Is Halloween celebrated in Germany?
916754
its getting more and more in germany. i think one ponit is that in many parts of germany is bank holiday on nov1, so many clubs and bars do a halloween special. The days before halloween they show millions of the us halloween movies at german tv, so its no more so "strange" for the people here. This year i saw first time kids going for sweets  "trock or treat" but i fear they dont earn that much... for this its a lack of traditional, especially because on nov10/11 its st.martin in germany, this day the kids go from house to house and sing for sweets.
432290
I love Halloween, too!  It's so totally fun to be able to be someone else for a day (more if you go to all the varied events going on for the month of October, and they sometimes spill over onto the first few days of November).  Plus, all the decoration are cool and so different from the other holidays-- not usually so pretty or elegant, but creepy and interesting and truly creative!
367147
Yes, I celebrate it. While it's not an officially recognized holiday in the US, it is celebrated by pagans here. We refer to it as Beltane more often than May Day.
975963
That depends entirely upon what type of answer you are looking for. For many people in the United States, it is just a holiday for people to buy candy and distribute it to the children who dress up as their favorite ghoul, hero or otherwise.\n\nFor others, it is known as All Hallow's Eve. This is a day in which supernatural energies are at their most and sightings of demons, ghosts and other supernatural beings increase. Spells cast upon this day are supposed to never fail as long as the heart of the one casting it has intentions of good.\n\nIt also started as a way to keep demons out in another country. People would put treats onto their doorsteps to ward off the demons and those that did not offer the treats would be subject to the tricks of the demon. Trick or treat....
1083022
really?? germany rocks lol...
269076
This is an excellent question.  I assume you're thinking about what Prince Harry did last year (which I don't think deserved as much flak as it got).\n\nHalloween is, among other things, a day to look squarely at death and at supernatural evil.  It is opposite the calendar from Easter, a day of life and rebirth.  The Devil has been around since the beginning of time, and we're all quite used to him.\n\nHowever, Hitler's evil is more recent and more specific, and some people, such as Jews or the British, may be more sensitive to Hitler's crimes than other people are.  (The Germans bombed London during WWII.)\n\nYou'd probably be okay dressing as Hitler for the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, but not at a Purim party or at Her Majesty's costume ball.
833272
Good question.\n\n+ Halloween +\n\nHalloween is actually like Christmas Eve. The night before a Christian holy day.\n\nIt is the eve of All Saint's Day or All Hallows Eve or Halloween. Just like "hallowed be Thy name."\n\nBut just like Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday), Halloween has taken on a life of its own.\n\nChristians including Catholics do not fear death, evil, or satan. In Christ, we can laugh in the face of death.\n\nFrom an email I received: Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside, and scoops out all the yucky stuff--including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.\n\nWith love in Christ.\n\n+ Prayer in Public School + \n\nAny structured prayer in public schools will favor one religion over all others.\n\nThe Catholic Church agrees with the U.S. Constitution as currently interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court and does not support "structured" prayer in public schools.\n\nIn the Vatican II document, DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, DIGNITATIS HUMANAE (Human Dignity), the Church states: \n\nThe human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.\n\nChildren will continue to privately pray before tests just like they always have.\n\nhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651207_dignitatis-humanae_en.html\n\n+ With love in Christ.
1040704
I call it Halloween. I was raised in Michigan although I live in Georgia now. Back in MI we dressed in costumes and went Trick-or-Treating. Many churches had Harvest Parties or gatherings to offer an alternative to celebrating Halloween, which is believed by many to be a festival of death and demons. In many Latin countries it is parallel to "Day of the Dead", or Dia de los Muertos, or a remembrance of those who are now gone from the earth but remain with us in spirit.
1187771
I am German and I could not agree more. I live in the U.S and looked for last minute tickets to go back home. But 3500 Dollars was just too much ;-((. \nIn Germany the fans are out on the street celebrating the whole night, no matter what nationality.
107149
I think alot of parents are taking their kids to places like the zoo for halloween nowadays... It's sad that they dont get the experiance of running from house to house but parents are way to paranoid now (not that they dont have good reasons to be paranoid). I thoroughly enjoy halloween every year and am disapointed when I dont get alot of kids that come to my door. I hope that we will continue to celebrate halloween.
