{"id":15239,"date":"2019-07-30T03:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=15239"},"modified":"2019-07-26T18:15:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-27T00:15:46","slug":"no-were-not-moving-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2019\/07\/no-were-not-moving-halloween.html","title":{"rendered":"No, We\u2019re Not Moving Halloween!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As a kid \u2013 what seems like a million years ago \u2013 I always knew the dates of the really important holidays. Christmas is December 25 and Halloween is October 31.<\/p>\n

I knew New Year\u2019s Day is January 1 and the Fourth of July is the Fourth of July. And I knew Labor Day is the first Monday in September, because school always started the Tuesday after Labor Day (which is when it should start, dammit!).<\/p>\n

The rest of the holidays, well, go look at a calendar. They\u2019re complicated. But Halloween \u2013 the second most important day, even more important than my birthday \u2013 was and is October 31.<\/p>\n

Now some people want to change this.<\/p>\n

The Halloween & Costume Association started a change.org petition<\/a> to move Halloween to the last Saturday in October. It gives six reasons for the request. However, five of the six are safety related concerns that have nothing to do with when kids go trick or treating.<\/p>\n

The final reason says \u201c51% Of Millennials say Halloween is their favorite holiday, why cram it into 2 rushed evening weekday hours when it deserves a full day!?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Disingenuous as this campaign may be \u2013 its real goal is to increase Halloween-related buying \u2013 it\u2019s not categorically wrong. There would be advantages to always celebrating Halloween on a Saturday. But when we consider everything involved, Halloween needs to stay right where it is.<\/p>\n

$\"Halloween$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Halloween has deep roots<\/h1>\n
As most Pagans \u2013 and an increasing number of other folks \u2013 know, Halloween began as the Celtic holy day of Samhain. The word is pronounced \u201cSOW-en\u201d and it means \u201csummer\u2019s end.\u201d The weather is cooling, the harvest is over, and the farm animals you don\u2019t want to feed through the winter are slaughtered. Winter is coming.<\/p>\n
For modern Pagans, Samhain is a time to honor and commune with our ancestors. It\u2019s also a time to think about death and explore the Otherworld, so that when death comes for us \u2013 as it will eventually come for everyone \u2013 we will not be afraid.<\/p>\n
Also, here in Texas summer\u2019s end really is something to celebrate.<\/p>\n
For Christians \u2013 especially Catholics and Anglicans \u2013 All Hallow\u2019s Eve is the beginning of three days of celebration, followed by All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2.<\/p>\n
While the custom of going door to door asking for treats, money, or other donations has many expressions in many lands, trick or treating as we practice it today is largely an American invention. Jason Mankey has an excellent history<\/a> on his blog if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n
For all these centuries, Samhain and then Halloween and now Samhain again have been celebrated on October 31. Why should we change now?<\/p>\n

Saturday night Pagan circles<\/h1>\n
Except we kinda already have. Like the vast majority of Pagan groups, Denton CUUPS<\/a> holds our public rituals on Saturday nights. If Samhain or the Winter Solstice falls on a Friday we\u2019ll celebrate then, but otherwise it\u2019s the Saturday closest to the holiday. It\u2019s simple demographics: Denton is a college town and a suburb where most people work days, Monday through Friday. If we want a good turnout, we have to hold our circles on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, we don\u2019t move Ostara or Beltane or any of the other high days to Friday even if that\u2019s when they occur. Our wider community relates to Samhain and the Winter Solstice as specific days. The rest of the high days, not so much.<\/p>\n
In the US, employers are not required to give employees time off for religious holidays. They are required to make \u201creasonable accommodations\u201d and to not discriminate between religions. But even if they let you off they are not required to pay you.<\/p>\n
I could probably arrange to be off for all eight of the high days. Some of them will fall on Saturday or Sunday, and because I\u2019ve been with the same employer for 22 years I have enough vacation time for the rest. But most people simply can\u2019t do this without putting their livelihood at risk.<\/p>\n
People who work in retail, food service, and emergency services have this problem no matter which set of holidays they celebrate. There was a time when virtually everything except hospitals shut down for major holidays. Now the Black Friday Retail Arms Race<\/a> has extended to pretty much every day of the year except for Christmas.<\/p>\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Overscheduling October 31<\/h1>\n
One of the things I\u2019ve noticed over the years is that when our Samhain circle is on the 31^{st<\/sup> we\u2019re always missing a few people. Total attendance may actually be higher, but people with kids have to choose \u2013 do I go to Samhain or do I take the kids trick or treating? I remember things I missed out on as a kid because it happened on Sunday night or Wednesday night and my parents said \u201cwe have to go to church.\u201d I\u2019ve never heard of anybody telling their kids \u201cwe can\u2019t go trick or treating because we have to go to the Samhain ritual\u201d but I\u2019m still uneasy about the whole thing.<\/p>\n}
Halloween isn\u2019t just for kids<\/a> anymore. It\u2019s become quite popular with adults. We\u2019re forced into cubicles and dress codes and other forms of conformity all year long \u2013 we need a time when we can be something else. Beyond that, it\u2019s just fun, whether your idea of \u201cadult Halloween\u201d is sexy or scary or both (I like both).<\/p>\n
If we move Halloween to Saturday every year, there will be more parties for the adults. The members of the Halloween & Costume Association will see their businesses grow, which isn\u2019t a bad thing, even though it isn\u2019t the primary goal of Halloween. But then every year parents will be forced to choose between parties for themselves or trick or treating for the kids.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep Halloween for the kids<\/h1>\n
Let\u2019s leave the 31^{st<\/sup> for trick or treating. Where I\u2019ve lived it usually starts about 6:00, peaks about 7:00, and is over by 8:00. That\u2019s not \u201ctwo rushed hours\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s the endurance level and attention span of your typical costume-wearing child.<\/p>\n}
Oh, and while we\u2019re at it, let\u2019s move the end of Daylight Saving Time back to the last Sunday in October. Nobody who\u2019s ever seen a horror movie wants to dress up as a monster while the sun is still up.<\/p>\n
Adults can still have their Halloween parties \u2013 and Pagans can still have our Samhain circles \u2013 on the Saturday closest to the 31^{st<\/sup>. On the one year in seven when the 31^{st<\/sup> falls on a Saturday, we\u2019ll share like we do now.<\/p>\n}}
In a perfect world (perfect for me, anyway) Halloween would begin with trick or treating at sundown on October 31. Then about 9:00 everyone would gather for Samhain rituals, honoring and communing with their ancestors and exploring death and the Otherworld. And when the ritual was over, the party would begin and run well into the night. Which would be fine, because November 1 would be a civil holiday and nobody would have to be up early for work or school.<\/p>\n
The Christians can keep things running \u2013 we\u2019ll cover for them on December 25.<\/p>\n
But for now, schedule your adult activities on Saturday and leave Halloween alone on October 31.<\/p>\n
$\"Raven$ <\/a><\/p>\n
To be clear: not all Pagans celebrate Samhain, or any of the other holy days of the Wheel of the Year. Some ethnic reconstructionists have extensive liturgical calendars from ancient times, and I fully support their right to hold their celebrations on the days that seem appropriate to them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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