Halloween always on Saturday

[dsgnz]

For some reason everyone keeps saying don't take the 31st away. That was not the idea at all. I find it funny that most that are against celbrating on the last saturday of the month go on to admit they are already doing that with their parties etc. Therefore it is just a matter of not letting the kids have the same leeway that these people are already practicing. Trick or treat on the last Saturday and on the 31st if you want.

Having November 1st be a national holiday would solve it all and Halloween does deserve its own holiday being second only to Christmas in celebration but that would require government intervention and no one wants that.

A couple of years back it was mid week but it also rained very hard on Halloween night and the kids didn't get to trick-or-treat and there were no parties set up because it was mid week and the rain wasn't expected (at least not to be so strong and storm all night). Of course all the adults had their parties the previous Saturday and my son asked why adults can change the celebration to where its convenient but the kids can't change when they go trick-or-treating especially when it is supposed to be such a kid oriented holiday. That is what started the whole idea.

No one is suggesting that the 31st be done away with. only for it to be okay and even common for people to trick-or-treat on the last Saturday of the month. Hell let it go on from that Satuday until the 31st. I'm all for it lasting all week if not all month *wink*

November 1st could be declared Rememberance day considering that the whole holiday is based on the those that died the previous year coming back. As I said that requires government though and the last Saturday thing can be grass roots.

Also a lot of people are saying you can't go and change a sacred holiday to a floating holiday. Well isn't Easter considered a sacred holiday and it is on a floating Sunday and people aren't jumping up and down saying it needs a set date. What gives?

Anyway just some thoughts. Either way I hope everyone has a great Halloween and as many as possible get out there and go trick-or-treating and make a whole night of it.

[Winnie Sanderson]

You know what I just thought of? How cool would it be if Halloween was like that movie Groundhog's Day?

It wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit!!! LOL

[dsgnz]

Easter is a floating holiday and Thanksgiving is also a floating holiday and what it celebrates can be traced to an actual date.

If you look into Halloween you will find that it was originally a Celtic observence that around the last day of the Celtic Summer after the summer harvest (which wasn't always on a certain date but near the end of their summer) the peoples thought that the ones that had died the previous year came back in an attempt to haunt and possess the living. They would wear costumes, build bonfires, and put out things to scare off the "spirits" i.e. chimes, bells, etc. Further, the early Christians use to celebrate their version of the holiday on the first Sunday after Pentecost (a floating Sunday). The Romans also played around with it a bit and eventually Pope Gregory IV standardized the date (but it is stated he did so without the date of the Celtic celebration in mind) and with a tweak here and there we have what we have today.

As it began as a Celtic tradition if you look into it there is much disagreement as to the actual Celtic calendar of old and although you may find halloween related sites stating Celtic summer ended on the 31st most historians believe that summer ended well before October 31st and The Oxford dictionary listed it as beginning May 1st and ending the first Saturday of October as it has been accepted and changed by each culture that adopted it there is no reason to believe that the 31st of October has anything to do with the original date of the Celtic celebration. Then we throw in a leap year for good measure every now and again and make sure it is impossible to be exactly on any ACTUAL date. So the argument that it is supposed to be exactly on the 31st because of its ancestory is moot. Historians state that there is no evidence that the celebration was held on an actual date or even in October for that matter only that it was after the summer harvest.

Go here for a bit of info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

[William]

Yep let's leave it onthe 31' ist i mean all the year i w8 for this date to come , and wheni enter Octomber, it's like wow,something happens with me so leave it as it will's

[LittleDollClaudia]

Hi dsgnz,
I would like to think I speak for a lot of the members on the board when I say this. Although the history of All Hallow's Eve is a grand study and more people could do well to learn it, I do believe the "tradition" of Halloween being on the 31st is what we adhere to. As Easter and Thanksgiving occur on different days each year, we adapt to that. But Christmas and Fourth of July are on the same date each year and we adapt to whatever day it happens to fall on. It is that routine that we as a society have followed for many years. So many folks look forward to that last day of the month no matter what day it falls on that it is like Christmas for people, a grand event. Especially people on this board. And that's my two cents.

:gets off her soapbox and continues decorating:

[Bafa]

I was excited to be in my new home for our first Halloween. We were in a nice neighborhood and were expecting a good sized trick or treat crowd and this would be our first ever. We were not disappointed! It was a blast and so was the year after.

Then came the year that The Greenville News stole Halloween. They took it upon themselves to declare that Sunday was not a good day for Halloween and posted in the paper that it would be done on Saturday instead. Well that sealed it. No trick or treaters on Sat or Sun. The next year maybe 1/5 of what we had before and it has been so ever since.

We are hoping for more action this year. My wife was not allowed to celebrate it growing up, so we make up for it now by making a really big deal of it. We both try to have off work for the day. Anyway, quit messing with holidays and let 'em land were they may.