932969
Many Christians reject Halloween celebrations, since these tend to glorify Satan and the occult. Frankly, Halloween traditions seem to be the opposite of godliness and Christianity.\n\nHolidays such as Halloween derive from false religion, and so are incompatible with pure worship, since they work to adulterate true religion. For example, Easter derives from the pagan god Oestre and celebrates "rebirth" and "fertility" instead of commemorating Christ's Last Supper and death as Jesus commanded:\n\n(Luke 22:1-22) [Jesus] dispatched Peter and John, saying: “Go and get the passover ready for us to eat.” ...14 At length when the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them: “I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it becomes fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” ... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”\n\nSince such celebrations are not required in true worship, and can easily become a distraction, so Jehovah's Witnesses focus their attention elsewhere. In particular, they are focussed on the preaching work which *IS* a requirement for Christians:\n\n(Luke 10:1-17) [Jesus] the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.\n\nLearn more:\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/article_01.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20001215/article_01.htm
116230
Halloween means "all hallows' eve." It is the day before All Saints' (hallows) Day. \nIt corresponds to the pagan Celtic Samhain, pronounced sow'en, which is their new year. A lot of Christian customs correspond to pagan ones, originally in order to make it easier for the pagans to accept Christianity. So, the celebration is comparable to the way the Celts celebrated their Samhain. \nUnder Source, I include an attractive and interesting link.
638453
No thats a holiday. A custom is something you might do during New Years.
947522
I know that Germany does for sure......they decorate the tree with ornaments....the ornament that most German families put on their tree is a glass pickle....I know it sounds weird...but the parents hide the pickle on the tree on Christmas Eve and the first child to find it in the morning gets an extra present.......
442727
I think Beltane or May Day is the Pagan New Year or Halloween.\n Per All Knowing Wikipedia.org:\n"The origin of this custom has been much disputed, and many theories have been suggested, e.g. that it is a farcical commemoration of Christ being sent from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate, the crucifixion having taken place about the 1st of April.\n\nWhat seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year's day, the 25th of March, ended on the 1st of April.\n\nIt has been suggested that Europe derived its April-fooling from the French [1]. They were the first nation to adopt the reformed Gregorian calendar, Charles IX in 1564 decreeing that the year should begin with the 1st of January. Thus the New Year's gifts and visits of felicitation which had been the feature of the 1st of April became associated with the first day of January, and those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair game for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April. However, it is unlikely that this explanation of April Fool's Day’s origin is correct. Well before 1582, when King Charles IX of France brought in the new Gregorian calendar, French and Dutch references from respectively 1508 and 1539 describe April Fool's Day jokes and the custom of making them on the first of April.\n\nThough the 1st of April appears to have been anciently observed in Great Britain as a general festival, it was apparently not until the beginning of the 18th century that the making of April-fools was a common custom. In Scotland the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," i.e. the cuckoo, and April-fools were "April-gowks," the cuckoo being there, as it is in most lands, a term of contempt. In France the person fooled is known as poisson d'avril. This has been explained from the association of ideas arising from the fact that in April the sun quits the zodiacal sign of the fish. A far more natural explanation would seem to be that the April fish would be a young fish and therefore easily caught.\n\nThe Dutch have their own reason. Back in 1572, the Netherlands were still ruled by Spain's King Phillip II. There were roaming Dutch rebels who called themselves Geuzen, after the French "gueux", meaning beggars. On April 1, 1572, they took a small coastal town called Den Briel. This event was also the start of the general civil rising against the Spanish in other cities in the Netherlands. General Alva of the Spanish army could not do much. Bril is the Dutch word for glasses, so on April 1, 1572, "Alva lost his glasses". Dutch people find this joke so hilarious they still commemorate the first of April."
1095301
Sounds like "Halloween"
750631
St Martin is not heavily celebrated in the UK, but is is very much celebrated amonst a large portion of Europe.\n\n"On November 11, St. Martin's Day, children in Flanders, the southern and north-western parts of the Netherlands, the Catholic areas of Germany and Austria participate in paper lantern processions. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession. The children sing songs about St. Martin and about their lantern. The food traditionally eaten on the day is goose. According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him.\n\nAlso in the east part of the Belgian province of East-Flanders and the west part of West Flanders, children receive presents from St. Martin on November 11, instead of from Saint Nicholas on December 6, or Santa Claus on December 25."\n\nApparantly he is also important in Latin America too.  I would guess he is most celebrated in Catholic nations while protestant nations do not celebrate him as much.\n\nEnjoy the chestnuts!