Religious zealots complain about the increasing tendency of the popular mind to make the association between Halloween and secular or pagan imagery. What is really amusing is the utter seriousness with which they disregard the fact that Halloween predates Christianity by thousands of years. The Halloween we celebrate today is drawn mostly from the pagan parts, the Jack-o’-lanterns, the dressing up as ghosts, witches, etc. These days it’s pretty secular even on a Sunday Halloween.
Of course, the reason ostensibly given for Saturday night Halloweening is that it will keep the holiday from interfering with Sunday night church activities. If we follow this strange logic when Christmas or some other holiday falls on a Sunday, shouldn’t we also designate it for another day for the same reason, to eliminate any possible distraction for church-goers? That would be crazy, right?
I cannot resist thinking that every day must feel like Halloween for Christians. After all, they imagine angels and demons at war for their “souls,” and worship assorted spirits with which they claim to be able to communicate.
Typically, when Halloween falls on a Sunday it simply means double the fun, and people can usually expect trick-or-treaters two nights in a row. When TN residents were asked how they felt about the age-old debate on the News Channel 5 website, answers were mixed but the majority who commented preferred keeping the Halloween hoopla on Halloween.
The city of Mt. Juliet Tennessee where I live has officially decided to keep the holiday on its proper day and observe the fun on October the 31st 2010. This is a rather progressive move considering I live where the majority of the folks are religious by diffusion.
Happy haunting all!
2 thoughts on “Sunday Halloween”
You are missing the point. Halloween is as much a tradition as any “sabbath” day. If you read the post you noted that the festival Halloween is based on came scores of years before any xstain religion. The xstain church are the ones that moved it to this date in the first place, now they want to mobilize that date to suite them again. Its a shame. If a politician were as wishy wasy as xstians about some things no one would vote for them. Glad to see you had the nerve to stand up and speak your mind though. Cheers..
I came across your article as I was searching out practices in other regions when Halloween falls on a Sunday.
I live in Salt Lake City and, in our faith, we trick or treat on Saturday, October 30th, because it trick or treating is not generally considered keeping the sabbath day holy. It has nothing to do with conflicting with other church activities.
It makes a lot of non religious people here irritated. We do try to not get in anyone’s way. We have Trunk or Treat activities in our church parking lots on Saturday, to which the entire neighborhood is invited.
We also try to trick or treat on Saturday only at houses with the porch light on (there are so many people of our faith in our area, it’s hard to know who will be giving out candy and who will not). However, many people keep their lights on Saturday night and STILL growl at trick or treaters who ring their bell on Saturday instead of Sunday.
Some non-religious people love the Saturday trick or treating because their children get 2 nights of trick or treating. But, many use it as an extra opportunity to complain about us.
I’m not sure what non-religious people want us to do instead of trick or treating on Saturday. Should we cease to follow our beliefs because they are not the same beliefs as others? If a large group of us have decided that we will accept trick or treaters the night before Halloween, isn’t it acceptable for our children to go to those homes? If someone who lives in our neighborhood and CERTAINLY is familiar enough with our faith to KNOW that some children will trick or treat on Saturday leaves their porch light on, do they really have a right to be upset when trick or treaters ring their bell Saturday night?
It is popular for non-religious people to gather partial facts and then use them to make fun of religious people for being illogical. Popular, but unreasonable, in my opinion.