During the year, regardless of religion, there are many holidays to be celebrated, and they are embraced by society as we appreciate the fact that not everybody celebrates the same things. Whatever we choose to celebrate is completely a personal choice, but when it comes to keeping children off school - parents have differing ideas. One woman took to Mumsnet to explain that her 14-year-old daughter is a Pagan, and therefore wanted to take Halloween off to 'celebrate' in her own way. Halloween is traditionally a Celtic pagan ceremony - also known as Samhain, which celebrates the dead with a festival on October 31 and usually features a bonfire and communion with the dead. Halloween is an important day to many Pagans (Stock Image) ( Getty Images/Image Source) The confused mother wrote: "My daughter wants the day of school tomorrow as it's Halloween. She is 14 and Pagan. She has an altar in her room, is often in there doing spells and rearranging her altar. "She says that legally she is allowed a day off to observe her religious holiday. She says many Muslims stayed off on Eid and it was recorded as an authorised absence. "She wants to spend the day arranging her room for a new start, do a cleansing ritual, and also a small bonfire ritual before she goes out with her friends after school. "I don't know. It is a special day to her and Pagans and I don't want to disrespect her beliefs but I feel like a bit of a t** ringing and saying that to school. "Should I allow it or send her in? She's been off for 10 days and only brought this up last week so I couldn't even check with the school prior." The post sparked a fierce debate with some parents confused as to why her daughter thought she could have the day off. One wrote: "I have to work on Ch){kind=link}
The woman wanted some advice on whether or not she could keep her 14-year-old Pagan daughter off school for Halloween because she said she wanted the day off to ‘celebrate’
During the year, regardless of religion, there are many holidays to be celebrated, and they are embraced by society as we appreciate the fact that not everybody celebrates the same things. Whatever we choose to celebrate is completely a personal choice, but when it comes to keeping children off school – parents have differing ideas.
One woman took to Mumsnet to explain that her 14-year-old daughter is a Pagan, and therefore wanted to take Halloween off to ‘celebrate’ in her own way. Halloween is traditionally a Celtic pagan ceremony – also known as Samhain, which celebrates the dead with a festival on October 31 and usually features a bonfire and communion with the dead.
The confused mother wrote: “My daughter wants the day of school tomorrow as it’s Halloween. She is 14 and Pagan. She has an altar in her room, is often in there doing spells and rearranging her altar. “She says that legally she is allowed a day off to observe her religious holiday. She says many Muslims stayed off on Eid and it was recorded as an authorised absence. “She wants to spend the day arranging her room for a new start, do a cleansing ritual, and also a small bonfire ritual before she goes out with her friends after school. “I don’t know. It is a special day to her and Pagans and I don’t want to disrespect her beliefs but I feel like a bit of a t** ringing and saying that to school. “Should I allow it or send her in? She’s been off for 10 days and only brought this up last week so I couldn’t even check with the school prior.”
The post sparked a fierce debate with some parents confused as to why her daughter thought she could have the day off.