Pagan Journeys
Sabbats/Holidays and Esbats => Sabbats/Holidays => Samhain or All Hallows Eve => Topic started by: Mongo on February 14, 2012, 12:19:13 AM
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A growing number of areas are considering changing the date of Halloween to the last Saturday of the month.
For example: Indtead of doing the Halloween stuff (Trick-or-treating, Parties, etc) on Wednesday the 31 this year, it would fall on Saturday the 27th.
Personally I'm all for it. Reasons:
It's not on a school - This means that you are not keeping kids up later than they ought to and are not getting them over-excited on a school night.
It's not on a work night - With places running Trick-or-treat hours, many of these places run these hours from 5-7. Which if you are a parent that works until 5pm and don't get home in time, you either miss out on the fun of handing out the candy or the fun of taking your child out trick-or-treating.
Safer - Since places are doing this from 5-7, on a work night these are rush hour times. That and if you as a parent are home, you can escort the children yourself instead of trusting to luck or the potentially easily distracted older children.
You can do more fun things for children - A popular thing when Halloween is on a Friday or a Saturday night is to have lock-in parties for kids/teenagers. You drop them off at a safe and supervised location, they get locked in where they stay up as late as they want/can and you pick them up in the morning and they can sleep it off.
But as I stated, you can only do that two times in what seems to be a seven-year period.
We adults can have more fun - By letting the kids stay at lock-ins, or staying at a friend's house for an overnight, or by paying a babysitter then we adults can slip out and enjoy a night of fun as well.
There is no impact on those who celebrate Halloween as a religious holiday - Most of the "fun" things about Halloween is the non-religious activities. Most people aren't even aware the significance of the holiday and to them it's a bunch of kids celebrating a Halmark sponsered "Shake down the neighborhood for swag" night.
Those who do celebrate Samhain or All Hallows Eve would not be effected by this and in fact (with the exception of those times when the calendar falls on the Saturday) may even allow those folks to enjoy both the Sabbat and the "fun"
So...thoughts?
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Interesting. I hadn't heard about that. Then again, I avoid the news like the plague these days. :whistle:
I don't have any kids around anymore, and we haven't had trick-or-treaters for a couple of years, but I'm all for it. If I still had kids to take out trick-or-treating, I'd definitely push for it. ;)
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Interesting. I hadn't heard about that. Then again, I avoid the news like the plague these days. :whistle:
Even if you did listen to the news, it's a small group of communities that are pushing for it. There are a lot in Maryland that are considering it, but it's not all that widespread. And certainly not in the areas that really enjoy Halloween.
But there are a lot of people who are up in arms over it. The local group of Fluffy Bunnies I have to <shudder> deal with are acting all butt-hurt over the "desecration of an important holiday for us witches". I've mentioned that I was all for it since I could party and celebrate the secular holiday of Halloween and still celebrate Samhain on a different night.
But as I'm not one of their crowd and tend to...well...actually use my brain for something other than keeping the wind from whistling around in my skull, they tend to think I'm the Wiccan anti-christ.
Yes, they actually called me that.
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:rotflmao:
You do attract the most "interesting" people Mongo. :whistle:
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I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I can definitely see the advantages of celebrating on a Saturday (definitely makes setting up and doing our garage a lot less stressful on the weekend) and does allow for us to have a party for the kids if we want. I'm something of a sentimental when it comes to holidays though and find it frustrating to have tradition turned on its ear for the sake of convenience. I was frustrated beyond belief when they decided to make Martin Luther King's birthday a holiday, but opted for the typical monday closest to the actual day instead of the actual day. Then again, my reasons for that were selfish. I wanted my birthday off of school. :whistle:
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I have always thought this would be a good idea for the reasons you listed.
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Hmm, something I'll have to really ponder as a parent and as a Pagan. I like the idea of keeping the "Holy" day Holy and separating the fun to another day, but at the same time, just because Christmas was Christmas and I got to open presents doesn't mean I was safe from Mass the same day. Interesting, interesting.
I wonder if that'll spread to this coast, anyhow.
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Actually, it seems pretty wide-spread, if not all that popular yet. Around here, the parties and parades tend to be on the week-ends...
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I don't think I would like it. My spiritual celebration involves the kids' fun. So if they separated the two then I'd end up celebrating twice or moving my spiritual celebration to the day chosen for the secular celebration. I'm a bit like Fox in that I enjoy the tradition/history and it bugs a little that we would change the day for convenience.
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I don't think I would like it. My spiritual celebration involves the kids' fun. So if they separated the two then I'd end up celebrating twice or moving my spiritual celebration to the day chosen for the secular celebration. I'm a bit like Fox in that I enjoy the tradition/history and it bugs a little that we would change the day for convenience.
Yup. To me the entire day is an observance. If I can get the entire day off, I spend part of the day picking local apples, and getting pie & cider, in Oak Glen (a little apple-growing village here in So CA.) I put the black robe on as soon as I can... it's the only day of the year you can wear it about without looking too freakish. :whistle:
The latter half of the day is devoted to costumes, kids, & candy. As the trick-r-treating winds down I jump in the kitchen and whip up a huuuuuuge batch of colcannon.... which is usually washed down with ale, hard cider, or both. Then a movie. Later, after the wife & cubs are tucked in, I do my ritual thing. It's almost a sunrise-to-sunrise affair. Yes, it's draining, and yes, I'm wiped out the next day, but I wouldn't change it.
I think for most of us here, Hallows ain't just a day...