Saw this on Instagram and it instantly chapped my posterior. The proposition is to OFFICIALLY/NATIONALLY move Halloween to the last Saturday in October via petitions and awareness.
Probably will never happen, but nowadays, who knows? And a quick internet search revealed that this has been a years-long debate with more articles supporting the move than opposing it.
Imagine altering an ancient holiday's calendar date because you find it inconvenient for your fun. Imagine claiming to love a holiday, and then wanting to change it to serve you.
Though there's something appealing about setting up my Haunt on October 31st for a handful of hardcore trick-or-treaters and their parents who reject this crazy notion. And then turning the porch light off on that last Saturday in October.
Here's the site:
22 comments:
How about we start a petition to make Halloween an actual PAID holiday.
And we can start another one to make a new holiday .......... The Purge.
Right, thats so everyone can get stupid drunk and still recover for monday.
As your President, I would make Halloween and November 1st a National Holiday! Please vote for me.... ;)
I’m speechless. But I’m also not. I mean, the site is laughable. “Saturday is be actual Halloween.” So nobody checked the grammar on it? Those stock photos are stupid and the whole reasoning behind the why is LAME. Not to mention entitled. Then there’s the weird aspect of these fools telling me how my kids will benefit and how they can wear their costumes to school and also in the evening. Uhm, ok weirdos why don’t you just mind your own business? Lol
Yeah this bothers me.
ShellHawk for Prez.
Yeah...weird site, but it made me look it up and I was horrified to find a ton of news features expressing this same notion.
Though I think Halloween on a weeknight is safer for kids. If Halloween were on a Saturday every year, it'd be a big party night with a lot of intoxicated driving no doubt. More danger for kids. So hopefully this is something that keeps this crazy idea from becoming reality.
I've heard that some also want to change Independence Day to the Friday or Monday nearest July 4. Because people want a three day weekend instead of having a day off in the middle of the week. Our ancestors must be spinning in their graves at today's society ...
This idea offends me greatly. While I do like it when Halloween falls naturally on Fridays and Saturdays, it makes them really special. As a “stay up late” holiday, this only really affects you as you get older. For most kids, the bulk of their ToT time is in elementary and middle school when you get little to no homework and you arent going to be staying out too late anyways. (Maybe you are by middle school, but that makes those weekend Halloweens special) When it falls on a weekday, you really dont notice as a kid. Do I notice as an adult? Sure. But its also my favorite holiday and I do not have the luxury of being able to take time off around Halloween, otherwise I’d be like Rot and take a week vacation every end of October. There is so much lore that goes with the 31st that makes it way too cool to change.
Also, I agree with Shell, I have thougt of this national holiday idea as well.
oh man!!! so as i'm reading this..i don't know why, but, i just start gettin the creeps REAL hard. creepy hard..like the way a cult feels. i guess it's silly to feel that way, but man..i still can't shake the feeling. then it got me thinking about Halloween III & the whole Silver Shamrock/Conal Cochran fiasco. it also felt sorta Stepford Wives to me too? sickening feeling..brrrrrr. i think this whole, whatever it is..would make for a really cool & spooked up horror movie. definitely a trick & NOT a treat.
a tour guide in Nola once told me that Halloween can be claimed as a religious holiday/holy day..if it's your religion thing. i always thought that was nice.
Yes - time for it to be a paid holiday. Why not get rid of labor day? We have not supported unions in this country for years nor valued workers. It is a bit of a joke.
I agree with Rot, if it was always on Saturday the holiday but definitely turn into a Mardi Gras kind of event. Having a fall on a different night every year feels like it will be tied to the original intention of a holiday. We don’t change the Fourth of July to 6 of July because of a weekend one year right?
Nope. This will not stand. Have a fucking Halloween party the weekend prior if you want to dress up and get smashed. If someone has a Halloween party on a Tuesday and the guests inevitably go to work hungover, that's just irresponsible. Halloween should not be moved so people can hide their excuses to drink from employers. Further, pre-Halloween parties are great because they celebrate the days leading up to THE DAY. That's part of the Halloween season.
I bet there are more of us than them. If word ever gets out to the mainstream this is a thing, people like us will start our own petition. In Halloweekend USA's words, "[t]he online petitions on whitehouse.gov must be given fair consideration when they accumulate over 100,000 signatures." We have that. Easy.
I had a huge fight with our "city manager" a few years ago when Halloween fell on a Sunday and they decided to move Halloween to Friday. WTH??? Of course, whenever you are dealing with government officials, my pleas fell on deaf ears. Guess what happened? I had trick or treaters knocking on my door Friday, Saturday and Sunday, apparently everyone didn't get the menu.....Of course my big show was only done on Sunday....that was a bad year for me. :(
I wanted to add that there is definently something magical that happens on the last night of October, and no other night. There is a very different feel on that night compared to any other night. The other nights of October are a build up of anticipation and November 1st is a depressing day because the magic of the night before has gone, returned to the realm from whence it came. In college, we had Halloween parties on the Saturday before the actual day and while it was fun, it did not take away from the fact that Halloween had not happened yet. You cant change a date and bring the magic with it.
