An amusing thread on rec.arts.comics.strips that telynor suggested I share here.

Someone was commenting on the comic strip Broom Hilda not mentioning Halloween, and finding that odd. This led to the following exchange between me and another poster:

Him: “This was covered in the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Actual witches, vampires, demons, etc. tend to distance themselves from the tasteless, commercial mess that mortals have made of Halloween.”

Me: “Most of my Wiccan friends delight in the spectacle of Halloween, while still observing Samhain as a religious holiday, in much the same way that many Christians enjoy the festivities of Christmas without forgetting the spiritual reason for the holiday.”

Him: “That was covered on Buffy as well. Willow refers to Wiccans as “wanna-blessed-be’s”. In the Buffyverse, real witches create time rifts, do battle with gods, flay their enemies alive, try to destroy the world, etc. And that’s just one of the “good” witches, mind you. You don’t want to meet one of the nastier ones.”

Me: “Yes, of course. I keep forgetting how Buffy is a documentary”