“So, Professor, have you prepared treats for trick – or – treaters?” students asked me today.
I said yes and explained about the multicultural candy.
N and I made a point of getting home early, turned on the porch light, prepared the candy, and sat down to wait. Five hours later and not a single trick – or – treater in sight, we realized that something had gone terribly wrong. The street was empty and deserted and nobody’s lights were on.
So we went online to investigate. And that was when we discovered that our town had decided – for no reason we have been able to discern – to move Halloween this year to yesterday. It was held from noon till nine pm. I’m not sure who can be expected to be at home at noon on Thursday and why anybody would want to move Halloween. But here we are, having missed it completely and feeling like total immigrants.
At least, my students will be happy because I will give them the multicultural candy.
P.S. And please, please, please don’t tell me I should have asked colleagues with small children about Halloween’s date. Who in their right mind would even think of asking people if Halloween has, by any chance, been moved? It was done on October 31 last year. Google says Halloween is October 31. There are people in costumes all over the place every October 31, including today. How the flying fuck should I have known to ask?
One good thing is that I was too tired to get a costume tonight. Or I would feel even more stupid.
Clarissa's Blog 
1) Nobody trick or treats at noon. Not even small children who have to be carried around.
2) Were you both out that entire time yesterday? Surely you would have seen groups of kids traipsing around in the evening.
3) Also kids are usually thrilled to have Halloween on a Friday because it means no school the next day.
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Yes, we did see groups of kids dressed in costumes. BUT we’ve been seeing them every day since last Saturday. There are activities for kids all over town related to Halloween. Yesterday we couldn’t have down trick-or-treating even if we wanted to because we came home late. Thursday is our gym day and we stay there until past 9 pm. 😦 😦
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About twenty years ago, when I was stationed with the USAF in a small town north of Chicago, I had a similar experience. Several days before Halloween (the Sunday before), I got a knock on my front door in the early afternoon. When I opened it, my friendly neighbors were all standing there with their small children yelling, “Trick or treat.”
They explained that for safety’s sake, their town always had trick or treating the Sunday before the 31st of October during the daylight. (I hadn’t bought any candy yet, but fortunately, did have some fruit handy.) Somehow, the idea of trick or treating during daytime takes all the spooky fun out if it.
Here in Arizona the kids still go out on Halloween night by themselves (They’re probably all armed, anyway). So far though, no one’s come to my door. What the hell, I’ll just eat the candy myself over the next couple of weeks.
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“They explained that for safety’s sake, their town always had trick or treating the Sunday before the 31st of October during the daylight. ”
– It is good to know that we don’t live in the only weird town on the planet that has its own Halloween. I thought the point of country-wide holidays was to have them at the same time, together. Which brings me to the topic of the collapse of the nation-state. . . 🙂 🙂 Kidding!
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“I thought the point of country-wide holidays was to have them at the same time, together. Which brings me to the topic of the collapse of the nation-state. . . ” Are you kidding?? If you’re a child, the point of Halloween is to get lots of CANDY!
Did you know that Halloween is one of the most expensive holidays in the U.S., because of all the $$ that adults spend on their costumes?
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“If you’re a child, the point of Halloween is to get lots of CANDY!”
– Children are not the ones ho organize the holiday. And not the ones who decided to move it for no discernible reason!!!
“Did you know that Halloween is one of the most expensive holidays in the U.S., because of all the $$ that adults spend on their costumes?”
– I had no idea. I always just dress for Halloween the way I would dress in Ukraine on any regular day and people think it’s a costume.
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I live some hundreds of miles north of you. Our village decided several decades ago that Halloween was a “Moveable Feast” — for the “safety” of the children. I suspect we don’t have the only Officialdom who dictate when holidays will occur. BUT it was only 30 years ago, in this very same village, that my kids and all the others in the neighborhood, went “trick or treating” on Halloween accompanied by their parents or a similar caretaker. It was fun being the parent accompanying the kids since often there were “treats” for big people. On the other hand, the parent staying home was regaled by some really outlandish “very scary” kids. And it was ON that night. So, now Halloween slides from one date to another according to the “wisdom” of our village elders. I’m curious when they will decide that New Years Eve and Day need their “special” consideration. I also think we need to keep an eye on the dates for Thanksgiving.
Remember, there is next year. (Where is my “trick or treat”?)
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Am I correct that, given your far north location, that you’re talking about the Canadian Thanksgiving?
The American Thanksgiving has traditionally been observed on the last Thursday in November, but in 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt moved it to the NEXT to last Thursday, in an attempt to boost the economy by adding an extra week to the normal holiday shopping season.
Most Americans and hated the idea (It disrupted a lot of holiday travel plans), and Roosevelt’s political foes referred to the change as “Franksgiving.” In 1941 Congress permanently changed the holiday back to the last Thursday of the month.
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The next holiday we are doing is Thanksgiving. And I really hope nobody messes with it by banning turkeys or moving it to July! Or I will send Americanization to hell and just celebrate November 7th from then on, together with a red flag of the October revolution and all.
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But Thanksgiving was back in October! 🙂
[cue patriotic Canadian Thanksgiving music]
Why not celebrate 5 November, a day that shall never be forgot? 🙂
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No. I still resent the change of Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day — I like the word Armistice. I wasn’t fond of the addition of “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. It never seemed logical to me that God would have a favorite nation. I thought he was mainly concerned with people — a concern not necessarily shared by nations. I suspect George and Abe wouldn’t like the conveniently inclusive President’s Day eclipse of their individual birthday celebrations. Thanksgiving? Why would anyone choose a Thursday for a national holiday? Even mind numbed politicians should realize that the masses love three day weekends — though Thanksgiving is slowly evolving into a four day holiday. And I don’t say: “Oot.”