As stupid as this idea is, in our politically correct climate, I would not be surprised for this to gain traction. It will come from ever more over protective parents who do not appreciate what Halloween really means. Just like those towns that arbitrarily move the day or set the official time of Halloween in the name of supposed safety, ignoring that the point of the holiday is something of a right of passage that happens organically. Hopefully, if it did start to gain traction there would be enough traditionalists to vote to keep it the same.
Sorry for yet another post, but I just read the website. They are clearly a bunch of Millenials who want to party. Their proposition focuses entirely on adults not being hung over at work, the kids are an after thought. Their idea is that kids ToT on Friday night BEFORE the actual holiday. That way adults are “free” to party on this new Halloween Saturday night. Not only does this move the date, but changes the entire makeup of the holiday. So what happens if adults dont want to or do not have a party to go to? What do the parents do with the kids on Saturday night? Basically according to them real Halloween becomes the Last Friday of October. They seem to forget the only reason we care about Halloween as adults is due to our experience as kids ToTing.
The funny thing about their idea is that they could basically make it happen now without any official changes. Most Halloween parties do take place the weekend before Halloween. I dont think many adults have weekday parties just to make it fall on the actual holiday. Like I said in my first post, most kids are not over tired due to Halloween falling on a weekday. I teach 6th grade and honestly, smart phones and social media and parents who dont pay attention to either of those two things cause kids to stay up way too late most nights. I dont remember ever being over tired on November 1. If anything you are running on a post Halloween high as a kid.
It really annoys me more that they want to change this clearly for selfish reasons. They like dressing up in slutty costumes and getting drunk so they came up with an idea that they think would appeal to young adults and parents. They even throw in these videos about the lore of Halloween to “prove” their authenticity. I see it as hypocrisy.
Preposterous!!! October 31st was the pagan New Year!!! It is the night before the Dark Half of the year begins! This is not, like, the Super Bowl or Teacher Appreciation Day or something.
Mandating a "floating" designation for Halloween is even more insane than that other ridiculous "we'll just alter space and time" idea, Daylight Savings Time! >_<
I'm furious.
i'll never forget Hurricane Sandy 2012..the year Halloween was pretty much destroyed & it was actually cancelled all together in New Jersey!! "NO candy for sandy" they said. man..it was NOT a good Fall to say the least. Now..while the circumstances differ from the ones surrounding this weird & sinister article..NOTHING felt right that year. Autumn was ruined..The year without a proper Halloween. i'll NEVER forget how i felt.
mess with tradition & tragedy may come knocking at your door.
What if the same proposal was focused on Christmas day? We could change that out of 'convenience' too. I have to think that one would be stomped out before it even got started.
Like the above comments I have enjoyed setting a Halloween party date the weekend before the event. All would be set up and ready for the high holiday. And there's something significant about Nov. 1st the day after. I know it's the Day of the Dead in Hispanic culture...which dovetails nicely but it also marks the beginning of the winter season....or perhaps the end of Fall. How many times have I had to scramble to pull props in because of impending rain storms?...It's really a rite of passage. I sincerely hope this 'thing' doesn't catch on. Does this reflect the lack of passing on of traditions?
Autumnleaf..i can't think of a better or lovelier ending to Halloween than the Days of the Dead. such beautiful holy days & in a strange way they allow me to celebrate Halloween solely on its own as i walk thru the neighbourhoods one last time..saying goodbye to favourite haunts/decorations & snapping some pics for rainy day peeps.<3
It will never happen. I spend the whole month decorating for the High Holiday. I typically will attend some neighborhood event the weekend before to get a few extra scares in. Halloween is the final hurrah. Folks want to enjoy and have time use your PTO like I do. You dont want your kids tired for school the next day, homeschool and they have the day off. When I had a walk through yard haunt we ran two weekends before Halloween and then the day of. Neighbors were fine with it.
ShellHawk, you have my vote!! Can you also get rid of Daylight Savings Time while you're at it?
This is crazy! You want a real Halloween petition, how about ban "Glitter" from any decoration!
For the love of all that is Halloween, who the heck created that page? It reads like a horribly written persuasive report by someone with a very immature and selfish mentality. 'A fan of Halloween' huh? Sounds like they are mostly worried about leaving a Halloween party early, as that is mentioned twice in the write up. Take November 1st off. Problem solved. Sheesh.
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