Should Halloween Be on a Saturday?

E very year in mid-October, Spencer, 12, from Arroyo Grande, California, gets to work. He hits up his local costume store, digs through boxes of decorations, and busily texts his friends. By October 31, he has everything ready: a yard full of skeletons peeking out from gravestones, bowls overflowing with candy, and an epic costume carefully coordinated with his friends.

“I love Halloween,” says Spencer. “It’s a holiday to dress up and go out with friends . . . and the candy!”

But last year, something happened that made Spencer’s Halloween all the more special: It fell on a Saturday.

When Halloween falls on a Saturday, you get to enjoy an entire day of spooky, sugary fun. Instead of sitting in class, you can carve a dozen pumpkins or host a scary movie marathon. Instead of rushing home after school to hastily don your costume, you can spend the whole day perfecting the trickles of blood dripping from your vampire fangs.

And best of all? You don’t have to get up early for school the next day.

Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that some Americans think Halloween should always be on a Saturday. In fact, in 2019, some 80,000 people signed a petition to officially move the holiday to the final Saturday in October.

The petition is over, but it did spark a debate: Should we move Halloween?

Not everyone supports moving Halloween. One reason is that doing so could exclude people who observe Saturday as a religious day. Plus, being at school on Halloween is actually quite fun—maybe you get to read macabre stories or come to school in costume. Then there is the fact that Halloween has been celebrated on the 31st for centuries.

The holiday’s origins can be traced back about 2,000 years to the Celts, a group of people who lived in Europe, including in what is now Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Every fall, around October 31, the Celts came together to celebrate the end of the harvest season and the start of winter. They thought that during this time, the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved. Some scholars believe that to disguise themselves from evil spirits, the Celts wore costumes made from animal skins and heads.

During the eighth century, followers of the Roman Catholic religion began celebrating All Hallows’ Day, also known as All Saints’ Day, on November 1. (Hallowed means “holy.”) The night before became All Hallows’ Eve. Some Celtic traditions, like wearing costumes, may have continued on All Hallows’ Eve, which later became known as Halloween.

By the 19th century, immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales had made celebrating Halloween more common in America. They also brought traditions that continue to this day, like lighting jack-o’-lanterns.

Considering this long history, wouldn’t it be wrong to change Halloween’s date? After all, holidays aren’t about convenience. They are about tradition.

Part of Halloween’s magic is how it brings people together. Unlike other holidays, Halloween usually isn’t celebrated at home—it’s celebrated out in the community with friends and neighbors. If the holiday’s official date changed, it’s likely that some people would celebrate on the 31st anyway—out of tradition. With people celebrating on different days, would Halloween’s sense of community disappear?

On the other hand, moving Halloween could make the day safer. Pedestrians under the age of 18 are three times as likely to be fatally injured by a car on Halloween than on any other day of the year.* That risk would surely be reduced if trick-or-treating started earlier—as it could on a Saturday—and kids weren’t walking around outside in the dark. Then again, trick-or-treating probably wouldn’t be as fun in broad daylight.

As for Spencer, he votes to move Halloween, so he wouldn’t have to worry about being tired at school the next day. What do you think? Should we move Halloween?

_{*According to an analysis by The Washington Post of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data}

^{This article was originally published in the October 2021 issue.}