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[comfortablygray]

I remember my daughter's first few Halloweens. My wife Sandra was very adamant about everything looking perfect and the baby being in very cute, specific things, and everybody was very excited when they came to the door because what's cuter than a baby dressed like a lobster

Comments

[elevatorwarrior]

A lobster? Poor kid... why would ya do that? I don't get this whole Halloween thing.

[comfortablygray]

Because it was one of the only things left in the store, and after much deliberation, it seemed the least degrading choice.

[elevatorwarrior]

That kinda makes sense... but why do ya dress her up in the first place? Where I'm from we don't.

[comfortablygray]

Well, on Earth, we have a lot of cultures that have evolved over the years into face-value traditions. Halloween supposedly has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, which was a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, or Celtic New Year. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. They believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them

[elevatorwarrior]

So it's a spirit appreciation festival gone commercial? That's kind of bizarre.

(ooc: ouch! hey, that's more than *I* ever knew either XD;;)

[comfortablygray]

Not really. It actually makes a lot of sense - traditions that stick around in new forms more suited to how society has changed.

[elevatorwarrior]

Point, though mine seems to change pretty rapidly.

[comfortablygray]

That's not entirely uncommon.

[elevatorwarrior]

Probably not, but I doubt they ever had a huge meteor fall.

[comfortablygray]

'Huge' is relative, but meteors have fallen to planet Earth before. A pretty famous one is known as the Tunguska Event.

[elevatorwarrior]

Mm... ours had a good chance of killing the planet outright. This Tunguska Event, what were the after effects like?