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Ach! I have to correct an error in the last sentence of my own comment (Dreidel, Nov 1, 2014@00:12):
Actually, in 1941 Congress permanently established Thanksgiving in the U.S. as the FOURTH Thursday of November. The fourth Thursday is usually the last Thursday in the month, but on occasional years there are five. The last time this occurred was in Nov 2012; the next will be in Nov 2017.
Merchants love it when this happens, because it extends the traditional holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas by an additional week.
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Thank you for the support, Walsh! What I don’t get is why Thursday is safer for Halloween than Friday. Is Friday a day of special criminality?
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More drunks on the motorways on Friday evenings?
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It doesn’t the matter the day, the Stasi parents just want to exert their control and send the message that nothing happens in their childrens’ lives without them.
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So you think this is just a form of exercising control? How bizarre and inconvenient to everybody. Surely, it must be better to do it not on a school night?
I’m still not getting this.
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“… the Stasi parents …”
Now I’m imagining little pug-nosed Goebbels and Goering pa-rental units goose-stepping around shopping centres with their children …
VEE MUST NOT STOP AT STARBUCKS COSTA IS BETTER STARBUCKS IS EEEEVIL
[ahem] 🙂
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If you want a real Halloween, listen to any Yankee speak. Bloated and full of fire power. I am just listening to a representative of the “alternative right”.
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I just hear the bloated comment, “[this misogynist killer] is not cheesy, he is real.”
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Now the commentator says, “No-one offered him masculine accomplishments!” in a droll voice. At least, from a rational perspective, this has to be taken as ironic.
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Excuse me, musteryou, but what in the world are you talking about?
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It can be hard to follow my talk unless you exert themagic focus power, which is unknown in the USA. I believe it is the magic turnip that fits well into your buttock when you do finally encounter it. Add a bit of chilly powder for good effectQ
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“I believe it is the magic turnip … add a bit of chilly powder for good effect.”
You haven’t seen an episode of “Jackass” from the USA, have you?
They do this sort of thing, and not just for Halloween. 🙂
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I’ve never seen it, but I have already entirely convinced that Americans enjoy this activity more than any other one that has ever been invented, either by them or by somebody else.
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I just wanted to share some candy… 🙂
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Ah…. 🙂
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Any? ANY?
Heaven forfend that you should have to endure the Transatlantic accent!
BTW, God speaks with a Transatlantic accent. 🙂
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This is the thing:
“Drop your r’s at the end of words, like in “fear” and “winner”.”
Drop your arse at the end of words.
You can speak like an Australian, too: Fee-yah. And Win-nah.
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Is there anyway I can send a pic of my oldest in the costume I made for her about 35 years ago? In today’s $$$ I would guess the cost to be from $7.00 to $9.00. And I think that is a high side estimate.
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Send it to the blog email!
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Now the Yankee on high-hitting YouTube channel is literally quoting the bible to back up his psychological views. This is true loserdom.
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This is really good for Halloween. This guy has the total insight into my butt-hole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aEnBqOlHXo&list=UU6TJdRrZR_WacbxJWiRZ5_g
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“it was … disgusting …”
[ahem] 🙂
TRICK OR TREAT
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Ah, yes, British irony. Can’t beat it, may as well join it.
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Garbed in my really, really scary icon I “trick or treated” you much earlier in the day. No response. Should I have typed: “Ding, dong ….. ding, dong” … to emulate a doorbell? And then said: “Trick or treat”? How do you think it should work?
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I am so mortified and embarassed that my country has turned into such a sad, sad collection of weenies that can’t let kids just be.
Despite a fair amount of chaos and unpredictability in my surroundings (which children are supposed to hate) I had a reasonably happy childhood, maybe just because adults mostly left kids alone then and none of the adults around me felt the need to micromanage my life.
I can’t even express how miserable I would be in an environment when adults felt the need to stick their noses into every possible kid activity…. That’s what this is, it’s not about safety it’s about keeping the kids prisoners in their Stasi parents’ clutches.
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nazis.
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Sorry my friend…
For the sake of safety your town could have banned driving on Oct. 31st in residential neighborhoods. And let kids and teens and all kind of people walk freely in the middle of the streets. That would have been FUN!
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That’s super lame. I expect like other Halloween-related activities to be on other days, but everyone reserves the 31st proper for trick-or-treaters. I can maybe see them moving Halloween if the weather turns really awful and they still want the kids to have fun. But moving it to the middle of the week instead of the weekend when it’s the funnest? I repeat, it’s super lame. (Halloween is my favorite holiday.)
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There is an hysterical paranoia regarding the safety of children on Halloween. That has led towns to do all sorts of inane things. While there are isolated episodes, the data do not support the hysteria.
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But why is Thursday safer than Friday? There’s got to be some logic here.
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While living in the Highlands of Scotland we were considerably surprised when people suggested trick or treating should be done on Saturday 30th Oct, as Hallowe’en on Sunday might be considered offensive to Christians. We duly sent our kids out on the Saturday with their friends, and then on the Sunday, all the neighbourhood kids went out again. So they had double the usual amount of sweets that year. Weird.
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