The ‘Saturday Halloween Movement': A petition beseeches Trump to reschedule the spooky celebration
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Leave it to the calendar to put a major cramp in trick-or-treating.
Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year. Hump day, smack in the middle of the workweek. Hoping to help a child put the finishing touches on a Super Mario outfit? Better not get caught at the office. Planning to turn in early for school the next day? Better put down the Skittles.
A solution to this irksome scheduling has been suggested by the Halloween Industry Association, which represents companies whose interest in ensuring Americans can properly spook one another each year is hardly opaque. The group, which also calls itself the Halloween & Costume Association, is petitioning President Trump to move Halloween to the last Saturday of October.
It’s called the “Saturday Halloween Movement,” and it might just be the cause that can unite the country.
Who, after all, even knows why Halloween is observed on Oct. 31? The timing of the celebration reflects its origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when ghosts of the dead were believed to return and walk the Earth at the end of the harvest and on the cusp of winter, as the History Channel explains.
The Halloween industry says there are now more pressing concerns.
“It’s time for a Safer, Longer, Stress-Free Celebration!” the petition declares.
The petition marshals some grave statistics to prove its point. Each year, there are 3,800 Halloween-related injuries, the industry warns. Most parents don’t incorporate “high visibility aids” into their outfits, the petition notes, and most children don’t carry flashlights. Seventy percent of parents leave their children all alone to trick-or-treat, according to the industry, while more than half of millennials say Halloween is their favorite holiday. Why, the Halloween Industry is asking, “cram it into 2 rushed evening weekday hours when it deserves a full day!?!”
Nearly 6,000 signatories seem to agree.
I'm totally upset about this! Halloween is on October 31st not the last Saturday in October. ARGH!
This is a travesty and must be stopped!!!!!
You know what else is a travesty? The fact that Halloween is not considered a federal or major holiday in the ranks of Thanksgiving or X-mas. It's an outrage I tells you!
Yeah! Now I'm getting fired up.
Let's do this thing
Hmmmmm......maybe I spoke too soon.
Nope! You almost got me with that one though. No, I cannot be bought. No
Hmmm, you might be onto something there. Who doesn't love a 3-day weekend? Perhaps a Friday would be better? That way, it's a legitimate Friday off, followed by the weekend. Kids will also have the entire weekend to gorge on candy.
Like Thanksgiving. I'm starting to like this idea more and more.
Why Saturday? Friday nights always felt more celebratory and 'partyish' than Saturdays, to me at least.
When I was in my twenties I really, really, really wanted Halloween to be on Fridays every year, just for the sake of parties (same with St. Patrick's day), because hangovers in the middle of the work week sucked, and I always wished that the day after could be a sleep in, do nothing day.
But I also like the Oct 31 date. It's just so synonymous with Halloween, so now that I'm older I guess I'm torn on changing it.
I don't really care about the kids, though. They don't need hangover relief
, and they'd have the same couple hours of evening and twilight for trick-or-treating no matter what day of the week it is.
I like the idea, but 1) it's not a federal holiday, so I don't know what the government can do about it, and 2) the date derives from religious calendars, which might make it somewhat hard to change - especially for people from cultures that view the day from a more religious perspective.
My hometown used to have trick-or-treat on a weekday if Halloween fell on a Friday or Saturday. The reasoning was that teenagers would get up to fewer shenanigans on a school night. So they just got up to shenanigans for the whole month of October, instead
Mostly harmless stuff, smashed pumpkins and so forth.
I say leave it on the 31st, because that's when Halloween is.