Talk:History and folklore of Halloween
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Explain away the verifiable fact that the Irish All Saint's Day was celebrated in April.Dogface 20:57, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] First half disagrees with Second half
Have you noticed that the first half of the article and the second half totally disagree? One says that the Pope set All Saints Day on November 1 to Christianize a Celtic holiday, while the other says "Not so." The evidence for the latter is much better presented than the former. The article needs to be revised to emphasize modern scholarship on the issue; the older (and in my opinion, wrong) theory ought to be deemphasized. As it is, I think people will be confused after going through it all. — Walloon 22:39, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
- I have noticed this, but I hesitate greatly to meddle with the culturally-sanctified just-so stories about Hallowe'en. Such acts can produce a severe anti-Christianity backlash.Dogface 12:10, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
This article originated as a brief essay written by Jack Santino in 1982, at the Library of Congress website (linked at the bottom of the article). Scholarship on Halloween traditions has improved much since 1982, and even Jack Santino himself has published better, and more accurate, information about the holiday. As it is, the article perpetuates a lot of myths found in popular histories of Halloween. — Walloon 20:56, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
