Halloween has a long history. It was originally created by the Celts as a day to ward off ghosts through the sacrifice of crops and animals. It has always been celebrated on the 31st of October, as November 1st was the Celtic New Year, and the day before was when the link between the living and the dead was weakest.
This sacred day was celebrated through large bonfires, which were used to burn crops and animals as a tribute to the deities. Participants dressed in costumes made from animal skins and heads, and also partook in the act of fortune-telling for the upcoming winter.
Trick-or-treating is an event that practically every child looks forward to for the entire month of October, leading up to the big day. It is a relatively simple concept: children go from house to house asking strangers for candy and sweets.
Considering safety concerns for this practice, places like churches began hosting “Trunk-or-Treat.” This is where people, usually parents or patrons of the church, decorate their trucks and make games for children to walk around and get candy from. This was deemed a safer alternative to trick-or-treating, because it was a more enclosed and monitored space for children to get candy, with the constant supervision of trusted adults and away from the street, where cars run wild.
Now, it is common for events like “Trunk-or-Treat” to be scheduled prior to Halloween as a way for kids to be able to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhoods on Halloween night, should their parents allow it. Despite the scheduling of “Trunk-or-Treat” prior to Halloween, it doesn’t mean that Halloween is cancelled or rescheduled in any way, since it is still on the 31st, although this cannot be said for the county of Beaver, Pennsylvania.
This former small town resident, 8th grader Marisol Gutierrez, spoke to me about the odd traditions that this town holds. Gutierrez speaks about the fact that should the holiday of Halloween fall on any day associated with weekends, they would reschedule trick-or-treating to a weekday, typically a Tuesday, but not always. This resulted in a restriction of trick-or-treating time from 6pm to 8pm, along with not partaking in this activity on Halloween.
Gutierrez says that this rearranging of the sacred holiday was to prevent “tomfoolery” around this small town. This, however, didn’t stop children and teens from celebrating the actual holiday. Gutierrez states that she would either go to her grandparents’ house a couple of towns over and go trick-or-treating there or hang out with her friends.
According to the Beaver County Times, a newspaper made specifically about this county in Pennsylvania, the scheduled day of Halloween this year, due to Halloween being on a Friday, is now the day before, October 30th, a Thursday. This, however, doesn’t require all the towns in the county to follow these rules, for there are a few towns within the county that are celebrating Halloween on the actual day.
I have many opinions on the desecration of this sacred holiday, and all I have to say is that I understand wanting children to be safe. Of course, I don’t want any children to be harmed on one of the best holidays of the year, but there are ways to protect children without rearranging the entire holiday. Halloween is on the 31st for a reason; if you would change Christmas to December 20th it just seems wrong.
Maybe instead of cancelling a holiday, just watch your children. If they are young, trick-or-treat with them early, like every other town in America. If they are older, make sure you can track them somehow, by using Apple AirTag, Life 360, or Find my Friends. Set your own curfew for your children, and have a set time. Teenagers are the truly tricky part, but they don’t really go trick-or-treating anymore anyway, so rescheduling the holiday doesn’t even apply to them.
All I can say at the end of the day is that if you don’t trust your kids or the people around them, rescheduling an entire holiday isn’t going to change anything, except for the day when they end up messing around. Keep Halloween on the day it is supposed to be!
