-directed attack on conservatives BY conservatives, to victimize themselves and reinforce their ultra-fundamentalist agenda.....and to deride other cultures by trying to portray THEM as the oppressors, vs. the other way around.\n\nStupid.  It's been "Happy Holidays" to recognize the many occasions between Halloween and Valentines Day, you theo-cons!
87894
There is an area near me called "Devil's Punchbowl" It's literally a big hole missing from a mountain that is HUGE. THere is a lookout point and you cannot see the bottom. There is a giant cross erected year round and lit up at night, it can be seen from miles around. I dunno if I would call it inspiration since drunken/high/suicidal/all of the above--- teenagers fall to their death there..\nI will have to ask about the permits and get back to you =)))
261667
Pure bunk. .Much like aliens ,never observed in real time . Post event finds a severly burnt corpse but fire started by smoking etc. ,then ignition of body's fat reserves causes an intense , but local fire until fat gone ,then fire dies out .The Nazis burnt their victims this way when they  built a small fire ,added corpses ,and then when fat melted it sustained the flames
429494
Let's face it, how many people would have a clue what the section was about if it were called Samhain?\n\nWe all know the festivals by the names that are given in the categories so it makes sense for the categories to be given those names. Besides, yahoo wouldn't want to offend us now would they?
544980
I'm American, and I've been to a couple of Guy Fawkes nights in the UK, so I suppose some Yanks have heard of The Guy.  Haven't been to any big-city bonfires, but I must say the small town of Bassingham, Lincolnshire has a nice (large!) bonfire coupled with good food and drinks stalls.\n\n Fiery effigies of Catholics?  Not familiar with that...most photos of flaming effigies I've seen in the last 30 years have depicted US presidents, which have all been Protestant since Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
478305
The story highlights the fact that education is key!\n\nHuman being are born knowing nothing and they have to learn everything.  \n\nThe story indicates that the person did not know that Jesus Christ changed the calendar and the holidays and that the holiday of Christmas did not exist before Jesus Christ.\n\nSupport the Christian Church and continue its teachings - you will feel good about yourself.
375875
All the old "cross quarter" festivals like Imbolc (Brigit's Day, 1st Feb), Beltaine (Whit Sunday), Lunasa (8th Aug) and Samhain (Halloween) have pagan roots, also the Midsummer fires as well as wakes and there is no "might" about it. They most definitely do.
361682
Read this article I wrote last year about Halloween's origins:\nhttp://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=255855&rel_no=1\n\nIt was the Celtic New Years. \n\nDay of the Dead is a Catholic holiday mixed with pagan Meso-American beleifs. Day of the Dead is All Souls Day when Mexicans remember their dead loved ones, clean tombstones, etc... It's right after All Saints' Day.\n\nThe Celtic tradition of So-wen is similar in that it was also a time of reflection and rememberance of passed loved ones.
17015
Oooh. Beltane is my favorite holiday... it's the best out there. How can you refuse a holiday made for you and your sweety to get it on?
339877
It says that you are a normal person and you like happy occasions even if they belong to another religion. Get it the mood and have fun and don't think about it. I mean Christian holidays origin from way back before Christ and church turned their meanings cause people could not stop celebrating.\nAnother thing is that even Japanese people celebrate Christmas so don't worry.
619442
Story of Christmas\nA. Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25. During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.\n\nB. The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time. In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season).\n\nC. In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.[2]\n\nD. The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.\n\nE. Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia. As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.” The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc.\n\nF. The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”[3] Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.[4] However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians.\n\nG. Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city. An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators. They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5]\n\nH. As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”[6] On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country. In Warsaw 12 Jews
381077
You can watch it through the Earthcam site...granted it is just images...no audio...it is better than nothing...I have been living in Europe for almost 10 years...so I know the feeling of missing the parade. Here is the link: http://www.earthcam.com/events/thanksgiving/
367798
Maybe because it's a Pagan holiday? Don't say it's stupid before asking him the details of why. I personally don't like how commercialized the holiday has become. It's not about spending money, it's about spending time with your loved ones. It's Jesus' birthday, not ours, so exchanging material is so very trife.
26727
It's not wrong, but after January 6th (tomorrow) it's officially goofy. Technically Jan 6th is the last day of the 12 days of Xmas.\nDon't worry because I still have my tree up (it's fake though). We love our tree. Also we're the only house in our neighborhood that still has xmas lights on. :)\nHappy "Three Kings Day".
268858
This is the festival of Beltane, originally celebrated in the religions of the indigious peoples of nothern Europe.\nIt is a festival in which one lights a fire to celebrate the coming of the summer and fertility of the earth.\nHistorically this was a good time for the Christian Inquisitors to find and execute those who followed the old gods - this is probably where the association with death comes from.  Beltane was not a festival associated with major human sacrifces - these festivals would have occured in mid-winter (about the last week of December).\nBeltane is also the maypole festival.  The maypole repesenting an ejaculating penis fertilising the earth.  Some christian churches perform maypole dances which is strange as this is a pagan ritual.\n\n\n"You have an angel on your shoulder but you wear the old god's horns/ And you dance around the maypole while the vicar makes a toast/ to the pagan celebration, and extends an invitation to us all/ so he can save us when we fall."\n- Ian Anderson
492009
Yes I know that and agree. There has always been (since I've been a christian) a strange feeling for me at Christmas time. I felt trapped, enslaved, depressed, oppressed and angry during the holidays. Something just never sat well with me. I studied and found out it is all pagan and vain. God never says to follow any of these so called "christian" holidays. He did however mention the Holy Days in His Torah. I am not Jewish but I am being prompted by the Lord to study the feast days of the Lord and the Holy days and the Sabbaths. They weren't  meant just for the Jews but for all who were born again as well. They bring peace and understanding of the Messiah.