[dsgnz]

You keep saying quit messing with holidays and let them land where they may but Americans don't do that. Almost every holiday is not left to land where it may. Labor Day, Vetran's Day, Easter, President's Day, Thanksgiving, etc. There are all floating holidays and many can be traced back to an actual date and I am sure Lincoln and Washington were born on different days. So then it is just Christams and the 4th but unlike Christmas and the fourth of July Halloween does not have its day(s) off holiday as they do. As I said I am all for November 1st (Hallows Day, All Saints Day, All Souls Day) being declared a holiday for Halloween (All Hallows Eve) and the Halloween celebration just as New Year's Day is the holiday for the New Year's Eve celebration. That would solve things as Halloween would be on the 31st (unchanged) and the next day would be free giving it all a more party feel and the holiday it deserves if you get my meaning. Yet to get the 1st as a holiday requires government intervention. Maybe if enough people write to their congressman nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

I know there will be those that say Halloween is associated with demons and witches and the like and it is against the religious right to celebrate such a thing with a holiday. Then just call it rememberance day, a day to honor your loved ones that have passed or ancestry day or something that kinda follows the idea of All Saints Day, All Souls Day, All Hallows Day, or Day of the Dead but applies to even those that dislike Halloween (yes they are out there he he). That way Halloween gets the holiday it deserves and think how cool it would be when the 31st fell on Thursday. You'd get Fri. off as the holiday and then the whole weekend. Yeah. Maybe it will be like Thanksgiving where most go ahead and take the Fri. off also we will take the rest of the week off when it falls at the end of the week or go ahead and take Mon. and Tue. off it it falls on Mon. making for a very cool Halloween weekend. I really don't want to change the day Halloween is on I just want more time to enjoy it. My dad was born on Halloween and me Nov., 2nd so I have always enjoyed the end of the month 10/31 celebration I just think Halloween deserves its own holiday giving everyone that much more of a holiday feel and that much more time to enjoy it.

The thing is that Halloween deserves a holiday. It is the second most celebrated holiday other than Christmas and has sales of related items only second to Christmas. The numbers are astounding and far outweigh Easter, July 4th, Vetrans Day, Labor day, President's Day, New Years, Thanksgiving, and MLK day (I think that's all the recognized observed holidays minus flag day which some states observe as a holiday) probably even put together. Christmas gets a whole season *sigh*. Doesn't Halloween deserve a free day. I think so and that was more my idea but by suggesting the last Saturday thing was a way the people could get it done without the government. Heres an idea . Everybody start using one of their vacation/sick days on the first of Nov. and let the kids miss school that day (one day won't kill 'em and you can claim it is a religious holiday to you ). When the majority of the nation starts not showing up on All Hallows Day it will just eventually become a holiday like the Fri. after Thanksgiving. We all know damn well that New year's Day is not a holiday because we want to enjoy the new year's first day, its because everyone is too trashed after bringing it in the night before on New Year's Eve <grin> (one of my favorite things is to get up early on New Year's Day and notice how much a ghost town the city is as everyone sleeps it off ). Halloween should be the same as it has many night parties and revelry and night time activities and is an Eve celebration (All Hallow's Eve) and midnight "the witching hour" would be that much cooler. Halloween night would be that much more fun and extended knowing you were off the next day.

Anyway just some more thoughts on it and I hope everyone has a great Halloween this year. If I could just get the rain to stop and the storms to quit blowing over all my decorations... Enjoy All

[mandy0221]

I agree to leave Halloween as it is.....BUT....my solution is have schools give kids the day after Halloween off!!!!!!!

Then I think it can be much mroe enjoyable. I am a nanny for 3 kids and the poor things only get to go out for about 30 to 45 minutes then have to rush home to get all their homework finished, baths and then right into bed so they can wake up at 7am for school the next day. Plus their parents dont even get home until after work so it is just a rushed night.

[ElMuertoMan17]

Even though I voted yes because it is convenient that Halloween is on a Saturday. It makes Halloween reminiscent of religions holidays(i.e. on the last Sunday of the month, day of the sabbath etc etc) and I believe that Halloween should be kept away from religious stuffs. I really don't know, on one hand it is convenient, on the other hand it makes it seem like a religious holiday I don't know.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. TRADITION calls for Halloween on the 31st. I do think that October 31st, Halloween, should be made a national holiday. Just like Labor Day or Memorial Day, it should be a day that all schools and the like are closed.

There are a lot of wasted holidays out there if anyone thinks we have too many holidays. Lincolns Birthday and Presidents Day are not very well observed for their purpose. We could eliminate one of those, and make Halloween the Holiday. Better yet, let's get rid of Columbus day as an official holiday and replace it with Halloween as the official holiday.

Mike