Changing the Date of Halloween: Shaun Hautly

In my life I've had several opportunities to embrace or challenge tradition. I served as vice-president of my college fraternity and my family has run a business for over 75 years. I'm no stranger to the entertaining traditions and the sticks-in-the-mud which hardly get humored any longer. So when I hear about a movement to change Halloween from the 31st, to a more Thanksgivingesque last-Saturday-of-October, I know well enough to evaluate it a bit.

The two sides of the coin are the "it's always been the 31st, who are we to change it, besides, why change it just so corporations can make more money?" Versus "It'd be better for the kids and young-adults who enjoy celebrating the holiday." Both sides can hold water, but for me this is a holiday that's mobile. Thanksgiving celebrates when we finally brought people to America and dined with the Natives (prior to that whole "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" thing) and such a momentous occasion moves from year to year. Other holidays like Jesus' birthday, the day we signed the Declaration of Independence, and the day we trust a groundhog to predict the weather, are days that rightfully have earned a date on the calendar. Perhaps celebrating candy, low-cut nurses outfits, and drinking alcohol with dry-ice in it, has yet to solidify its place on our Gregorian calendar.

However, no one knows how to change it. A retail store is petitioning congress, but since it's not a federal holiday, there's not much we can do about it. If someone really really feels strongly about "All Hallows Eve," and it's religious implications, let them have the 31st, but for the rest of us, maybe we can just wait until Saturday to walk around town with a pillow case and a mask. Boo!

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