www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Feast of the Great Pumpkin - October 31 / November 13

Me thinks that our Administrator was a great fan of Halloween (and the Peanuts gang) as a little boy!!!

(--not that I blame him; we, of a certain age range all were!)

***On a serious note; as I see Halloween decorations becoming more and more elaborate (one house near me has two giant spiders climbing the exterior and one giant spider making a web on their front porch--another has a casket on the front lawn which opens intermittently with a vampire sitting up in it), my mom made a good observation the other day--in Europe the children (and adults) get to have this fun, minus the macabre aspect of Halloween, during Carnivale/Apokries time, before the onset of Great Lent. Since that festive, costume donning time does not exist here (except in New Orleans, where it has morphed into a tradition which is anything BUT childlike and/or proper), it is only natural that Halloween would have become so big.

This is hilarious. I have forwarded it to several of my co-workers.

Was Jack Pumpkinhead a precursor of the Great Pumpkin?

Fr. Serge

No, the precursor of the Great Pumpkin would have been the Dutchman, Linus of Pelt. His image is found in the icon for the feast. Now as I understand it, the origin of this feast is found in the apocryphal work, the Gospel according to Peanuts.

[Linked Image]

When is the leave-taking of the Feast of the "Great" Pumpkin?

Ray,

I may be mistaken, but I think it happened at Walmart, about midnight last night, when preparations began for the Pilgrim-age in honor of the Wild Turkey [upload.wikimedia.org], some three and a half weeks hence.

Many years,

Neil

I thought Wal-Mart followed the new calendar according to Sam, which starts the pre-feast of the Nativity on Labor Day in September? The only fast day is the Friday after Thanksgiving when we are supposed to purge ourselves of all our funds as a sacrificial offering.

At the rate retailers are rushing the seasons these days I think it is only a matter of time before we see a leprechaun in a Santa suit some time in early February. Maybe this will ultimately solve the calendar dispute. We will have no calendar and everyone will celebrate whatever they want whenever they want as per personal revelation.

Labor Day is of course a movable holiday in the Fiscal cycle. That Fiscalion has an accumulating bias, and the pre-season that used to started the day after Thanksgiving has now, unfortunately, deteriorated to beginning even on Labor day as noted.

Of course, Jim, it must be noted that St Nicholas was actually of Irish ethnicity, an often-overlooked fact. However, not everyone realizes that the 'elves' who are associated with him in his alter ego of Santa Claus were, in actuality, the little people. It was very good of you to remind us of this

Many years,

Neil

The squirrel is, as always, on target. And a shame it is that the intervening feasts are often lost in this. October 12, for instance, Colombo Day - on which pilgrimages were made to the edge of the ocean and the faithful looked eastward, hoping for a glimpse of the trench-coated sailor.

I thought Colombo Day was driving around in a worn out car repeating the phrase, "Sir, just one more question..." in imitation of that great saint detective, who always eluded to the never to be seen Mrs Colombo?

My guess is after a bottle or two of the sainted Wild Turkey, everything becomes of Irish origin.

Sigh. It is those who describe the Gospel according to Peanuts as "apocryphal" who cause the Great Pumpkin to skip many sincere pumpkin patches. Remember that Linus annually gets bypassed simply because he uses the words "if he comes".

One must properly consider the calendar and its effects. There are no differences between the Gregorian Calendar and the Julian Calendar, save those pesky 13 days. The Feast of the Great Pumpkin has one pre-festive day and the usual octave of post-festive days. The problem comes with the Revised Gregorian Calendar (which is called "Sam's Calendar" in some parts of the country). It has determined that you can't rush into a feast of this rank without an extended pre-feast. But is also has been determined that there are no post-festive days at all because the pre-festive periods of Thanksgiving and the Christmas out rank the post-festive days of Pumpkin and therefore suppress it.

The Revised Gregorian Calendar (aka the "Revised New Calendar" and "Sam's Calendar") now prescribes:

Labor Day until the Feast of the Great Pumpkin:
--Pre-Festive Days of the Great Pumpkin
--Pre-Pre-Festive Days of Thanksgiving
--Pre-Pre-Pre-Festive Days of Christmas

October 31
--Feast of the Great Pumpkin

November 1 through the Wednesday Before the Fourth Thursday of November:
--Pre-Festive Days of Thanksgivng
--Pre-Pre-Festive Days of Christmas

Forth Thursday of November
--Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day through November 30
--Pre-Festive Days of Christmas

December 1-25
--Christmas Month

December 26-31
--Post-Festive Days of Christmas (aka "Throw Out the Tree Week")

January 1st
--College Bowl Day and New Year's Day

Now there is some confusion among those following the Julian Calendar about the date of Thanksgiving Day. Some follow the traditional Julian Calendar and place Thanksgiving Day on the 4th Thursday of "Julian" November (this year it would fall on Gregorian December 9th). This, of course, plays havoc with the pre and post-festive periods (are they calculated using the traditional Julian Calendar or the New Revised Gregorian Calendar). And there are those who celebrate according to both calendars.

Now that I've written all that I hope it is clear. If not, please ask Neil to pass you the bottle of Wild Turkey (yes, it is the customary drink for Thanksgiving Day but I'm sure no one will care if we start the pre-festive toasts a bit early).